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Authors: Joseph Wambaugh
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loved to bait Dr. Jay by sending questions to the principals office. Sometimes he could ramble on through two periods.
And by now, the principal's secretary was getting to know more about his family than she ever wanted to know. Ida Micucci knew that his eldest daughter Stephanie was a strungout junkie, living at various times with other addicts in the area. The young woman was in and out of rehabilitation programs. She would often call her father, but end up telling Ida how much she needed money.
Sometimes she'd come into the office to get money from her father, money she said was to be spent at fashionable beauty salons in Valley Forge, but which probably went up her nose or into her arm. And if her father wasn't there, the young woman would sit and complain to Ida that while her husband Edward Hunsberger was locked up for his own narcotics addiction, Jay Smith was trying to push her into a relationship with someone else. She asked if Ida had any influence with her father.
And of course Ida would have to say that Cod Himself had no influence with Jay C. Smith, and the secretary's heart would ache for the poor girl. She felt even more pity for his other daughter Sheri, a sweet but deeply troubled youngster. She wished that Sheri would get out of that house and go to live with one of her uncles.
And so it went. Ida would take all the strange phone calls from strange women, and watch Jay Smith in his black suit go to wash his hands twenty times a day, and smell the strange chemical smells in his office after he left. Moreover, people were reporting thefts from their desks lately. There was a thief about, but Ida figured a desk burglar was small potatoes around here.
Then, despite all her attempts not to be drawn into the troubled life of her boss, Ida learned that the entire Smith household was disintegrating. As if the addiction of young Stephanie and her husband Eddie wasn't trouble enough, Jay Smith's wife discovered she had terminal cancer.
So Ida Micucci went on trying to pity her boss. And in his own strange way he sometimes surprised her pleasantly.
Once, Ida happened to tell Jay Smith that she liked stuffed cabbage. Two days later when she got home from work, Ida discovered a vat of stuffed cabbage on her front porch, enough to feed the Philadelphia Eagles.
When holidays came, she'd discover presents in her car. No notes, no acknowledgments necessary.
At times like these when he was weathering such tragedy, she truly wanted to pity him. But whenever she tried to commiserate for the elder Stephanie's illness or young Stephanies drug problems, she'd search his eyes for signs of sadness or pain. She never saw anything but Pan leading a nymph to perdition. He was a very hard man to pity.
Susan Reinert occasionally brought her children Karen and Michael to the principal's office when she had a late class. Jay Smith didn't like the idea. One day after they left Ida said to him, "Boy, ii all kids were only as nice and polite as those two!"
He slid his eyes in her direction and said, "I don't like teachers bringing their damn kids around school. We're not here to babysit."
"You'd have to like those kids," Ida Micucci retorted.
"I don't like any kids," Jay Smith replied.
And because Ida was the only one who ever tried to get in the last word with Dr. Jay Smith, she said, "How can you be a school principal and not like kids?"
He turned and went silently back to his office and closed the door.
During the tenure of Jay Smith, Ida discovered that she was losing respect for teachers in general.
"They could all see what was happening to our school," she said later. "They were so scared for their jobs they said nothing. I'll never feel the same about the profession after my experience working for Jay Smith."
And though it wasn't her place to administer discipline, one day Ida got sick and tired of all the cowards she perceived them to be. She stormed into Jay Smith's office and said, "Do you know that there're
And by now, the principal's secretary was getting to know more about his family than she ever wanted to know. Ida Micucci knew that his eldest daughter Stephanie was a strungout junkie, living at various times with other addicts in the area. The young woman was in and out of rehabilitation programs. She would often call her father, but end up telling Ida how much she needed money.
Sometimes she'd come into the office to get money from her father, money she said was to be spent at fashionable beauty salons in Valley Forge, but which probably went up her nose or into her arm. And if her father wasn't there, the young woman would sit and complain to Ida that while her husband Edward Hunsberger was locked up for his own narcotics addiction, Jay Smith was trying to push her into a relationship with someone else. She asked if Ida had any influence with her father.
And of course Ida would have to say that Cod Himself had no influence with Jay C. Smith, and the secretary's heart would ache for the poor girl. She felt even more pity for his other daughter Sheri, a sweet but deeply troubled youngster. She wished that Sheri would get out of that house and go to live with one of her uncles.
And so it went. Ida would take all the strange phone calls from strange women, and watch Jay Smith in his black suit go to wash his hands twenty times a day, and smell the strange chemical smells in his office after he left. Moreover, people were reporting thefts from their desks lately. There was a thief about, but Ida figured a desk burglar was small potatoes around here.
Then, despite all her attempts not to be drawn into the troubled life of her boss, Ida learned that the entire Smith household was disintegrating. As if the addiction of young Stephanie and her husband Eddie wasn't trouble enough, Jay Smith's wife discovered she had terminal cancer.
So Ida Micucci went on trying to pity her boss. And in his own strange way he sometimes surprised her pleasantly.
Once, Ida happened to tell Jay Smith that she liked stuffed cabbage. Two days later when she got home from work, Ida discovered a vat of stuffed cabbage on her front porch, enough to feed the Philadelphia Eagles.
When holidays came, she'd discover presents in her car. No notes, no acknowledgments necessary.
At times like these when he was weathering such tragedy, she truly wanted to pity him. But whenever she tried to commiserate for the elder Stephanie's illness or young Stephanies drug problems, she'd search his eyes for signs of sadness or pain. She never saw anything but Pan leading a nymph to perdition. He was a very hard man to pity.
Susan Reinert occasionally brought her children Karen and Michael to the principal's office when she had a late class. Jay Smith didn't like the idea. One day after they left Ida said to him, "Boy, ii all kids were only as nice and polite as those two!"
He slid his eyes in her direction and said, "I don't like teachers bringing their damn kids around school. We're not here to babysit."
"You'd have to like those kids," Ida Micucci retorted.
"I don't like any kids," Jay Smith replied.
And because Ida was the only one who ever tried to get in the last word with Dr. Jay Smith, she said, "How can you be a school principal and not like kids?"
He turned and went silently back to his office and closed the door.
During the tenure of Jay Smith, Ida discovered that she was losing respect for teachers in general.
"They could all see what was happening to our school," she said later. "They were so scared for their jobs they said nothing. I'll never feel the same about the profession after my experience working for Jay Smith."
And though it wasn't her place to administer discipline, one day Ida got sick and tired of all the cowards she perceived them to be. She stormed into Jay Smith's office and said, "Do you know that there're
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