Read Online Read All About It! by Rachel Wise - Free Book Online

curriculum?” he
     asked. That was a great question, I thought, thinking of Hailey and writing it down.
    Oops. I could feel a stomach growl coming. I bent to look for gum in my
     bag and ended up accidentally tossing my notebook on the floor. It made a loud rustling
     slam as it hit the floor, and a bunch of people turned to look—Michael among them.
     He reached to pick it up for me, and my face burned as I took it from him. Great.
     Another strike against my notebook—it was noisy and sloppy and always subject to
     my klutziness. And after all that I didn’t have any gum to hold off my hunger
     pangs!
    Worse, I had missed Mr. Pfeiffer’s reply about reading levels.
    â€œDid you get that?” I whispered to Michael.
    He nodded.
    â€œGood.”
    There was a lull in the questioning so I flipped my notebook open and
     decided it was now or never. I had to rectify our snoozing through the interviewwith Mr. Pfeiffer the other day and, I had to admit, I also wanted
     to impress Michael.
    â€œMr. Pfeiffer.” I was on my feet and talking before
     I’d even had a chance to get nervous about it.
    â€œYes, Samantha,” said Mr. Pfeiffer with a smile. He
     obviously figured this would be an easy question from a friendly person on his team.
     Ha!
    â€œMr. Pfeiffer, who made the decision to change the curriculum and
     what are you doing to train the teachers in the new curriculum?”
    I didn’t think I was being harsh. Mr. Pfeiffer had been nice to us
     in his office and about Michael’s hand and everything, but news is news.
    Mr. Pfeiffer’s smile faded. “That is a very good question,
     Samantha. Ahem.” Mr. Pfeiffer cleared his throat. It seemed like he was stalling
     for time. “The decision was reached in agreement with the superintendent of
     schools and the board of education.”
    â€œOn behalf of our school who made the decision?”
    â€œIt was . . . just me. I did.” Mr. Pfeiffer looked
     uncomfortable.
    Ooh! This was news! Now I was getting somewhere!
    â€œSo you volunteered for us to be guinea pigs,
     without input from anyone else on staff?”
    A lot of the parents clapped and a couple of people shouted,
     “Bravo!” I tried not to listen to them. This wasn’t about me.
    â€œIt was an opportunity for our school. This is the wave of the
     future. It also allowed us to secure additional funding in state grants. The teachers
     were all behind it.” Mr. Pfeiffer’s lips pressed into a straight line. He
     looked away, as if to call on someone else but he hadn’t finished answering
     everything yet.
    â€œAnd about the teacher training?” I pressed. It was hard to
     copy his words into my notebook as I spoke. I looked up.
    Mr. Pfeiffer had an unsure expression on his face. “I think that .
     . . ah . . . this is a work in progress and we will be supporting the teachers all the
     way along.”
    Ooh! I’d just found the weak spot in all this!
    â€œSo it’s kind of on-the-job training?” I summarized.
     Outside, I was cool as a cucumber, but inside I was shaking like a leaf.
    Mr. Pfeiffer’s face hardened. “The
     teachers are being given every kind of help that they need. Next question?” He
     looked around the audience and called on a teacher who asked something easy. I sat
     down.
    â€œWhat was that all about?” Michael asked in a whisper. He
     looked kind of mad.
    I was fired up, though, so I didn’t really care. “I just had
     a sense that that part of it hasn’t been thought through all that well. And I was
     right.”
    â€œWow. You were pretty harsh though, pressing him like that. You
     don’t want to alienate a source before the article is finished.”
    â€œNews is news. We need to present all the facts.”
    Michael looked at me like he was just really seeing me for the first
     time. I couldn’t tell if it was in a good