An Administrator Came to Westchester

[ngm_miscellaneous]

Mrs. Mary MacNeilly had made the hour trip out to a private school in Westchester county. She was the person assigned from the State Education Department's Office of Nonpublic School Services to perform a surprise inspection of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. It had been some time since an in-person inspection of this learning facility had been conducted. It had fallen to Mrs. MacNeilly to go and assess how the school fit the understaffed Office of Accountability's educational parameters.

She drove her midsized sedan up to the gates. She announced herself on the intercomm as "Mary MacNeilly from the New York State Education Department for a compliance inspection."

She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she waited for some administrator to allow her on the grounds.

Comments

[ngm_miscellaneous]

Mrs. MacNeilly was storming toward her parked car. She couldn't wait to report this to her supervisor. She had no idea how this terrorist training camp managed to get educational credentials all these years. They were blowing themselves and their buildings up!

[emilyrosehudson]

Out on the driveway, Emily was entertaining herself with an elaborately drawn game of hopscotch. After Daddy brought her and the boys home from school, she'd tossed her backpack down in the grass beside the drive and broke out the pink sidewalk chalk. Daddy let her have an hour to play before homework started, since it was too pretty a day to spend it all inside!

The bangs and noises on the lawn didn't bother her. Those were pretty normal to her these days. She did look up when a lady she didn't know marched over.

"Hello," she greeted the lady politely. Even if she did look a little scary.

[ngm_miscellaneous]

Mrs. MacNeilly pulled up short when she saw a little girl playing on the drive way. She blinked and took a breath. She glanced at her notes to see what level of education Xavier's was supposed to be giving.

"Hello," she greeted back calmly. She tried to keep herself between the girl and the triage farther back on the lawn. "I'm Mrs. MacNeilly. Who are you?"

[emilyrosehudson]

"I'm Emily." She figured that whole not talking to strangers thing probably didn't apply to people who were already at her house. She scuffed the toe of her sneaker against the ground and marred one of the chalk lines slightly. "Are you somebody's mom here?"

[ngm_miscellaneous]

Mrs. MacNeilly crouched down to be a bit more on Emily's level and not looming over her. She adjusted her skirt a bit so as to not be embarrassing.

"No. I'm a visitor from the New York State Educational Offices. I'm taking a look around to see how the school's doing. Do you go to school here, Emily?"

[emilyrosehudson]

"Nuh uh." Emily shook her head. "I live here. I go to school in the city, but my daddy is a teacher here."

[ngm_miscellaneous]

"Oh. So, you live on the campus here with all these teenagers?" Mrs. MacNeilly kept her voice deceptively calm and light. This little girl had done nothing wrong. Though the administrator was slightly concerned about her safety.

[emilyrosehudson]

"Yeah, only my room's not close to the big kids. I live on the other side in the 'dult wing with my daddy and my big brother and Hana and Jeremy and Zach." And Sage and all the other teachers, but those were the ones she was closest to. Rose and David lived on the big kid side. She'd get there someday!

[ngm_miscellaneous]

"I see." Copious mental notes were made. About the school and contacting Child Protective Services about this girl living in a danger zone. Mrs. MacNeilly stood up. "Well, I'll let you get back to playing. Just watch out. I need to drive through on my way out."

[emilyrosehudson]

"Okay! Bye bye, Mrs. MacNeilly." She didn't look so scary anymore. Less grumpy anyway.

Emily stepped over onto the grass to wait for the lady to drive away before she went back to her game.

[ngm_miscellaneous]

"Goodbye, Little Miss Emily." She gave the girl a slightly tight smile before she headed directly to her car. Once inside she took a moment to take in a deep breath. No screaming here. They might nuke her car like they did that building. She started up her car and carefully got herself off the property.

Once she was clear of the gates, she hit the gas and headed toward the administration building. Oh, what she had to report on Xavier's could not wait.