I PAT MARGOT’S hand as we sit in the chairs outside the principal’s office. “Ms. Vinelli won’t be angry,” I assure her.
Margot’s eyes widen. “She’s never mad,” she says. “I just don’t want anyone to be disappointed.”
“Oh, Margot, nobody is disappointed in you.” My heart surges at the thought of her anxiety about this. “This is a problem for adults to manage. For instance, I should have monitored the tablet devices’ ability to access the internet…”
I’m cut off by our principal opening her office door, setting off a series of tinkling door chimes. “Mr. Trachtenberg! Ms. Costa! Please, come in!” Margot hops up and walks into the office, familiarly taking a seat in a papasan chair and squeezing a fuzzy throw pillow onto her lap.
I follow less enthusiastically and perch on the edge of a folding chair. Kellie Vinelli sinks into her white chair and drapes her arms over the arm-rests. “Now,” she says, smiling as ever. “Who can tell me why I’ve asked you to come here today?”
I roll my eyes and stifle a groan. “I know my students were pictured in a video recorded during my class, and that the video is circulating the web.” She opens her mouth and I hold up a finger. “I also know we didn’t get photo and media release forms from all the kids’ guardians this year and that we are not allowed to have such a video circulating the web.”
Kellie Vinelli smiles and steeples her fingers on her lap. “That’s about the gist of things. Very good, Mr. Trachtenberg.”
Margot starts squirming in her seat and finally bursts out, “It was my fault. I encouraged everyone to make the video. At first we just emailed it to Ms. Vine to thank her for the field trip! But then it was my idea to expand it and post it online.” Her cheeks flush. Kellie nods as she speaks and opens her own mouth to reply when Margot jumps to her feet. “I just got the best idea.” She claps her hands. “Mr. T, what if we call all the adults and ask them to send in their forms?”
I groan audibly this time. Half my students’ parents and guardians haven’t listed active phone numbers. Ms. Vinelli taps her chin with a manicured nail. “May I see the video in question?”
I furrow my brow at her, incredulous that she hasn’t even seen the thing and yet she sent schoolwide memos about it, complete with her signature exclamation points. But Margot is unperturbed, rummaging in her bag for her Vinea-issued tablet. I cede a mental point to the principal’s genius when I observe her studying the lack of security to access the device and open some of the apps. My stomach turns at the thought of how much worse things could have been than the students posting a positive video.
As Margot plays the video, Kellie notes the students whose faces are visible: only five, including Margot.
When the video stops, Kellie sighs. “Well, Margot, we do know your mother gave permission for us to use your picture.”
Margot grins. “One down, four to go, right?”
Kellie nods. “Why don’t you head on to class, dear? Mr. Trachtenberg and I will discuss some of the specifics of this growth opportunity.”
Margot nods and heads out of the room, looking relieved. I ease up at her change in demeanor. I can handle a consequence. I just don’t want my middle schoolers to feel discouraged. When the office door clicks shut again in another tinkle of chimes, Kellie adopts a more relaxed posture. “AJ. Adriel. You know, I’m not sure which you prefer?”
“AJ is fine.”
“Do you have contact information for the other four students who appear in that video?” She raises a brow and points to the list on her desk.
I nod. “Some of them. Between me and Leo I bet we can at least make contact.”
Kellie bites her lip. “I’m sure you know I need you to collect the tablets so the district IT staff can set up security features.” I nod again. She smiles, back to her cheery demeanor. “Excellent! So you’ll deposit the devices with my admin by end of day and retroactively get me those release forms! Wasn’t it so good to catch up?”
My eyes widen as I realize I’m being dismissed.
I hide in my classroom during my prep period, too overwhelmed to go and get my lunch from the teachers’ lounge. I’m not surprised when I hear a tap on my classroom door, however, and look up to see Leo. He slides into the room and closes the door behind him. “Want to tell me why I just got a memo to collect the students’ tablet devices?”
I blow a raspberry. “Did you know they all have social media apps on them? And that the students have been faking older birthdays to access them?”
Leo winces. “Whoops.”
I snort. “Yeah. Whoops. I managed to get 18 from my first class. Two of the kids said they left theirs at home. They all moaned that they won’t even be fun anymore by the time we give them back.”
Leo perches on the edge of my desk. “This is all your fault,” he deadpans. I smack his leg. “Well,” he says, crossing his arms, “what’s with the data analysis bird thingy you brought up at the staff meeting. Will they be able to access that on the locked down, no-fun tablets?”
I nod. “Should be able to.” I flip open my laptop, intending to show him the website where Samantha made the rough section for the kids to collect data on the chimney swift migrations. “The kids can join local researchers tracking frog populations, owl hoots, lots of different things throughout the city.” I pause while the site loads. “Hell, we can walk right over to Frick Park to do all this and still use the school wifi to enter the data.” The page opens with a fluttering bird animation. I feel a lump form in my throat when I see that she fine-tuned the whole thing, making it look professional and organized, adding tabs for other citizen science projects all suitable for middle schoolers to use. I turn to Leo. “I’m such an asshole,” I whisper.
He nods. “I know, AJ. It’s okay.”
“She really does just want to help people,” I mutter. Leo continues nodding. “I fucked up with her, Leo. What do I do?”
He grips my shoulders. “You need to go apologize.” He nods his head toward the door. “Go on. I’ve got prep last period today. I’ll cover your class.”
I feel my heart race and I shake my head. “I need to clean up my mess here first.”
Leo grins. “You don’t think I can collect some iPads from your damn honor students? They probably already heard the rumor and turned them in downstairs. These little weasels will do anything to avoid getting in trouble.”
I grab my keys from my desk drawer and stuff them in my pocket. “Thank you, Leo. Seriously.”
“Any time, man. Now think big with that apology, AJ. And then go bigger than that.”