Author's note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Big thanks to jaxjack1980 for helping this Irishman get some level of understanding for the world of High School football and his many suggestions while I was writing this.
Educational Exchange : Part One
Chapter One:
"Are you out of your fucking mind? I-I mean... seriously? Is this a midlife crisis or are you just going fucking crazy?"
To his credit, Principal Clark didn't allow himself to appear ruffled by the display of rage happening on the far side of his desk. Even when the large black man standing there leaned forward, bunched fists planted on the desktop so that the spittle from his incensed questions splattered across the High school principal's face, he retained a calm air.
Clark didn't answer at first. Instead, he removed the metal framed glasses he wore, reaching out to pluck some tissues from a box he kept on his desk. First, he patted down his face before wiping clear each lens of his spectacles. This demonstration took the wind from the sails of the other man in the office, Wayne Sanders grimacing in embarrassment as he subsided into the chair he'd leapt up from in his anger. Principal Clark gave it a further count of ten before he slipped his glasses back into place and regarded the now calmer man.
"Wayne, I know it doesn't sit well with you but it's a done deal," he said simply.
"For Christ's sake. I'm the head of the Booster club. I should have been consulted," Wayne said, his voice more restrained now but the anger still evident. "All the fundraising, the volunteering... we... I earned the right to have some input on this."
"Fair enough, I'll give you that but like I said, it's done." Principal Clark watched the jaw muscles on the big man's face clench as he clearly sought to remain calm. To him, this was a storm in a teacup, much ado about nothing. Then again, he saw himself as an educator first and foremost so he could appreciate his response might be different compared to parents such as Wayne Sanders.
The issue that had worked up the current head of the school's football team's booster club was the latest brainchild of the town's mayor. The town of Oakfield, Arkansas had seen better days. The boom the state of Arkansas had enjoyed when their governor had been elected to the White House in the mid-nineties had passed for the most part. Cities like Little Rock might still be prospering but small and mid-sized towns like Oakfield certainly weren't. Enter their new Mayor, Lorne Taylor, and his 'fresh' ideas. 'Education, Investment, Culture' had been the platforms of his campaign and credit where credit was due, the man was certainly trying.
Principal Clark couldn't object to the education stance. He'd seen too many former students having to leave the town and county in search of work, wholly unprepared in his eyes for the challenge of finding decent jobs in today's tech heavy market. So, when funds had been found to outfit a new computer lab for the high school along with the hiring of an extra full time teacher to educate the students in matters like basic programming, Principal Clark had seen it as a huge boost.
On the investment front, things hadn't progressed noticeably as yet although Principal Clark was aware that Mayor Taylor had been working hard to attract some start-up firms, some mid-sized enterprises to take a chance on the town and base themselves within its limits. The third 'leg' of his campaign platform, Culture, was something the mayor believed that, along with a better educated workforce, would attract investment. To invigorate the cultural aspect, the mayor had looked to improve public spaces, celebrate art, cinema and cuisine with mini festivals throughout the year and he'd even arranged to twin Oakfield with a similarly sized town in Southern Italy called Grembo. It was that last initiative that had led directly to the confrontation in his office.
Not content with just sticking a brass plaque on the side of the town hall declaring it's twinned status, Mayor Taylor had reached out to his opposite number in Grembo, Italy and between the two men they'd come up with a novel plan. A teacher from Grembo and one from Oakfield would exchange roles for a year, helping to cement relations between the towns and bring a taste of Europe to this small corner of Arkansas. At this point Principal Clark had been called in on the discussions and he'd added his caveat to the agreement. He didn't want to lose a critical member of his staff, feeling that a disruption like this could have knock-out effects with his students' schooling. However, he also knew that a flat refusal would get him nowhere either, so he offered a compromise, where the least valuable member of his faculty would take the opportunity to swap roles with an Italian counterpart.
Which led them to the parent simmering with anger in his office.
"I still can't believe the city council and Coach Adams would accept this decision without a fight," Wayne Sanders said. This was enough to break Principal Clark's composure, a dry chuckle escaping his lips and earning him a fresh glare from his visitor.
"Oh, come on Wayne, lighten up," Principal Clark said as the chuckle grew into a proper laugh. His blue eyes twinkled merrily as he realized Wayne didn't get the joke. "The city council will play ball with any plan that might boost the town's economy and even ones like this, that are more cultural than financial in gain, they'll always swing behind the mayor. As for the coach, Leroy Adams had his bags packed and his ass on the road to the airport about an hour after I told him about the chance to spend a year in Italy. I guess authentic pasta and fine wine in sun drenched Europe was a bit more appealing than another season leading our football team towards mediocrity."
"Now hold on there, that team is important to this school. It's a source of pride. A source of character building. It's a...," Wayne said in a passionate defense of a team on which his own son was quarterback.
"It's a team that hasn't won in its last seventeen games and where more than half the players already turned eighteen on account of them being held back a year at one time or another in the past six years of their time attending this high school. So, forgive me if I don't weep for the absence of Coach Adams. My purpose is to give these kids the best chance they can get at securing a job, or a place in college, basically getting a leg up in life. Now you can yell, arrange a protest, call for my resignation but you know what? Deep down you agree with me."
This time it was Wayne Sanders who took a pause before answering, clearly unhappy by what had been said to him and the manner of its delivery as well. He drew himself up out of the chair, pulling himself up to his full, impressive height. At six foot three, he was an intimidating figure but Principal Clark knew him too well to feel any apprehension. Besides, he knew that Wayne, for all his bluster, was as committed to improving the students' lot in life as he was. He just needed to calm down long enough to realize it.
"You know what, we're gonna be the laughingstock of the county, the whole damn state with a goddamn Italian coaching the team," Wayne finally spat out, stalking from the principal's office.
"Seventeen losses, seventeen!" Principal Clark called out through the door Wayne had left open. "You think they aren't laughing at us already?"
<<0>>
Spending his Friday evening in the arrivals area of the airport was not how Principal Clark liked to unwind after a school week but nobody else had stepped forward to volunteer to collect the new teacher arriving from Italy and so it had fallen to him. In fairness though, he found himself actually looking forward to the experience of this foreign exchange for all the hassle it had brought him from the likes of Wayne Sanders. His opposite number in the Grembo High School had thoughtfully sent him a brief bio on the man replacing Coach Adams and in Clark's opinion, the town of Oakfield was getting the better end of the deal.
From the bio, Carlo was twenty-seven, taught Philosophy, foreign languages, Italian Literature and Math. This Italian also coached Track and field and football as extracurricular activities back in Italy. Meanwhile Clark had sent them Coach Adams, an unsuccessful high school football coach in his early forties who could only handle substituting for teachers in American History or Social Studies so long as the lesson plan was in place and none of the student's asked questions. Clark grinned at the idea of Adams trying to handle a classroom full of Italians querying philosophical paradigms.
While the bio had been appreciated, an actual photograph of the man he was supposed to be collecting would have been far more useful in this situation. The lack of one meant that he was standing right up front at the arrivals area holding a sign with 'Carlo Modaferri' written on it, trying to catch the eye of anyone he felt didn't look American.
There was another rush of people exiting the baggage claim area and the high school principal turned to face them holding the sign aloft, scanning faces for a flicker of acknowledgement.
