Chapter 02

Twenty-five Years On

By tradition the nights for the high-school dances are the last two Fridays in September: the Year Ten dance one week with the senior’s dance for Years Eleven and Twelve the following week. Over the years these dances become one for the students of all three years, and it’s soon just called the School Dance. It’s held the last Friday of September because it’s the last full school day before the seniors leave school for a personal study period prior to their end of year exams. However, the school year changes as well, over time, thus the exams move back a week, and so does the study period. For some years the social inertia keeps the dance being held in September.

In the city where Ernie and Melissa went to school there used to be two main public high schools and two private high schools. Over the years the city grows in size so new schools open. Twenty-five years after Ernie’s death the city now boasts five public high schools and six private high schools. The one Ernie and Melissa used to attend is now known as Central High School while the other public high schools are named for their compass relationship to Central because they’re based in the outer ring of the city’s expanding suburbia: East High, West High, South High, and North High as the local school district managers aren’t imaginative.

In this twenty-fifth year since Ernie’s death the current school Principal retires for medical reasons and a new Principal of Central High School is appointed in the middle of the school year. Mr Whitty is a new broom that wants to sweep clean, and one of his first tasks is to reschedule the School Dance from the last week in September to the first Friday in October. The school student population are very fast to lodge a complaint and want the dance returned to the old date because they’ve based all of their personal activities for those weeks around the original date. Mr Whitty is very firm in announcing he runs the school and the students will do things his way. He refuses to even see or listen to the student delegation sent to discuss the matter with him.

Reactions

The main reason the students don’t wish to have the school dance on the new date set by Mr Whitty is because that day is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the day Ernie died and too many of the school dance organisers are from the Cable Company. They already have an activity that day which is a remembrance ceremony organised for the afternoon and evening. This change at this late date is unacceptable to the majority of the student population, and they make it known. The original date or another week later would be acceptable, but not that date.

The dance organisers go ahead with organising the dance for the night they previously announced and some of the parents apply to the school for permission to use the main auditorium, the usual venue for the dance, for a personal function on the night of the original dance night. Mr Whitty realises what’s happening so he refuses to allow the auditorium to be used by anyone that night.

The school has an elected student body to act as a buffer between the students and the school management when issues arise. This group has two students elected to represent each year, and they choose their own president from within this group. This body, the School Student Council, is quick to conduct a survey of the entire school population and presents the results to the Principal; the whole school wants the dance on the original date. Mr Whitty rejects the request outright and he threatens to disband the School Council if they continue to act in such a rebellious manner.

Student Warfare

This doesn’t go down well with the students. So by the end of his third week at the school open warfare is declared between the students and the Principal. It also promises to be a war with no quarter and no gloves on. Mr Whitty thinks he has the upper hand because he runs the school and controls its resources. The students are very ready to accept the advantages he has, but they know they’re morally in the right so they think hard on how to conduct the war to their advantage.

It’s normal for this school to have a heavy involvement in many inter-school and community activities where the student involvement is all voluntary. The high involvement of students in such things is looked on with favour by the senior people in the Department of Education because it shows the students are happy with the school and it fosters very good relationships between the students, the school staff, and the school community as well as the local general community.

On the Monday of Mr Whitty’s fourth week at the school the Student Council calls for a meeting of all students in the auditorium during lunch on Wednesday. Mr Whitty refuses them use of the auditorium, so they move it to the school sports field, and he refuses them the use of the field. The meeting is moved to after school at a nearby public park.

At the meeting the School Council tells all of the students of what’s been happening and opens the meeting for discussion of actions to take. All but thirty of the students are present, they have prior external commitments they aren’t able to get out of, but they all provide letters of support for any action the meeting comes up with.

After thirty minutes of discussion fifteen year old Jenny Cable, Melissa and Ernie’s third youngest child, speaks out, “I suggest we, the students, register our displeasure in the only way we can without leaving ourselves open for disciplinary action by Mister Witless. If we all withdraw from all non-required school activities the sudden lack of involvement with the community will affect his performance ratings with the Department. Just because the school has various clubs and we like them doesn’t mean we have to participate in the school versions. I’m sure we can find ways to continue with most of our clubs without them being the school sponsored ones, even if it means creating new community ones for us to participate in.”

This is discussed at length, and agreed to by all of the students. The presidents of all the various clubs promise to talk to the teachers who help them and to explain the situation to them.

That evening Jenny mentions the situation and the action by the student’s to Emily, who rings Melissa because she’s in Canberra for a few days. Melissa promises to provide lots of financial support to the school clubs to help them continue as local community clubs instead of school sponsored clubs. At school the next day Jenny passes this very welcome information on to the various club presidents, who inform their club members of the financial support.

Rebellion

During the day the various school club presidents talk to all their members and the teachers who assist them. At first the teachers are very saddened to see all of the hard work of the clubs going to waste, but smile when told they’re getting support to establish new community clubs to do the same thing. All of the teachers offer their services to the new community clubs because they support the students in this fight who they see as being are in the right of a fight against a petty tyrant.

Friday morning the presidents of all the clubs get written letters of resignation from all of their members and add their own, with a letter advising the school management the club is now defunct due to the lack of student interest and involvement. These are handed to the School Council, who add their resignations - stating the autocratic behaviour of the Principal and his refusal to seek or accept any consultation with the School Council as being their reasons for resigning, because they now see no possible use or benefit from the continued existence of the Council.

After lunch that day Mr Whitty returns to his office to find the office staff very busy making lots of phone calls, so he asks them what they’re doing. His senior administrator says, “We’re ringing up to cancel all of the arranged meetings with other schools and people for the rest of the year and letting the local media know of all of the cancelled activities.”

In his anger he shouts, “What cancelled activities? I never cancelled anything. You get back on the phone because nothing is cancelled.”

She looks up, “The rules for the various sports and other bodies say they’re cancelled because we no longer have teams to participate. We have to cancel if we can’t supply a team.” He stares at her with anger in his eyes. She waves at a pile of papers on her desk, “We no longer have anyone available or willing to represent the school in football - any code, netball, basketball, softball, baseball, hockey, debating, martial arts, volleyball, dancing, singing, swimming, diving, athletics, cricket, science competitions, gymnastics, shooting, chess, anything. We don’t even have a cheerleader team any more. Also, all the after school clubs have closed down, so has the Student Council. All of the volunteer student hall monitors have resigned, so we now have to find teachers for that duty, and all of the parents assisting teachers have also resigned. We no longer have any teams for any of the inter-school competitions or involvement in local community competitions because the few students who are in compulsory teams have notes withdrawing approval for them to travel or participate away from the school, so we can’t meet obligations to play at other venues so we have to withdraw from those competitions as well. I thought the parental withdrawal from assisting in the canteen will mean higher costs as we’ll have to hire more staff, but I’m told that won’t be required because the students won’t be using the canteen at all. Thus that revenue will stop and we’ll have more students out on the grounds to try and supervise. This is going to play merry hell with our duty rosters too. This school no longer has any community support or involvement, none at all.”

A very red faced Mr Whitty examines all the papers on her desk before he storms into his office. During the next break between classes he announces, on the school public address system, an assembly for all of the students in the auditorium five minutes after school finishes for the day. During the next break after the announcement the word passes through the school for no one to attend because he’s no right to call one out of school hours, they’re to be very quiet when they leave the school grounds as soon as the final bell goes, and they’re to go on about their own activities as normal.

On any normal school day there’s about ten to twenty percent of the students who hang around the school for quite a while after school finishes, and that’s apart from those participating in club activities. Just before the final bell Mr Whitty walks into the auditorium. When the final bell goes the students are as quiet as they can be while they leave the school grounds to go home or to the homes of others or to after school work or outside clubs. It’s several minutes before Mr Whitty realises no one’s coming to the assembly.

After waiting ten minutes past the set time and he’s the only one in the auditorium he storms out to find the school is almost empty, only a few of the teachers and the administration staff are still around. He rounds on one of the senior teachers on why her juniors aren’t there, the senior physical education teacher, Vanessa Cable, says, “You never said you wanted the teachers at your assembly as you just called for the students, so they went on about their normal Friday afternoon things; well, as much as they can because many of them no longer have clubs to assist. Some are considering helping out with equivalent community clubs to keep their hands in, all according to the Departmental rules.”

Mr Whitty is a very unhappy person when he storms off to his office. He’s soon placing notices on the school notice boards for an assembly for after school on Monday, with a threat of detention for all who fail to attend. At the same time as he does that Mrs Vanessa Cable is calling the regional office of the Department of Education to inform them the school no longer has any sports teams to participate in any of the competitions.

Since the school is the current holder of all the current district sports trophies this is a major piece of news, so they ask why. She tells them, and she also mentions the lack of student involvement in any volunteer activity. The person she speaks to is in the physical education section, but he’s very quick to pass the information along to the other sections because it will affect their planning. This news is quick to reach the Regional Director, making him one very unhappy regional director.

Over the weekend many of the parents discuss how to support their children in this matter. What’s interesting is none of the parents see the students as being at fault, their concern is to see the students don’t miss out on anything they usually do. Melissa is back home and helping where she can: with money, contacts, and the like. The local amateur theatrical club offers the use of their facility to a new local junior club starting up, and it just happens to have the same members and helpers as the old school performing arts club did. The same happens for the other clubs, even the sporting clubs are allowed to field mixed teams in the local competitions, and some of the local private cheerleader groups are allowed to support them.