Uninformed

Part 1: Sam POV

"Dr. Henderson, I'm so sorry! I have to run to my office real quick to get something." Sam's coworker stopped in her tracks, made eye contact for a brief second and lowered her eyes to the ground. "I'll hurry back!" She added hastily, as if hoping to stifle a retort Sam didn't know was coming.

Sam placed a hand on her shoulder and softened his expression. "Maya, you take your time. I know things have been stressful around here lately. We'll still be here when you get back." The smile that made it across her face appeared to take away ten years of stress from her features, and as he watched her race down the hallway, she gained a grace in her step he had never before seen.

For the first time he realized just how quiet the hallway had gotten. A pin could drop 15 feet to his right and he would have heard it just fine. Thirty minutes before, Sam would have been trampled by six to 12 year olds leaving school for the day. Students at the New York Henderson Private Elementary School were polite that way. Sam began his trek to the meeting room.

Half of the staff was already inside the room chatting animatedly in hushed tones. Before entering the room he could've sworn he'd heard such sayings as "I don't want to lose my job," and "I heard he was so mad he almost blew a fuse, would've lost his shit had the kid not started crying."

Once they all saw him come in, everyone shut their mouths, whether they were in mid-sentence or not. Sam could have heard himself drop a paperclip. He took a seat at the head of the table. Ten nicely dressed teaching professionals sat before him.

"Hey everyone, I'm glad you could all join us for our Friday debrief." An awkward silence infested the air around them, as Sam waited for someone, anyone, to respond. When no one did, he masked his sigh with a yawn and rummaged through his bag for the meeting notes he prepared. With a slight slam, the notes found themselves on the table. Sam looked to point 1. "I'm going to keep today's meeting relatively short and sweet as I can tell we all are feeling rather fatigued from the week. First things first, does anyone have any questions or concerns about what went down today?"

Without missing a beat, "Is Elphie going to be okay?" Mutterings of equal concern about the second grade boy found themselves circulating the room as colleagues waited to hear the response.

"That is a great questions, Grace. He should be fine. I just think he'll take slightly longer than average to acclimate himself to his new school's culture."

"He's in second grade, right? Why don't we try to get in touch with his teachers from kindergarten and first grade, and see how they comforted him in the beginning of those years at a new school?" Cole piped up, three seats down on Sam's left.

"That is a great thought, Cole. The only problem is that I already got word from his past teachers that he is here because he was having trouble acclimating at that school. We are going to have to think outside the box on this one. We don't need an answer immediately, however. I'm giving you all the weekend to think on it. With fifteen bright educators on the case, we should be able to think of something. In the meantime, point 2."

The door opened and Maya walked in, looking as refreshed as ever. She took the seat on Sam's right, this time making full eye contact and a bright smile on her face. "I hope I didn't miss too much," she said.

"Not at all, Maya. We are just taking the weekend to think how we can help acclimate Elphie into his new school. His two past teachers reached out to me and told me they were unable to successfully get him acclimated, which is why he is here. So that's our task over the weekend."