On November 15, 1995 Tim Hurley went to New Century High School at 2:30 P.M. just like any other normal day. He went through the first half of the day as usual. Then at lunchtime, a friend of his asked if he would go with him to ask the head of security why cadets could carry walkie talkies when regular students could not. Cadets are regular students who act as security for one period a day. Tim is one of those students that bends the rules without breaking them. Teachers may see his actions as "against the rules," but, in reality, Tim knows the rules so much better than the teachers that he can stay within the boundaries while still aggravating people. It didn't take him too long to agree to go.
When they found Toni Bottomley, the head of security, Tim's friend excused himself then asked in a polite and non-threatening manner the question they had talked about earlier. Without answering the teens question, she took them to the principals office and made them wait there. Thirty minutes later--still unsure of what they had done--Carl Snodgrass, a teacher, entered the room and asked, "why do you keep doing this? Why do you do what you do? What is wrong with you?" When they tried to question him about what they were there for, he became angry and left the room. Another thirty minutes passed, and Suzanne Wertz, the "Attendance Interventionalist," enters. She informs the boys that they are suspended. Being utterly confused, they questioned her about the reasons for the suspension. She told them to be quiet or they will only get into more trouble. She left, and they sat there for yet another thirty minutes.
Mrs. Wertz enters the room with Toni Bottomley. Toni tells Mrs. Wertz that the two were intimidating and harassing her. Keep in mind, New Century defines harassment as "persistently disturbing, tormenting, or pestering." Tim knows this. They had asked Toni only once about the walkie talkie subject. They tried to explain that they had done nothing wrong; that all they wanted was to find out about the walkie talkies. Wertz didn't want to listen to anything the boys had to say. Their parents were called in to pick them up immediately. They were told to come back to school the 17th at 11:15 A.M.--three hours before school started--and receive a detention of sorts. They would also have to turn in a 300 word minimum essay on social, mental, physical, and self discipline. This was due at 2:30 P.M. on Friday the 17th.
On Friday, Tim spent most of his "detention time" writing his essay. Toni Bottomley asked for his essay at 1:50, and took it to Mrs. Wertz. Tim and his friend are called into the office shortly thereafter. Mrs. Wertz says that their essays are inappropriate and expelled them both again. "They were an immediate and ongoing threat to the well being of the school, students, and faculty." Tim's essay was unarguable inappropriate (something about killing kids, I believe), but as Tim knows, there is no rule against things being inappropriate at school. Other than that, it was exactly what they asked for. His friend's essay was not inappropriate in any way, and nobody really knows why they expelled him. Their parents were called, and Tim's friend was told to go home. Tim's parents could not be reached and he was told to sit until they called back. His parents never received the message, so he sat at school with nothing to do for a total of ten hours until he took the bus home. Tim was told to call the principal in a week or two to see if his attitude had changed.
On Tuesday, the 28th, Tim placed a call to Mrs. McBride, the school principal, at 12:30. Her secretary told him that Mrs. McBride would return his call as soon as possible. He waited until 2:30 then called back. Mrs. McBride's secretary said she would call as soon as she gets a chance. He waited until 8:00 and called back. The secretary seemed surprised that Tim had not received a call back, so she organized an appointment for him the next day.
On Wednesday, the 29th, He went to the meeting at 2:45. Mrs. McBride waits for him to talk. He asked her why he was there, and she said that he had scheduled this meeting, he should be the one talking. Tim said, "I want back in school." She lectured him about how what he did was wrong and he should have never done it. (Remember, his only crime was standing by someone with a thirst for knowledge.) Afterwards, she allowed him back into school.
Everything is as it used to be for Tim Hurley, except that he know has three weeks of homework and he is failing all of his classes. He also can't miss any more days of school or he will lose credit for all his classes.