Chapter 21: Taking Control

After all the events leading up to it, the actual turnover was a bit of an anticlimax. She arrived in her business suit, every inch the executive. Her father carefully explained some of the details to her. She would hold one third of the votes on the board for a period of ten years. After that, she would merely hold twice the votes of any other member. The rest would be distributed as she and the board decided at the time. The rest of the board could override her decisions, but as a practical matter it would take three quarters of them to do so. She would immediately chair the board. While there were charter provisions which allowed the board to remove members, her votes assured that they could not do so within those ten years (unless, of course, she voted in favour of the motion). If the rest of the board unanimously agreed that she was incapable of exercising her votes properly due to her youth, her votes would temporarily be divided equally between her and her parents for a period not to extend beyond her twenty first birthday. In return, she agreed not to undertake legal actions against the Board or the School as long as the Board lives up to the agreement, unless she is compelled by law or court order to do so. The rest was largely boilerplate and detail.

The document had already been signed by the other members. She noted that one name was conspicuously absent. He had been voted out in an earlier, emergency meeting. She signed in the indicated place. She noticed with amusement that the ceremonial gold- plated pen was engraved with the single word "Change". Her father then signed, due to her legal minority.

That done, there was a sigh of relief from those assembled. It was done. She was presented with the pen, which she slipped into her clutch.

The Board, including its newest member, then took their places to start the meeting. The cameras were activated, and the meeting was called to order. As the first order of business, the outgoing chairman formally introduced the newest member of the board. He then announced that he was stepping down from the chair, and called for nominations for his replacement. For the sake of form, one of the other members nominated Linda. After an unanswered call for other nominees, she was elected by acclimation. She accepted, then moved to the head of the table.

In her brief speech, she promised to work to keep the best parts of the old while making the school more sustainable. She alluded to continuing a long tradition of producing educational and entertaining productions for their discriminating audience, as well as producing graduates who were better suited to the world of the Twenty-First Century. And she promised changes in staffing and procedures which would seriously decrease their liabilities. She spoke in carefully formal generalities, as suitable for an official meeting of that sort.

She then ran the meeting according to the agenda, taking care of routine matters, and requesting (and receiving) a special budget for one-time changes in operations. She was also authorized as a committee of one to determine what changes were necessary, subject to later review by the board.

Once the business was done, she accepted a motion to adjourn. The motion carried, and she declared the meeting over.

The cameras were turned off, and conferencing links were established with the board members who could not attend. This was the real meeting - entirely off the record. She outlined her new mission for the school, turning from producing sex toys and servants to producing the leaders those families need. She was going to change some outdated and potentially dangerous policies, such as the shared towels. In the long term, she was also looking at making some changes in the uniforms. As to their their rather... specialized... videos, she definitely had some ideas.