Wisps of Snow

by Ross Richdale

  "Bureaucratic nonsense, Don. I just ignore all that crap. Heard though, that she's creating hell over at your school. A real bitch, is she?"

  "You could say that. The trouble is she's a sexy looking blonde who looks like a young dish a couple of years out of teachers' college and speaks in an ordinary voice without that snobby tone some of the women around here use. But beware, she is like cold steel inside, has x-ray vision and a greyhound's nose when it comes to sniffing out what she perceives could be wrong. Also she has the authority to act. Get offside with her and she could have your school closed within a term and you transferred to a Dunedin school as junior assistant of Year 1 kids."

  Ethan laughed. "I'm trembling in my boots, Don."

  "You may scoff but she's coming out to visit you tomorrow. I phoned to warn you."

  There was silence for a moment before Ethan replied. "I got an email from the ministry about her appointment but there was nothing about an upcoming visit. Isn't this illegal?"

  "You're the union man but I doubt if the new regulations require notice of a visit being a requirement for an executive principal. They're like inspectors back in the old days."

  Ethan laughed. "You're showing your age, Don. That was a bit before my time, you know, twenty-five years or more."

  "I know but be careful, that's all I'd like to say. She'll probably be there about morning interval, has a little girl at the crèche here so won't leave too early. Just swallow your pride and tolerate her for the day."

  "Thanks for calling, Don. I think I'll be able to handle her."

  Don grimaced as he clicked off. Knowing Ethan, he wouldn't change much but at least he couldn't say he hadn't been forewarned.

  AFTER DROPPING ALEXIS off early at Little Hans, Karla and Ryan headed west towards Luxton Road School through a crisp frost. Kev, from Tuckett Motors had agreed to drive the bus that day and Ryan had insisted on accompanying her. Karla was glad for the company as she sat in the passenger seat and gazed around at the frozen landscape. Condensation that puffed out of beef cattle noses as they cuddled together on icy paddocks added to the solitude. Back in Wellington at this time there would be bumper-to-bumper traffic on the motorways. It was a different world!

  "You don't realise how empty the area is, do you?" Ryan said.

  "I know. I often think that schools are their own little worlds and once you're in one, it doesn't make a lot of difference where it is but drive out of town and..." Karla grinned as a car came by in the opposite direction and the driver waved.

  "That's why I like driving the bus."

  They chatted as they continued on before Ryan nodded at the car's navigation map. The turnoff to Luxton Road was coming up. The side road wound back through small hills for another ten kilometres before the map showed a small triangle to indicate where the school was situated. There were no other buildings nearby such as a hall or shop on the map.

  Karla saw the school first when they came around a corner. There it was on a small hill, a quite modern looking building with two classrooms and smoke rising straight up from chimneys above both rooms. A couple of small outbuildings, a hedge around the boundary and a tiny bus, even smaller than the one Ryan drove, was parked beside a bus shed between the school and an adjacent schoolhouse. Tyre marks on the frosty roadside indicated where parents had stopped to let children off. Now at nine thirty, the vehicles had all gone. The only other activity in sight was a tractor pulling a trailer that was followed by a line of cattle as a farmer tossed out hay for them to eat.

  "Such an peaceful scene," she sighed. "Why people can't get on in a place like this amazes me." Her mood changed to the reason for their visit. "John sent Ethan Gibbons a formal email stating who I was, that I would be visiting and he was to have all documents available for me to see. He never said when I was coming nor did he mention that Alison and Maria had approached me. Our idea was to make it seem like a routine visit by myself in my new capacity."

  AFTER LEAVING RYAN who said he'd travel up the road for a while to keep the car warm before coming back to park and do some work on his iPad, she walked in the gate. Before her was an asphalt area with slide marks across the frost where children had been sliding or skating. A couple of large sheets of plastic held in place by a rock suggested it was the former. Lights were on in both classrooms even though she knew there were only seventeen pupils at the school and just one sole teacher. Smoke belched out of two chimneys and that smell of burning wood enveloped her. It was similar to Honeyburn School in many ways in that curtains were drawn across the classroom windows so she could not see inside.

  She followed a footpath around one side and up to a porch with a door that opened into a warm foyer with pegs, on which children's jackets and hats were placed. Boots and gumboots were arranged neatly beneath while, on the opposite wall there were more pegs with children's names above hand towels and backpacks. Two doors led to the boys and girls' toilets while another two doors were signposted as Staffroom and Room 1. It all looked tidy and clean with hardly any water on the floor from melted frost. A small radiator that was fed by hot pipes leading out of the wall, kept the foyer warm.

  "Interesting," she muttered to herself for one sign of a run down school was a mess in an entranceway.

  She knocked on the door and heard footsteps. A tall thin man with short hair, a neatly trimmed beard streaked with grey and dressed in casual but neat clothes, opened it. He was older than she expected, being closer to fifty than forty. In some ways he reminded her of Ted Wilton, her predecessor at Top Plateau School before she was the principal there.

  "I am Karla Spicer from the Ministry of Education," she said.

  He grabbed her hand and shook it with a tight squeeze. "Hi there, Karla. I'm Ethan Gibbons. Got here a bit early but place your coat on a peg and come on in. You're most welcome."

  She frowned and noticed his grin. "You heard I was coming, didn't you?"

  He laughed. "Well, you know these country districts? Don Trow actually called and said you might drop in."

  "Did he now?" Karla was annoyed but on second thoughts, it was the type of thing Trow would do. Perhaps that was why the foyer was so neat and tidy. She hid her annoyance and briefly stated the reason for her visit without mentioning the meeting with Alison and Maria Beaumont. Perhaps, of course if Don had recognised them when they visited Tuckett, he may have passed that information on, as well.

  Ethan though, showed no sign of having heard of their visit as he held the door back and she stepped into a tidy but empty classroom. Like the foyer, it was neat and warm with desks of various sizes placed together in three groups. There was a bookshelf near a wood-burner with two large beanbags; one she noticed had a child sitting in it. A girl of about ten glanced up from a book she was reading, gave her a tiny wave and immersed herself back in the book she was reading. The computer on a small table next to the bookshelf was turned off.

  A whiteboard had a ruled up timetable on it with the time across the top and three sections for junior, middle and senior children, who would be Year 8s, down the side. The main part, though was empty. Underneath was a Notices and News sign with her name written under a smaller Visitors sign.

  "The kids fill in what they've done everyday," Ethan said. "Rubbed off yesterday's work. Guess I should have left it on for you to see.'

  She frowned. It was almost as if the man was mocking her. "Where are your children?" she asked.

  Ethan used his thumb to point at a door beside the whiteboard. "In the other classroom. We call it The Inspiration Room. Go through, if you wish."

  "And this room is what?" she asked.

  "Our classroom, it has no other name. It's where the children come to get help, do personal work or research." Ethan glanced at her. "All my school records are online on the office computer for you to look at." He chuckled. "It's really a corner of the staffroom but that is all we need in a school this size." He nodded at the computer. "We have two computers and five iPads for the children to use, not bad for a school this
size."

  "And why aren't you taking a formal lesson at this time of the day?" Karla asked in a firm voice and smiled to herself when she noticed Ethan's self-confidence falter for a second. "I would have though that this would be the prime teaching time for one of the basic subjects such as reading, language or math."

  "I operate flexible time and help the children with their work when they need me..." He continued on with what sounded like a well-rehearsed lecture of his philosophy of catering for educational needs when the pupils required them. "There is a full account on my computer if you wish to read it."

  "Oh I will," Kara replied. "At the moment, though, I'd like to see what the children are doing."

  "Of course. Go through to The Inspiration Room."

  "Oh one other thing," Karla said. "If I was not here at this moment, what would you be doing now?"

  "Just about anything and everything, hearing reading, helping one of the older children solve a math problem, a little one write his news; with seventeen kids all working at their own level, I hardly stop." Again there was a slight undertone of mockery in his voice.

  "I have taught in a school this size, Ethan," she said. "I do know the work involved and the follow up necessary. How, for example are your children doing on national standards?"

  He glowered. "Don't do them. They're bureaucratic crap brought in illegally against the majority of teachers' wishes."

  "So this school is one of the few refusing to do them?"

  "That is correct. What is you opinion?"

  Karla wasn't about to have an argument for he obviously was against them and anything she might say would not alter his opinion. His demure was already beginning to show cracks. "My opinion is of no consequence," she replied. "Schools in New Zealand have legal requirements. Part of my duties are to see that these are followed."

  "All black and white?" Ethan's tone became harsh.

  Karla returned his gaze but refused a reply. "Thank you. I'd like to go through to the other room now. I've held you up enough so just carry on with what you normally do."

  He shrugged slightly and waved his hand out in a casual way. "Go ahead. I was about to take a reading group when you arrived." He turned and addressed the girl still reading across the room. "Will you ask Blue Reading Group to come to me, please, Christine?"

  "Right, Ethan." She stood and opened the door between the classrooms and shouted above the noise coming through. "Aye, Peter, Phil and Joanne. Ethan wants you for reading. Get in here!"

  Karla watched as three eight or nine-year-old children came in with readers in their hands and sat on chairs already placed before the teacher's desk. They looked uncertain and almost embarrassed as they stole glances at her. Karla knew this age group well and thought that their body language was wrong for everything looked rehearsed and unnatural. She said nothing, though but walked through to the other room.

  THE OTHER CLASSROOM was noisy but no more than any other classroom during an informal art lesson or free period. The activities the children were doing also seemed similar to an ordinary classroom perhaps led by a teacher not too concerned about having a working atmosphere. That was until she strolled around and had a closer look.

  A television in the corner being watched by four younger children was on Channel 4, a commercial channel that broadcast preschool programmes at this time of day. They were sort of educational but were not designed to extend school-aged children. Three middle school aged children, two boys and a girl had made a playhouse out of pillows and rugs and were playing mock fights and tossing soft toys at each other.

  Three older children were sitting on beanbags engrossed in their iPads but on closer inspection, they were not watching educational programs. One was watching a transformer movie, a girl had a reality show on her iPad and a boy was playing a game of warriors fighting.

  "And you do this every morning?" she asked the boy.

  He glanced up as if he had noticed her for the first time, switched his iPad off and flushed. "Sometimes," he muttered. "Not all the time."

  The girl next to him who had also switched her reality show off her iPad gave him a nudge. "This is the lady who has come to see our work, Wallace," she said. "It's Mrs Spicer from the Ministry of Education."

  "Oh hell," Wallace muttered. "Sorry Mrs Spicer, we weren't expecting you until after Ethan's break time."

  "Why do you call it that," Karla asked.

  "We don't have interval. Ethan said bells were a sign of regimentation so we don't have them."

  "So you just keep doing what you're doing now?"

  "More or less," the girl cut in. "If it's not too cold, the little ones like to go outside and play. They usually come back after twenty minutes or so. Us older kids would rather stay in here, not in summer of course."

  "And your name is?" Karla asked.

  "Nora Beaumont, Mrs Spicer."

  Karla nodded. "And your mum is Maria?"

  "You know her?" Nora gasped.

  So Nora didn't know her mother and aunt had contacted her. "Yes. I met her and your aunt over at Tuckett the other day. She told me she had children going to this school."

  Nora looked up. "And she showed you my two books?"

  "She did actually."

  The girl stared at her and her lip trembled. "I try, Mrs Spicer. Even though Mum says I should do more and clean my books up, I try."

  Karla saw that she was quite distressed so sat beside her and talked quietly about what she did at school. It appeared that far from the philosophy that children would eventually want to learn and progress when this happened, here at Luxton Road School the opposite was happening. Whether it was peer pressure, teacher apathy or something at home Karla did not know but in Nora's case it appeared that she was purposely producing low quality work.

  "I want to see your books, Nora and also the other work you have produced."

  "Other work, Mrs Spicer? There is no other work."

  Karla stared at her. "What about work on the computer?"

  The girl glanced down and pouted. "Nobody is interested in my work, Mrs Spicer. Mum has Savannah, Dad is always out on the farm with the boys and Ethan couldn't care-a-less."

  Nora pointed out her two brothers who were playing together with construction blocks across the room. They were eight and six while Savannah was a baby who was just coming up to her first birthday. Nora had turned twelve a couple of months earlier. It appeared that she was a bright girl who appeared quite introverted and lonely.

  "I'm interested in your work, Nora," Karla said. "Will you show me?"

  Nora smiled slightly, nodded and led her though to the other room where the computer still sat there, unused. She sat down, entered her own page and brought up a colourful book cover of a tropical island with blue sky and two girls paddling in an outrigger canoe. Across the top were the words, The Island that is Nowhere and Everywhere, by Nora Beaumont.

  "I download pictures from the internet to cut and paste," Nora said. "The fancy writing comes from a special font application, Ethan found for me."

  "What a delightful cover. Can we look inside?"

  Nora smiled and brought up a table of contents that listed eight chapters, each with a name such as The Cloud that Cried, Caught on the Reef, When the Little People Came and four more. "What one would you like to see?" she asked.

  "How about Caught on the Reef?"

  Nora brought up a page that had a small drawing at the top that was obviously self-drawn. This was followed by a complete story of two thousand words. Karla began reading and was impressed with both the ideas and the presentation. There were a few structural errors and some sentences rambled on a little but it was as good as any she had seen produced by a Year 7 or 8 pupil. The other chapters were similar; all had a drawing at the top, a fancy heading, chapter number and a self-contained story between five hundred and a thousand words in length.

  "Nora, this is wonderful."

  Nora grinned in pleasure. "I try to do one story a week but the bigger ones take me longer.
"

  "And you've told nobody?"

  "Not really. The only person that I told a little bit about it is Granny. She lives in Auckland but sends me emails every week. I think she's just being polite, though."

  "But not your Mum, Dad or Ethan?"

  "Nope!"

  Karla stood up. "Wait here," she said and walked across to the teacher who was chatting to another group of children about their reading. "Can Nora print off her work for you to see?" she asked.

  He glanced up. "Sure."

  "It'll run to twenty or more A4 pages."

  Ethan glanced across the room at Nora and nodded. "She's on that computer so much everyone calls it Nora's computer," he said. "You say she's done quite a bit of work?"

  "You might be pleasantly surprised," Karla replied. "Thanks Ethan."

  Back with Nora, she asked her how the printer worked.

  "It's in the staffroom. I've only used it a few times. At home, Mum reckons the paper is pretty expensive so I don't like to ask Ethan if I can use it."

  "Well, we're going to now. Get it going and we'll go through and see what happens.

  The printer was a modern one that could print on both sides of a page. After a few adjustments with the margins that she helped Nora with, they printed off twenty-one A4 sized pages and stapled it together.

  "Take it to Ethan," Karla said and watched as she saw the teacher take the work and, like herself seemed impressed as he turned the pages and commented to Nora who stood there looking so proud.

  She came back to where Karla stood by the computer and smiled. "He loved it, Mrs Spicer. Thank you. "

  "You did all the hard work, Nora. Now take this home tonight. I'm sure your Mum and Dad will be just as thrilled as your teacher."

  AS KARLA SAT IN THE staffroom reading Ethan's documentation after morning break she became quite impressed. His main document on the school's philosophy and how he intended to put it into operation read like a thesis and probably was. It was somewhat extreme but the shortcomings on the practical side were not impossible to rectify. If Ethan Gibbons was prepared to compromise a little, realise he was in a conservative rural area and accept her suggestions there was no reason the school couldn't become a great learning environment. In some ways, it was like a miniature Tuckett Area School without the high school section.