Chapter 3: The Tip of the Iceberg

Several minutes later, Mr. Benton returned with Kaelyn and two other girls; Tony looked at the group and wondered if the two girls were Jasmine and Amy. He didn't have to wait long to have his guess confirmed when Rivka greeted the two by name.

"Hi, Jaz; hi, Amy; what're you doing here?" Rivka greeted her classmates. Beth looked up from Ziva's shoulder and smiled at her friends.

Mr. Benton motioned for everyone to have a seat at the table, "If all of you students would please sit on this end of the table; Beth and Rivka, you as well, please." He indicated the end away from himself and the DiNozzo parents. "Jason should be here as soon as he gets out of his reading class."

As he spoke, there was a knock at the door. He moved to the door and his assistant spoke, "Jason is here; do you want him inside?" He nodded and moved aside to allow the boy to enter.

"Please sit with the others," he placed a hand on Jason's shoulder as he moved the boy towards his classmates. "You aren't in trouble."

"Mr. Benton, you need to get Maria and Marco Santillo, and Jorge Fernandez here, too," Rivka spoke up. She had figured out why they all were here and decided that ALL of the kids from her class who had been subjected to the same name calling and punishments needed to be included. "That's all of us this year…"

The principal nodded at Rivka and smiled reassuringly; he moved to the door to have his assistant bring the other three students from class. "This is growing in leaps and bounds; are there any more possible children that could be included? I sure hope we can identify them all soon!"

Ziva looked at her daughter at that last sentence. What did she know? Tony's first thought was that the mistreatment of the children had been on-going for many years; he wondered if Rivka had spoken to Tali and Anthony or others from prior years. Counting the three she had just named, that made ten students in the class who had been unfairly picked on or subjected to the pattern of bigotry. If he remembered correctly there were twenty two in the class total; almost half of the class!

"Assarah yeladim," Tony whispered to Ziva. (Ten children.)

"Ken, Abba," Beth had heard her father. She confirmed his count. "Zeh hakol." (That is all.)

"Toda," Ziva spoke through gritted teeth. Her anger was boiling near the surface. She could see Tony seething as well. Ten innocent children had been subjected to one or more adults' hostility and bigotry because of their heritage. To her there was only one word: unacceptable!

The other three fifth graders arrived and joined their classmates in the conference room. All of them had been reassured that they were not in trouble. Mr. Benton's assistant had arranged with the cafeteria to have the children's lunches brought to the office. She had also ordered lunch trays for the adults.

As they waited for the food to arrive, Mr. Benton explained to everyone what would be happening that afternoon. All of the children's parents had been contacted and most were on their way to the school. Each of the children would be given an opportunity to tell their version of the incidents and punishments with parents present. The school district was also sending an attorney to be present for the sessions. Parents would be advised of their rights and whether consent forms would need to be signed. Parents would also be given the chance to contact legal representation if they chose.

Once everyone was present, the group would be given more information. Tony and Ziva took all of this in, hands linked the entire time. While both were glad that the issues had been uncovered, they also knew that the road ahead was going to be long. Since their children were involved, both wondered how it would affect their family.

"I have one question," Tony asked. "Will the FBI be called in to investigate?"

"At this point I cannot give you a definitive answer; however, since this appears to be a Civil Rights violation, it is very likely." Mr. Benton spoke honestly. He knew that both DiNozzo parents were Federal agents and that they would want answers. Considering the information from the children so far, he had a feeling this would be an ongoing issue at least through the school year and maybe beyond. Also knowing that the two older DiNozzo children had run-ins with the same teacher, he had a feeling that the family would be more involved than some of the others.

As the group waited for parents of the others to arrive and the children ate lunch, Tony and Ziva stepped out to call Gibbs and Tali. Tony called Gibbs to have him pick up LJ at the end of the school day and take the boy to his house. Tony gave a very brief synopsis of what they knew so far; he could hear the anger in Gibbs' voice as the older man replied. Tony then had one of the office personnel get a message to LJ's teacher that his grandfather would be picking him up instead of the boy riding the bus home today.

Ziva had called Tali while Tony was talking to Gibbs. Tali had just left her college English class and was headed to her car to drive home. Ziva explained what was going on at the elementary school and asked Tali to pick up Anthony at the middle school and bring him to the elementary school. She then called the middle school to let them know that Tali would be arriving to check her brother out in about thirty minutes.

As the couple headed back to the conference room, the teacher from the twins' class was angrily demanding to face the students and their parents, claiming that she was being falsely accused of wrong-doing and that she had a right to confront her accusers. The school's attorney had just arrived and tried to calm her down. She brushed him off.

"Ma'am, I am George Jefferson, the attorney for the school; why don't you come into Mr. Benton's office with me and we can calmly discuss what is happening?" he tried to guide her towards the principal's office.

She let out a shriek and yelled several profanities, "Get this damned n****r away from me!" She started hitting at the man and trying to scratch at his eyes.

Tony and Ziva could not stand by and both flashed credentials and badges, "Federal agents." Ziva tried to get between the woman and the attorney, while Tony moved into a position that was nonthreatening and planned to try to talk her down.

She took one look at Ziva and again yelled out, "Get this filthy terrorist away from me; she is the one who is trouble, not me." Ziva had her on the floor before anyone could react. "Did you see what she did to me? I am almost eighty years old and this nonbeliever terrorist trash has the nerve…"

"SHUT UP IF YOU KNOW WHAT IS GOOD FOR YOU!" Ziva hissed in the woman's face. She backed away quickly when the woman spit at her; Tony pulled Ziva away.

"Tony, she spit at me…"

"Ken, Ziva, bevaqashah teraga," (Please calm down.)Tony spoke quietly and calmly to his wife, even though he was fuming on the inside. He turned so that he was between the two women, pleading with his eyes for his wife to back off the 'mama bear' mode for a few minutes.

"I am okay, Tony," Ziva locked gazes with her husband and backed off. Tony turned to the attorney next.

"Are you okay, Mr. Jefferson?" he asked and tried to bury a smirk at the man's name.

"Yes; my parents were big fans of the show," George Jefferson gave Tony a small smile as he too backed off some.

Tony turned to Mrs. Griffith who was now seated in a chair and glaring at both Ziva and the attorney. The office assistant who had been mean to Ziva that morning was by her side, trying to tell her that the family attorney was on the way and that she had also called the local police. "Who are you?" Tony asked the younger woman.

"Her niece. Why are you asking me questions? If you are really a federal agent, why aren't you arresting her?" She pointed at Ziva, "She assaulted my aunt. I want to press charges."

Tony turned to Mr. Benton, "How many of the other parents are here?"

"All but one; he is on the way."

"Good. Now here's what we are all going to do," Tony looked around at the others, making sure he had their attention. "First, we are all going to take a deep breath and calm down. Yelling and name calling aren't getting us anywhere." He glared at Mrs. Griffith as he spoke. She opened her mouth to say something, but his authoritative tone stopped her.

"Second, we are all going to listen to what the kids have to say. They are the ones who need to be heard right now." Tony looked to the attorney for confirmation; the man nodded agreement.

"Third, we will all hear Mrs. Griffith out as well. She has a right to tell us her version of events." He looked at Ziva and several of the other parents as he spoke. "If we can do this calmly and as adults, the kids will have some positive role models in this ugly situation."

"I will only talk to him," Mrs. Griffith pointed to Tony. "Daddy told us to trust only white Christians." Her niece nodded as the woman spoke. "Anyone who is not a white Christian is just the worker of the devil."

Tony bit his tongue; he willed himself to keep the thoughts that raced through his head silent. He herded the parents, school personnel, and kids into the conference room, trying to keep his anger to a low simmer. Ziva put a hand on his arm, squeezing it lightly. "You got this, Tony. I am on your six," she whispered so only he could hear. He met her gaze, drawing strength from his better half.

"Mr. Benton, Mr. Jefferson…" Tony motioned for the two to start with taking the kids' statements. The process for each child was to have Mr. Benton explain to the parents and child what they would be doing, the legal aspects of making a statement, and the reiteration to the child that he or she was not in trouble. Parents were given the option to opt out of having their child speak, but none made that choice. Several times, Mrs. Griffith made a sound or glared at the child speaking, but her niece and her attorney quieted her. Tony moved between her and a few of the children when she continued to glare. Ziva also helped with distracting the children from the constant stare and glare of the teacher who had intimidated and frightened many of them. When Kaelyn's turn came, she shyly reached for Ziva's hand as she spoke. After Mr. and Mrs. Hadad nodded their consent, Ziva sat with the girl as she told her story.

Each story was basically the same; the child was singled out for name-calling, punishment for unknown offenses and general bullying. All except one of the children had been put in the closet as punishment multiple times. When Ziva heard that Beth had been in the closet seven times since the start of the school year she nearly lost her composure. She and Tony met gazes and calmed each other with their joined hands. It took everything they had within them to remain calm when Rivka revealed that she had been put in the closet fifteen times! Ziva heard one of the other mothers gasp at Rivka's number. None of the other kids had more than five times in the closet.

When the fifth graders had finished telling their stories, Tali and Anthony were called in to give a statement each. Tali told about being pinched and having her hair pulled as she was punished for sneezing in class, and about being put in the closet for an entire school day after she had accidentally dropped a book on the floor as the school day began. Anthony told about being singled out for every prank or incident that happened in the classroom, even being blamed for things that happened on days he was absent. He, too, had spent entire school days in the closet for no apparent reason. He told of one girl in his class who was not allowed to use the restroom as often as she needed, and that she was then ridiculed for wetting herself by the teacher. When he had tried to defend the girl, he had been made to stand in the closet with his hands tied behind him for two hours. Of all of the students who gave statements, only Anthony had been subjected to having his bare buttocks hit with a switch, once in front of the entire class.

Ziva and Tony were speechless; this was the first they had heard of the issues with their older two. They could hear the other parents talking quietly behind them as Anthony spoke. Ziva held Anthony's hand as tears fell freely as he told of the horrors from his fifth grade year. Tony put an arm around his son's shoulders as more of the tale came out. Even Tali had a look of surprise at all her brother had dealt with three years ago. When Mrs. Griffith had muttered 'Liar' during Anthony's statement, Ziva had to force herself not to do something she would come to regret. Anthony heard the comments and brushed them off the first two times. The third time, he exploded in anger.

"HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A LIAR!" he shouted at the woman who had abused him for an entire school year. "I HOPE YOU ROT IN HELL."

Ziva tried to get her son to stop shouting, but Tony shushed her, "Let him get out the anger, Zi."

Anthony looked the woman in the eye, "Whatever you were trying to do to me, if you were trying to break me, it backfired. I know now that it is not my fault, that you are sick and that I am a strong person. I am like my Ima; she is the strongest person I know. It took me two years of talking with my coach in middle school to get to where I can face you now. Even with him I wouldn't identify you by name or tell him all the things you did to me.

"Ima and Abba, I'm sorry that I didn't say something to you. Coach has been encouraging me to tell you both, but until today, I have been…" Anthony was cut off by both of his parents embracing him tightly as his sisters came over to offer support as well.

Ziva wiped at her eyes, "Shh, motek, it is okay… you had the courage to speak out today."

"We got your six, Anthony," Tali spoke quietly so just the family could hear as she placed a hand on her brother's shoulder. Beth and Rivka nodded agreement and each placed a hand on their older brother.

Anthony gave a small smile at his family through his tears, "Toda. I love you all…"