"Dick in a Box", the Principal's Revenge, a Fucking Rat, & the Backstabber...

Previously, Part One: Sometimes You're the Joker and Sometimes the Joke's on You...

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When I got home that afternoon, before I went into the house, I talked to my neighbor, a part-time cop. I told him about the "dick in a box" and asked if a 17-year-old could be tried as an adult and, if found guilty, end up becoming a registered sex offender for life. He didn't hesitate to answer, "Absolutely!"

When I walked into the house and told my wife what had happened, she said, "You should've reported it! Now you'll lose your job if someone finds out what happened!"

I told her I did exactly what the teacher's handbook says, "attempted to take care of the matter myself." I told her I didn't want one stupid mistake to define this kid for the rest of his life. It was a dumb practical joke, and as a teacher, I was all about second chances. 

The following day, I had a meeting scheduled at noon with the new Career Technical Education (CTE) Director and a student I wrote up for "destruction of school property." All the CTE instructors had lunch and planning time during fourth period, and because there were three lunches, it was the longest period of the day and the perfect time for the meeting.

The kid had taken a rubber mallet and put black scuff marks up and down one of the steel columns I painted three years ago before the Department of Education's shop inspection. There were four 14-foot high columns, and I was given one day to paint and put the proper signage on them before the inspection. I stayed until after midnight and got it done. They looked great, and the shop was approved.

This kid was a behavioral problem. He was in my Home Improvement class, an elective I was required to teach during my third year when he was a freshman. He caused a lot of trouble in that class. 

Toward the end of the year, he received an out-of-school suspension for making threatening remarks to a female student on school property. He missed the entire next year. When he was cleared to return to public school, despite my objections, the new CTE Director put him in the plumbing program.

During second period, I received a call from the director that she had decided to meet with the kid during third period herself. I told her I wanted to be there, but she insisted that she meet with him alone, which was very unusual…

That afternoon, after school, I went to her office to see how the meeting went and to tell her what happened with the shower valve box the day before. My wife's warning got me thinking I should come clean and tell my boss about the dick in a box. I was in my fifth year teaching at that school and didn't want to lose my job, especially after working so hard to build the shop, write the curriculum, and certify the plumbing program.

She said the meeting went fine, and then I told her about the "dick in a box."  I said that since I hadn't witnessed it myself, I didn't consider myself a mandatory reporter, and had I witnessed it, I would've reported it immediately. I told her what I did and thought I handled it in-shop without escalating it. She just kept smiling and listening.

When I finished, she told me I handled it well and that it was best to avoid police involvement, which would've escalated it to another level. And that was it.

The following day, my wife had a PET scan at Dana-Farber, so I took a personal day to drive her into Boston and be with her for the scan. The CTE Director knew I was gonna be at Dana-Farber with my wife the next day, and as I was leaving her office, she smiled and wished me and my wife good luck.

When I returned to school the day after the scan, I was immediately summoned to the Principal's office and told I could bring union representation. That meant it was disciplinary.

I brought the union president with me, and we were told I was being put on an unpaid, two-day administrative leave and receiving a permanent note in my file for not reporting the dick-in-a-box incident. I understood that three notes in my file were enough to fire me. Under the teacher contract, I was given three days to dispute the charge/punishment…

When I arrived at the school in 2013, there wasn't a plumbing shop. I was hired to build the shop, write the curriculum, and have the program Chapter 74 certified, which usually takes 3-5 years. I did it in under two.

I started as a .5 on the pay scale, which is half a paycheck. I was only required to work until 10:30, but I was there until after 4:00 every day, building the shop and writing the curriculum. I was excited to build a plumbing shop and program from scratch.

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The following year, I was putting in close to 75 hours a week and still only receiving .8 on the pay scale, but I knew that my arrangement with the Assistant Superintendent when I was hired had me at full salary in my third year.

At the time, the state had given the school a grant to build a new football stadium with a concession stand containing the mandatory number and type of bathrooms.

The then-CTE Director came to me in mid-October of my second year and told me the Principal wanted me to take my sophomore class to finish the plumbing work in the concession stand that a local plumbing company started. The Principal said the project was way over budget, and he figured I could help him with his dilemma.

I told her I couldn't do that. To take kids out of class and do co-op work, they needed a year and a half of classroom/shop experience and their OSHA 10 certification. The sophomores had only been in the plumbing program for a month and a half at that point, OSHA certification classes didn't begin until their junior year, and the maximum number of students I could take to a job site was eight, meaning the other kids would be forced to sit in the shop with a substitute and do nothing.

I explained that the plumber on the permit was the only one who could legally do the plumbing work on the job. I warned her that should a kid get hurt working on school property illegally, the school could be sued, and I'd surely lose my job and my plumbing license because, as a licensed plumber, I should know better.

A few days later, I was summoned to the Assistant Superintendent's office, where he told me, "Everyone breaks the rules; it's how things get done in education." I told him I had worked very hard to become a licensed master plumber and teacher and that there was no way I would jeopardize that. He abruptly ended the meeting when he realized I wouldn't back down.

I called the plumber on the permit and told him what the Principal wanted me to do. He had a good laugh. He suggested I take my students to the job site for a show and tell, which I did.

Despite everything I told his CTE Director and Assistant Superintendent, the principal held a grudge and spent the next five years trying to fire me because I refused to finish the commercial bathrooms in the concession stand illegally with inexperienced 14 and 15-year-old kids while working on another plumber's permit…

The two-day suspension without pay was the first time the Principal had an opportunity to put a note in my file. He needed two more to fire me, which was his goal, and he was in a perfect position to do it.

I found out later that when the CTE Director canceled our 12:00 meeting with the kid who tattooed the steel column with a rubber mallet, and took the meeting herself, she was working on behalf of the Principal. She was attempting to dig up some dirt on me for her boss, and that kid was the perfect one to help her do it. A fucking rat who would do anything to avoid punishment. I suspected she made a deal with him. She'd let him off easy for destroying school property in exchange for information she could use against me…

When the CTE director and I met after school to discuss the meeting she had with the student I wrote up for destruction of school property, and I spilled my guts about the "dick in a box," she already knew about it. And, on direct orders from the Principal, and I suspect, extreme pressure, she had already called local police and filed a report, something she neglected to tell me, escalating it to a police matter. 

I went to the police station and immediately requested a copy of the report. It took over a week and several calls, but I eventually got a heavily redacted copy. It had the look and smell of a cover-up. I still have it.

The kid whose dick was in the box received a lengthy out-of-school suspension, but he became very popular and, in certain groups, was crowned the funniest kid in the school for his prank.

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With her actions, the new CTE Director had proven herself to be a two-faced liar and a backstabber…

One question remained. Besides her current job as Director of CTE, what was in it for her?

To be continued…

*All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental…