No Harm No Foul

J.F. peeked in through the doorway. It was the end of the school year and J.F. had just graduated from 8th grade. He had never been my student, but for the past year he had been doing the same thing. He would stop by my room, peek in the door, and run away laughing. Once he called out, "I'm King of the School! I got a teacher fired!

He was the student I wrote about in "If a President Can Lie, So Can a Principal."

He was not referring to me, of course. I retired before they could fire me. He was referring to my colleague K.N.  He had accused her of intentionally making him trip when he was in 7th grade.  She had spent this whole school year in the Rubber Room as a result.

This would probably be the last time I saw him, so I decided to ask the question that occurred to me every time I saw him.

"J.F., Why did you lie about Ms. N? Why did you say that she tripped you? What did she do to you to make you want to get her fired?"

"She did! She tripped me on purpose!"

"Look. J.N. I know that isn't true. She had arthritis in both knees. The last thing she would do is grab hold of you while you were running and risk falling down."

He paused, considering his next move. Then he said,

"She wasn't really fired. She has a job in another school. So, No Harm, No Foul."

Then he ran away, and I never saw him again.

It took me barely 30 seconds to get the truth out of him--a truth Principal S _ _ _ _ _   T _ _ _ _  was never interested in hearing.

It's time to finish K.N.'s story.

Happy Thanksgiving,  S _ _ _ _ _   T _ _ _ _.