Problems at the Start

“You can go in,” Mr. Price says as soon as Joey and I walk into the office.

This is the second time this week Joey and I have been to see the principal. When we were here on Monday, I didn’t think we’d be back so soon.

Mrs. Daily is already there with Mrs. Finney. “It seems we have a problem,” says Mrs. Finney as soon as we’re seated.

Joey and I look at each other. That’s pretty obvious. The reps for the food drive were chosen yesterday. Lots of kids signed up, which is a good thing.

Here’s what’s not so good. A lot of kids in fifth grade are upset Mary Ann and Zoe got picked to be the class reps. Since Mary Ann is Joey’s stepsister and my friend, and Zoe is Mary Ann’s friend, a lot of kids thought it was unfair, even though Mrs. Daily told everyone she did a random drawing to pick their names.

I was surprised Mary Ann even signed up to be a rep, since she said she wasn’t interested when I asked her if she wanted to do the food drive with me. But she did, and now a bunch of people are mad.

Arielle said she thought the selection was rigged.

Danielle said that she and Arielle both wanted to be class reps and that they’re going to boycott the food drive.

Half our grade isn’t even speaking to Joey or me.

“I don’t get why people are mad at us. Joey and I didn’t have anything to do with who got picked to be reps,” I say to Mrs. Finney and Mrs. Daily.

“That’s true,” says Mrs. Daily. “But we have the meeting with the reps this afternoon and we don’t want to start the food drive with people feeling bad.”

“We need to do a little damage control,” says Mrs. Finney.

I’m not even sure what that means. I find out a little later that day. Mrs. Finney shows up at the music room while all the fifth graders are in class with Mom.

Everyone looks at me as the principal motions Mom over to the door and talks to her. I don’t usually mind that Mom is the music teacher, but today I do.

It’s bad enough that I’m part of the reason Mrs. Finney is here. It’s even worse that Mom is involved too.

Mrs. Finney walks to the front of the music room and raises her hand to get everyone’s attention. “I’m going to make this short and sweet,” she says. Her voice sounds like she’s conducting a business meeting.

“I’m counting on the fifth grade to be supportive of the food drive. Mary Ann Martin and Zoe Anderson are your class reps. They were chosen fairly, and I expect all of you to help them make this project a success.”

Mrs. Finney pauses like she wants to be sure no one misses what she says next.

“I don’t want to hear of one problem with this grade. In fact, I fully expect your grade to bring in the most cans and win that homework-free week. What do you say?”

Everyone cheers.

I guess that problem is solved. “Hopefully, we don’t have any more problems this afternoon at the rep meeting,” I whisper to Joey.

But the rep meeting doesn’t go as smoothly as I’d hoped. First, Joey and I explain to the reps which canned goods the kids in their classes should bring in. “The Fern Falls Food Bank was very specific about what they want for Thanksgiving,” says Joey.

“Just corn, green beans, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie filling, gravy, and cranberry sauce,” I tell the group.

“Did you say pumpkin pie filling and cranberry sauce?” asks Mike Parker, a third grader.

“Or did you say cranberry pie filling and pumpkin sauce?” asks Marcus Ling, the other third-grade rep. Both boys crack up, and some of the other kids laugh too.

I give Joey a they’re-being-wise-guys look.

“What about peas and carrots? Those are good foods for Thanksgiving,” says Lindsay Marshall, a first grader.

“So are onions,” says her co-rep, Melissa Levy.

“Onions stink,” says Amy Stark, one of the second-grade reps. She holds her nose like she doesn’t even like thinking about the way onions smell.

The other second-grade rep, Tristan Williams, makes a retching noise.

There’s more laughter. “Onions don’t come in cans,” says Annabelle Blake, one of the fourth-grade reps.

“Fried onions do,” says Max Garcia, the other fourth-grade rep.

“How are we supposed to remember what’s OK to bring in?” asks Jake Willensky, one of the sixth-grade reps.

Joey holds his hands up stop-sign style to get the others to stop talking. “We made a list of all the acceptable foods,” he says.

Mrs. Daily hands me the copies we made of the list. “This will make it easy to share the information with your classes,” she says.

As I start to pass them around, Zoe raises her hand. “Maybe we should make posters to show kids exactly what to bring.”

“We could post them around school and in the classrooms,” Mary Ann says like she’s finishing Zoe’s thought.

Mrs. Daily smiles. “That’s an excellent idea.” She sends Zoe and Mary Ann to her classroom to get poster board and markers.

I agree with Mrs. Daily that it’s an excellent idea. I just wish Joey and I had thought of it.

When Mary Ann and Zoe return with the poster board, Mrs. Daily breaks the reps into small groups so there are younger kids and older kids in each group. As the groups make posters, Joey and I explain how cans should be collected.

“It’s a three-step process,” I say. “Step one: tell the kids in your grade which foods to bring in. Step two: bring the cans you collect to the gym. Step three: put the cans in the area marked for your grade.”

Joey shows the reps how we sectioned off and marked areas on one end of the gym for the reps to stack their cans.

“It’s simple,” I say. “When the food drive ends, we’ll count the cans and the grade that brings in the most cans wins the homework-free week.” When I’m done explaining, there are lots of questions. It’s clear some of the reps don’t think this is as simple as I do.

What if kids bring in the wrong kinds of cans?

What if kids bring in boxes instead of cans?

What if kids eat what they bring in?

As Mrs. Daily answers the questions, I can’t help but think about an expression she taught us in third grade: off to a rocky start.

It means that a situation is difficult from the beginning.

When Joey and I talked to Mrs. Finney about doing the food drive, it seemed pretty simple. I never anticipated that kids in our class wouldn’t be speaking to us or that the reps would have so many questions.

The food drive has definitely gotten off to a rocky start.

I just hope the rest of the voyage is smoother sailing.