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“But like…what if you suspect that…” Calvin trailed off. Someone in the crowd said, “I wanna know the same thing.”
“If you suspect that your child has been victimized by a teacher or other school employee,” Melanie said, “there’s a number you can call. It’s listed at the bottom of the agenda.”
Ladonna looked down at her agenda, and sure enough, there was a tip line. How many other young women had been victimized by Dr. Gordon? Maybe someone needed to DNA test every baby that had been born to a female Stockton student.
Another woman stood, someone Ladonna didn’t recognize. “I got a question,” she began. She was tall and attractive, and her tone was full of attitude.
“Go ahead,” Melanie said.
The woman smiled. “Ms. Williams, I’m a woman. You’re a woman. It’s a whole bunch of women in this room. We were all high schoolers once. Are we really gon’ pretend like it ain’t some fast tail girls out there who pursue these teachers?”
There was a brief silence before the room erupted.
At least twenty other parents jumped to their feet to speak—they were respecting the order of things—but just as many stayed seated and simply shouted their opinions. Ladonna caught Marcus’ eye, and he looked as angry as she felt.
Melanie banged her gavel several times in rapid succession, but it did nothing to subdue the angry parents. Finally, Allen Davis, the PTO treasurer, stood and yelled for the crowd to shut up. His size and decibel level did the trick, and the voices in the room quieted to a low murmur.
Melanie opened and closed her mouth several times in a row, seemingly unsure of what to say. Marcus had plenty to say, so he stood, anger creasing his face.
“Ma’am. I don’t know you, and I don’t know who your kid is. I sincerely hope it’s not a girl, because that’s a shitty fucking attitude to have about young girls.”
Melanie grabbed his arm and shook her head. “Marcus!” she whispered. “Keep it clean.”
“I’m sorry, Melanie, but I gotta speak on this. Now let’s say one of these young girls did come on to a teacher. Isn’t it the teacher’s responsibility to say no?”
Several parents nodded in agreement, but the woman didn’t look impressed. “Yeah, but they’re only human. Come on, now. You’re a man. You know what that’s like,” she said with a smirk.
“I really don’t see what’s funny about this,” Marcus said. “And it’s that kind of attitude that allows this stuff to keep happening in our communities.”
“And let’s not forget,” a man yelled from the back. “Some of our boys are caught up in this mess, too!”
“Exactly,” Marcus said. “Boy, girl, want it, don’t want it. The point is that adults have the responsibility to maintain boundaries. Period.” And with that, Marcus took his seat. Melanie patted him on the back. She had always been a good friend to him. He would tell Ladonna of horror stories during the board meetings, but it seemed Melanie was always the voice of reason.
“Okay,” Melanie began, finally able to speak. “I want to address what I think is the elephant in the room right now. I’m not gonna say any names, but there’s one faculty member in particular that I would like to discuss. I want to be able to bring some solid suggestions to the school board.” She paused and glanced at Marcus. Ladonna saw it on his face. He was confused.
“Several years ago, a group of parents, many of whom are in this room right now, lobbied to get this particular faculty member hired on. Prior to his arrival, our band kids received about $10,000 in college scholarships per year, collectively, and they performed at local parades and of course at our games. Last year, our band kids received close to a half a million dollars in scholarships collectively, and they’re on track to exceed that this year. They’ve played for the newly elected mayor. They’ve participated in the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. The Bayou Classic. They even performed at our former president’s birthday party. Now, I don’t think I have to tell you what that means to our students and their parents. And their futures. So I want to open the floor to you all and see how you feel about this.”
Marcus stared at his good friend Melanie, his mouth hanging open. Ladonna was also stunned by what she’d just heard. If the rumors were true, Dr. Gordon was the worst of them all, and she almost seemed to be…advocatingfor him.
She stood. “Excuse me, Melanie. Am I hearing you right? Are you asking us to look the other way on—”
“No, no, no, oh my God, that’s not what I’m saying at all, Mrs. Lane. What I’m suggesting is that we weigh the pros and cons here, and leave the emotion out of it.”
“I’m not emotional,” Ladonna said coldly. “I’m just not about to sit here and let y’all discuss the possibility of keeping this person around our kids.”
Melanie sighed. “Does anyone else have an opinion?”
Candace Baker stood. Her son played the tuba.
“Me personally,” Candace began, “I have never had a problem with that particular faculty member. I think it would be unfair to push for him to be fired when he hasn’t even been charged with anything.”
“I agree with Candace,” Eric Jackson said, father of Willow, a clarinet player. “I feel like the smart thing to do here is to take kind of a value-added approach. I don’t think it’s wise to disregard that half-million dollars. We need to ask ourselves is he bringing more to the community than he’s taking?”
What the fuck?Ladonna thought. But if anyone else was shocked or confused, they certainly weren’t saying it. Marcus and Ladonna shared a look. Though there was no love lost between the two at that point, their connection was still intact, and they were both thinking the same thing:this is bullshit.
Several more parents spoke up and all but said that Dr. Gordon was more use to them at school than in jail. Ladonna was disgusted and bewildered, but she finally came to a realization.
There was nothing left for her here. All that talk about community and family was an illusion. Always had been. Not that her hands were clean. She’d failed Nicole when she needed her most. And for what? So the Twelve kids could go to college without incident?
