drills = ejercicios
Besos y abrazos,
Cecilia
AVIVA
Date: January 22 (14 days until February 5 school board meeting)
I asked Emily, Sharon, and Henry to help me with my project. Kayley’s too busy with school board stuff, so I didn’t bother talking to her about it. It was a little awkward asking Emily after all that’s happened this year, but I’m glad I did.
Henry makes me nervous, with all his joking around and calling me Minnie Mouse (which I’ve decided I don’t like), but he’s also fun, and I think he’s a nice person. I picked Sharon because even though we don’t really hang out, sometimes she and I think alike. She often winds up saying the things I’m thinking.
I kind of wondered if Sharon and Henry would take over once we started brainstorming, but they didn’t. They just waited for me to tell them what to do. Henry started calling me “boss,” which is way better than Minnie Mouse. And Sharon and Emily kept asking me what I thought, like I was really in charge.
We’re all pretty sure the investigator will come to school to investigate. We’re pretty sure the front office knows who’s investigating Ms. Graham. And…we’re pretty sure they won’t tell us. But, like I told Blake today, there are thirty-one of us in class. Between us all, that’s sixty-two ears and eyes. If we keep them open, we’ll hear or see something. Kermit sat by my side the whole meeting and I’m glad I had his moral support, but honestly…I’m not sure I needed him.
Maybe I make an okay team leader.
Aviva, signing off
SHARON
I love
That Aviva asked me
To be on her team (!!!!!!)
I love
That she’s making decisions
And Henry is calling her “boss.”
I love
That Kai wrote a note
For Cecilia.
I offered to deliver it
To her friends.
I am not sure
How I feel about Emily
And Aviva reconnecting.
I kind of thought Emily
Had moved on to me.
But maybe I was just
Her rebound friend.
Holding the place
Until she and Aviva could make up.
Is this the kind of friendship that can stretch to three?
EMILY
Status:
Dear Hope,
It’s been kind of fun to watch Aviva get so into being the team leader. She sat there, with Kermit by her side, and she seemed almost…confident? Like the way she used to seem when it was just the two of us at her house. I hardly ever see her be that way at school.
Things are shifting. It’s strange. Our two table groups are no longer enemies (competing against each other to have the best projects), but teammates. And Aviva and I are good again. Not 100%, but like at least 80%. It’s like whatever was broken between us is now healing.
Aviva assigned everyone in class to watch out for the investigator. We’re all taking extra bathroom and water breaks just to get more time wandering around. So far, I’ve found five adults I didn’t recognize. One was an instructional aide from the special education class. I found a speech therapist and a school psychologist. Two parent volunteers. I’ll keep looking.
Sharon joined my WRITING team, and we found this blog called KidChat. Kids get to write posts about real-world issues that affect them. We wrote an article about students on school boards. We used a thesaurus and reworked it a whole bunch of times…and then we submitted it. Fingers crossed!
* * *
KIDCHAT BLOG POST
Question of the Day: Should Students Sit on School Boards?
by Emily Thompson and Sharon Dukas
Fun Fact: Do you know that we spend an average of 6.24 hours in school every day, and an average of 181 days in school each year?
Not-So-Fun Math: This is 1,129.44 hours at school every year. And we’re in school for 13 years if you count kindergarten, so that’s 14,682.72 hours of our childhoods. Plus homework time, college, and maybe even graduate school? Total calculation = a ton of time.
So why aren’t we, the students, consulted about our own education? Why don’t we get to pick the school lunches? Why don’t we get to choose what we learn about? Why aren’t we part of the hiring and firing of teachers?? And why aren’t we given seats on school boards?
Here in Southern California, at White Oak Elementary, fifth-grade students are advocating for the addition of a student seat on their school board. They take issue with the idea of adults making all the decisions. They believe their voices should be heard.
Back to our original question, “Should students sit on school boards?”
The answer depends on whether or not you care what your students think.
Weigh in here:
Click here to add your name to their petition.
Click here if you think school boards should have at least one student seat.
“Share” or “like” if you agree.
* * *
SHARON
Kai and I cannot forget about Cecilia.
We know WHY
She disappeared into a poof of smoke.
Like a magician’s trick gone wrong.
We just don’t know WHERE.
So I bring Kai’s note
And sit with Cecilia’s friends at lunch.
I promise, cross my heart,
Hope to die, and on my mother’s life
That I won’t tell anyone, that I have no bad intentions,
That she is my friend,
And I just want to make sure she’s okay.
Guess what?
Now I know where to find her.
I can deliver Kai’s note
Myself.
I think I’ll wait
To tell Kai.
It’ll be a surprise.
CECILIA
Hola Abuelita,
I’ve been stashing all my babysitting money in an envelope. I showed Mami and told her what I planned to do with my savings. She hugged me tight. “Abuelita feels your love, mija,” she told me. This made me smile.
I’ve been to the park every day this week, Abuelita! I’ve been practicing my drills and improving my speed. My feet are already faster. Then I lie in the grass and the blades tickle the back of my neck. I keep my eyes closed, but the sun is so bright that it shines through my lids. Saving this babysitting money makes me feel hopeful, Abuelita. It makes me feel like I’m DOING something, not just waiting and worrying.
Today my eyes snapped open when I heard someone call my name. It was Sharon, my friend from my old school. I sat up and gave her a quick hug. She told me that she’s been worried about me.
My throat tightened, and I hoped I wouldn’t cry in front of her. I explained that we left quickly, and we didn’t have time for goodbyes. She told me, “Cecilia. SO much has happened since you left. Ms. Graham got in big trouble. They’re trying to fire her.”
All I could say back was “Seriously?” I couldn’t believe it. How could they want to fire a teacher who actually made learning fun? That makes me sad, and a little mad.
Sharon gave me a folded-up note from Kai and told me everyone was worried about me and they were so sorry if they caused problems for me and my family. Sharon pressed the edges of her sweatshirt against her eyes.
Then she said there was a school board meeting coming up, and invited me to come. Oh, Abuelita! I want to see my old friends, and thank Kai for his kind note. I don’t think Mami will mind. There are too many goodbyes in my life. I need more hellos.
WORDS TO PRACTICE
> goodbyes = despedidas
babysitting = cuidado de niños
grass = pasto
I’m adding a word that’s not in my letter, but it’s one I want you to know because I’m feeling it right now!
joy = alegría
Besos y abrazos,
Cecilia
BLAKE
EMILY
Status:
Dear Hope,
Whoa.
I’m taking a breath. I’m writing this down. I’m not sure if I believe it. The KidChat blog is running our “Students on the School Board” post! They asked us to make some small changes, but Mom said she’ll help us. I’m a REAL writer now! Just like my dad. If getting something published always feels this good, I can see why Dad’s so into it. They even want Sharon and me to send our photos in for the post.
We’re a teeny tiny bit excited. Okay, truth—we’re a WHOLE LOT excited. We’re already planning our next post. One on Ms. Graham, of course. And maybe later we’ll do one about the need for more homeless shelters. I know there’s no guarantee that KidChat will want another one of our articles, but why not try?
Love and luck,
Emily
KAI
Hey, Frog!
I haven’t worked this hard on a project in my entire life. Funny thing…it doesn’t even feel like work. I’m on the Design Team. Blake and I have been playing around with different images.
We’ve got a theme now, at least. We like Malala’s quote, “When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.” But we didn’t want to use those words exactly. Instead we came up with something similar. Our poster slogan will be “Everyone deserves a voice.”
Plus we’ve been passing around our petition for a student seat. Guess how many we have so far? More than a thousand. It’s because of the internet. Emily’s mom helped her set up something where people can sign electronically and forward to someone else. My mom and dad have shared it with their university department, and their education students, and all the parents are getting really into it now, and posting it (and reposting it) on social media, which kind of snowballs, you know? Plus Emily and Sharon’s blog post links to the petition, so I bet we’ll get more signatures soon.
Sharon pulled Cecilia’s “missed you today” sticky note off her desk, and it’d been there so long it left some glue residue on the table. I was just about to get mad at Sharon for it, but she caught my eye and said, “I’m working on it, Kai. Trust me.”
HENRY
VIDEO
Scene: Camera pans slowly across a fast-food drive-through.
VOICE-OVER (AVIVA): Would you order food without looking at the menu?
Scene: Camera pans slowly across voting polls.
VOICE-OVER (SHARON): Would you pass laws without taking a vote?
Scene: Camera zooms in to a meeting with adults, backs facing camera.
VOICE-OVER (BLAKE): Would you run a PTA without parents…
VOICE-OVER (KAI):…or a staff meeting without staff?
Scene: Image of jail cell and hands holding on to the bars.
VOICE-OVER (KAYLEY): Even criminals get to speak up in court. That’s because we live in the United States of America.
Scene: Camera zooms in on White Oak Elementary School.
VOICE-OVER (EMILY): Then how can you have a school board without students? Think about it. We deserve a voice.
Written words sliding across screen: IF YOU AGREE, LET YOUR SCHOOL BOARD KNOW.
Scene: Four images slide in. (1) image of phone, (2) image of email, (3) image of pen and paper, (4) image of a meeting
VOICE-OVER (ALL STUDENTS TOGETHER): Because EVERYONE deserves a VOICE.
CECILIA
Hola Abuelita,
Coach is playing me as a striker. She says my speed and strength make this a good position for me. In today’s game at the end of the second half, the score was 5 to 5, and then I scored, almost from midfield! YESSSS!
I heard cheering from my team and I looked over. Mami stood clapping, and next to her was Ms. Graham! She stood with a big dog on a leash, shading her eyes. I was SO tempted to run right out of the game and go talk to her. I was afraid she’d leave and I wouldn’t get a chance to find out what happened to her.
I tried my best to focus on the game, and when it ended, I jogged to her side. “Hi, Ms. Graham,” I said, all breathless.
She smiled and said hi back and told me I’ve gotten faster. I had so many questions to ask her, but I didn’t know where to start. Instead I told her that I missed her. (My new teacher is so boring.) She said she’d missed us too, and then she seemed like she was in a hurry to leave. I’m definitely going to that school board meeting.
WORDS TO PRACTICE
midfield = medio campo
Besos y abrazos,
Cecilia
KAI
Hey, Frog!
I saw Ms. Severns walking around with this short, dressed-up lady (wearing a district office badge). I swear she looked just like the evil Umbridge from Harry Potter, and I could tell she wanted Ms. Severns to know she was important.
The investigator! I found her!!!!
Let me just say, she did not seem the open-minded type. I turned and took a long drink at the fountain so I could listen a little. Ms. Severns’s voice was all high-pitched. Seeing my principal nervous tells me that my gut feeling is right on.
This investigator means trouble.
KAYLEY
Dear Ms. Graham,
So much is happening! The school board meeting is tonight. The student seat is an official Agenda Item, and we’ve got over three thousand signatures on our petition. Emily and Sharon’s KidChat blog post has gotten six hundred and fifty-seven shares, and Henry’s YouTube link has been viewed more than a thousand times. We’re gonna crush it!
Aviva’s plan actually worked. Not that I doubted her. Okay, maybe I did. But the girl pulled it off! We found the Investigator, and she had her name right there on a badge. She talked to the principal, and other teachers, and she pulled out a few of us students to talk to individually. We hadn’t really prepped for that part. Hopefully nobody screwed it up.
Aviva and Emily are buddy-buddy again, but Blake’s taking up a ton of my time anyway, so it’s okay. He’s actually turning into a friend (!!!).
AVIVA
Date: February 5 (0 days until February 5 school board meeting)
We’re NOT ready! Need More Time!
The investigator talked to a handful of kids. Not me, though. She didn’t talk to me. And I really had a lot to say.
I felt almost sick about it. Through the window I could see the investigator walking back toward the parking lot. Leaving already? But what if I don’t even get a chance to talk to her? What if she shares her findings tonight, before we even get a student seat on the board? Then everything we’ve done will have been for nothing.
Maybe I was talking under my breath, because Henry was all, “Me neither. And you know I’ve got a lot to say.” I was a little confused because I didn’t know I’d been talking out loud in the first place, but then he was like, “You go, boss. You can do it.”
So before I knew it, I was waving my hand in the air, like my bladder was about to burst. Only Ms. Millbrook kept typing on the computer, not even glancing up. The investigator shrank in the window as she edged farther and farther away, and Henry nudged my elbow, so I scrambled up to Ms. Millbrook’s desk. “Can I go to the bathroom, please?” I asked, and I’m pretty sure I looked desperate, because I sure felt that way.
Ms. Millbrook glanced up real slow and looked at the clock, and it reminded me of that scene from Zootopia when the sloth is telling a joke in the slowest-possible-way. “I have to go badly,” I added. But then she was all, “It’s almost
recess. Can’t you wait?”
I shot a glance out the window again. The investigator pulled her rolling briefcase near the last portable building. Then all of a sudden, Henry was behind me, whispering to Ms. Millbrook. “Ms. Millbrook? Aviva is too shy to tell you, but she has a stomach issue. I sit right next to her. I should know.”
And Ms. Millbrook’s forehead bunched, and she ushered me off, and if I wasn’t about to cry, I might have burst into hysterical laughter. Stomach issue? He might as well have said “explosive diarrhea” or “toxic gas.”
But it did the trick, because she handed me our stuffed-animal-frog bathroom pass, and I bolted out the door, down the hall, after the investigator, after her clickety-clicking heels. For a split second, I was grateful for all that relay race practice, because I’ve never run so fast.
“Wait, wait!” I yelled as I ran, which I know is not polite, and especially not-the-way-to-talk to a grown-up at school. But the investigator kept walking.
I barreled past the kindergarten quad, nearly tripping over a backpack, and then some kinder-aide stepped in front of me with her mad-teacher-of-small-children voice: “There is NO RUNNING in the halls!” And believe it or not, I just dodged her, and kept racing toward the investigator.
“WAIT!” I yelled again. The investigator whirled around, all surprised, and she looked like the kind of person who wouldn’t believe my stuffed frog was a bathroom pass, and I thought I might be about to faint from stress and lack of oxygen, so I figured I’d better talk real fast before I passed out or got sent to the principal (whichever might happen first).
“Ms. Mervin,” I read her name from her badge, “you can’t leave yet—you didn’t talk to me, you didn’t hear what I had to say.” She gave me an impatient, I-don’t-have-time-for-this sigh, but I just took a deep breath and kept on talking. “Please don’t decide about Ms. Graham at the school board meeting tonight. You have to hear from all of us first.”
She straightened up, her eyebrows bunching like angry caterpillars. “Excuse me?” Only she’d clearly heard, because she went on to say, “I cannot discuss ongoing investigations.” With every word, her mouth lay flatter and flatter, which did not give me a good feeling. I could tell I’d irritated her. “I’ll be presenting at next month’s meeting.”
Operation Frog Effect Page 13