Difficult Lessons (8 page)

Sara thought for a minute. ”There is nothing. I have always had perfect evaluations. My students perform well on the state assessments. I have never had a complaint from a parent, at least not until now. The only thing that they have is the fact that Officer Griffin saw me in a gay bar and complained to Mr. Michaels.” Sara started to shake again. 

Karen moved from behind her desk. She knelt in front of Sara and took her hand.  “Don’t get upset. After listening to you, I think that you have a definite case of discrimination here. I will need to look at your school’s non-discrimination statement, but I will bet it covers everything except sexual orientation. If you want me to represent you, I will be happy to do so. It isn’t going to be easy though. It will go public, and it will get ugly. The hard part is there are no state laws to protect you. We will basically have to use scare tactics and hope they bite. If they don’t and we go to court, it’s going to be an even longer road. We are looking at appeals and setting precedents to change state laws. Are you ready for that?”

Sara thought for a minute, taking long slow breaths to calm down. “I think I am. I can’t let them get away with this, not just for me. I have to think about people in the future. Where do we start?”

“We will start with a letter to Mr. Michaels and the school board members. I will explain to them that you feel there is no just cause for your non-renewal and that you also feel you are being discriminated against due to your suspected orientation. I will strongly encourage them to reconsider their position. I will explain to them also that we plan to take further action if they do not. If we have to take it that far, we will file a civil suit against them. Once you do that, you do realize that you probably will not have any hope of a job there, right?”

Sara laughed nervously. “Evidently I don’t have one now so what do I have to lose?”

“Let’s hope the letter does the trick and we do not have to take it that far. Even though we have no laws protecting us from discrimination, most people don’t want to take things like this public. The majority of my cases like this have been resolved without going to court. Unfortunately, that has not led us to any changes in the law, but it has worked out well for my clients. Most of them have walked away with monetary awards to keep things out of court.”

“I am not interested in money. It is principle. I want my dignity. I want other people to be secure in the knowledge that they will not be fired for the people they choose to date or live with. My girlfriend will be a teacher there next year. I don’t want her hurt by them.”

“All right. I will prepare the letter and get it out to them tomorrow. If anyone tries to discuss this with you, just refer him or her to me. Don’t discuss anything with anyone at the school. And get me copies of anything that shows you in a positive light; evaluations, letters from parents, articles from the newspaper, and anything else you can find. Get it to me as soon as you can. Whatever you do between now and the time this is settled, do not resign from your position. They cannot terminate you before the end of your contract. They have to pay you, but if you resign, your salary ends immediately. Understand?”

“I had not thought about that. I understand.”

Sara felt much better after meeting with Karen. She felt as though she might have a small chance at keeping her job and a good chance to make it better for others in the future. 

Chapter 13

“Ms. Carson, Are you trying to intimidate me?” Mr. Michaels walked into her classroom and closed the door behind him during her planning period. 

Jumping at the sound of his voice, Sara looked up from the papers she was grading. “Sir?”

Mr. Michaels tossed an envelope on her desk. “What is the meaning of this?”

Sara opened the envelope as if she had no idea what it was. She quickly read through the letter and slid it back into the envelope. “It seems pretty self-explanatory to me, Mr. Michaels.  I feel that I am being discriminated against because of the suspicions and narrow-mindedness of a few people. I also feel that you have no justifiable reason not to renew my contract. You have twisted the morality clause in our employee handbook to attempt to justify your actions and degrade me. I cannot say anything more to you on the subject, but Ms. Karen Jameson will be happy to speak with you on my behalf. If you don’t mind, I have some things to do. I am still responsible for my students. I am still a teacher here for at least two more months.” Sara turned her attention back to the papers in front of her and Mr. Michaels left her classroom, obviously not pleased with the situation. 

Sara had developed a new determination. The old Sara would have broken down after that confrontation. She had told her parents and Cynthia that she planned to stand up for herself and she intended to do just that.

Instead of being upset, she was angry. She was angry that they were trying to damage her career and her reputation, and angry that Mr. Michaels would come into her classroom and demand an explanation from her. Sara felt that she was the one that deserved the explanation. 

Sara calmed herself and went to the teachers’ lounge to call Karen. She told her exactly what had just happened and assured her that she did not say anything else to Mr. Michaels. Karen told her that she would take care of it. Looking at the clock, Sara realized it was almost time for sixth period to start.

***

Sara pushed the play button on her answering machine as soon as she was inside the house. The first message was from Cynthia. “Call me as soon as you get this.”

The second message was from one of the school board members, Terry Lyons. He asked her to call him at home. Sara left his message on the machine. She might call him. He had always been very friendly with her and he might be an ally.

The third message was rather shocking. “Ms. Carson, This is Kendra Breeden, with
The Times
. If you can, please give me a call this evening. I have a rather important matter to discuss with you. My number is 397-6438. “

“What the hell? A reporter?”

The next message was Cynthia again and it was more urgent than the last. 

The final message was from Karen. “Sara, it is urgent that I speak with you. Call me at the office as soon as you get this.”

Sara called Cynthia first, who answered on the first ring.

“What is going on?” Sara asked almost in a panic.

“You haven’t heard yet?” Cynthia sounded surprised. 

“Heard what? I just got in from work. I have quite a few messages on my machine. As soon as I listened to all of them, I called you. Tell me what is going on?” Sara was sounding annoyed.

“Who all has called you?”

“You left me two messages. Terry Lyons called. He is a board member. Karen called. Then some reporter called. I don’t have a clue what that is about. Your messages sounded so urgent I had to call you first,” Sara explained. 

“Hang up and call Karen. She can explain everything to you. You really need to talk with her as soon as you can. Call me back after you talk with her.”

Sara dialed Karen’s number. Her secretary answered and immediately transferred the call. 

“Someone has leaked a bit of your story to the newspaper. It isn’t a positive side, from what I gather.” Karen went on to explain the rest. “I think it might have been that parent that you told me about. Ms. Breeden called me this afternoon. She wants to meet with you to get your side. I told her that I would try to set something up this evening. I know it is Friday evening, but can you be here in two hours?”

Sara’s head was spinning. She was trying to absorb all of this. She did not expect this to happen this fast. “Yes. I can be there. You will be right there with me won’t you?  I don’t want to say anything that I shouldn’t.”

“Of course I will be. I wouldn’t be much of an attorney if I wasn’t there to support my client, would I? Oh, I almost forgot. You have an ally that you might not know anything about. Terry Lyons from the school board called me after he got the letter. He is backing you one hundred percent. I will call him and ask him to be here also, if that is all right with you.”

“He left a message on my machine. I was not sure what it was about so I did not return his call. I need all of the support I can get right now. Should I call him back?”  Sara’s head was beginning to pound.

“I’ll call him for you and have him meet us here.” Karen’s voice was very reassuring.

***

Cynthia put her arm around Sara’s shoulder to steady her as they walked into Karen’s office. Sara felt like she was going to pass out at any second. Her stomach was in knots and her head was aching. She was glad Cynthia had agreed to be there with her. Sara had called her parents on her way to Karen’s office. She wanted to let them know what was happening, but she did not want them there. They did not need to be subjected to any of this, but it would come soon enough.

Mr. Lyons stood and hugged Sara. “Ms. Carson, I wanted you to know that not everyone is against you here. I was one of two dissenting votes when Mr. Michaels brought this to us. Mrs. Susan Caine was the other one. She had family obligations tonight or else she would be here also. She did give me a written statement to give to the reporter. Ms. Jameson has it if you would like to read it.”

Sara smiled weakly. “Thank you for the support. Please relay my appreciation to Mrs. Caine also.”

The door opened and in walked Kendra Breeden. Everyone looked in her direction as she made her way through to an empty chair. She dropped her large bag and quickly introduced herself to everyone. Once she had made her rounds with handshakes, she sat down and pulled a folder from her bag. She took a notepad from the folder and began flipping through the pages. 

“Ms. Carson, I am sure that Ms. Jameson has briefed you on our conversation this afternoon,” she said as she looked in the bag for a pen. 

“Yes she has. I am glad you are giving me an opportunity to tell my side of things.” Sara’s mouth was dry from the nervousness.

“This just came to my attention today. Someone called and expressed concern about you as a teacher at the high school. He wouldn’t leave his name, but he encouraged me to look into the situation. He said I might find an interesting story. I started digging. I talked with Mr. Michaels, but all he would give me was a letter stating that you were not being rehired due to undisclosed issues. I then contacted the Board of Education’s office. I happened to get Mr. Lyons on the phone. He gave me Ms. Jameson’s number. I contacted her and here we are. Please tell me exactly what has led up to this, from your perspective. Don’t try to be objective. That is my job. I do want to cover all sides of the story in my article, if there is a story here.” Ms. Breeden smiled at Sara.

“Does this really have to be published? This is all kind of personal for me.” Sara fixed her eyes on Ms. Breeden.

“I understand you not wanting this to be made public, but I will be honest with you, Ms. Carson.” Ms. Breeden looked sincere as she spoke. “I don’t think that the gentleman that called me will give up easily. I think if I don’t write this story, he will go to someone else. Others might not give you a fair shake.”

Sara understood what Ms. Breeden was saying. She relayed everything that had happened, occasionally looking to Karen for approval. Sara gave her all of the details about the evenings at Mel’s, the meetings with Mr. Michaels, and the letter that she had received. Tears overcame her half way through the story. Karen handed her some water so she could regain her composure and finish.

“Wow.” Ms. Breeden’s surprise was evident in her reaction. “The way I was told to check into this and the way the school acted, I thought you had done something monstrous. Has there ever been a suspicion around the school that you might be gay?”

“No. I keep my private life exactly that.”

“So you don’t go out regularly to gay bars in the area?” Ms. Breeden was trying to get a feel for the type of person that Sara was.

“No, not really. I had not been out in sometime until the weekend that this started.  I will go out to eat, but not usually to bars, gay or straight.”

Turning slightly in her chair, Ms. Breeden asked, “What do you think about all of this Mr. Lyons?”

“Ms. Carson is one of our finest teachers. She goes well above and beyond her duties. She comes in early, stays late, and works on her own time with students to help them out. She has one of the best records in the school for getting her students to pass.”

While he was talking, Karen gave Ms. Breeden the copy of the statement that Mrs. Caine had sent.

Karen explained to Ms. Breeden what had taken place from a legal standpoint.  She gave her enough information for her story, but not so much that it might let anyone outside know more than they should. 

“Well, I do believe there is a story worth telling here. Ms. Carson, I wish you the best of luck with your situation.  Make sure you all get a paper Sunday morning. The article will be in there. It was nice meeting all of you.” With that, Ms. Breeden collected her belongings and left the office.

Sara took a deep breath and looked at Karen. “What do you think? Will the article be in my favor or against me?”