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from them. I have every confidence that Steven can get back on the track. I also hope this sad incident provides him a sufficiently dramatic occasion to separate himself from psychoactive drugs and everything to do with them.
    My secretary, Marge Pearse, will send Steven’s transcripts to whatever school or schools you indicate. Please address such inquiries and related material to her attention.
    It is hard for us, too, to lose a sixth-form boy, in whom we also have invested much.
    Sincerely,
    John O. Greeve
    11 October
    To the Parents of:
    Charles Stone (6th)
    Terry Wilcox (6th)
    Dear Mrs. Stone/Dr. and Mrs. Wilcox,
    I am writing to confirm officially the upsetting news I conveyed to you over the phone last night: that on the recommendation of the Student Court and of the Faculty Discipline Committee, I must ask you to withdraw           from Wells immediately.
    I write this knowing full well the unhappiness, to say nothing of the inconvenience, this causes in your household, but given the nature of the offense, there can be no alternative. In spite of clear and persistent cautions about drug traffic here, ______ arranged to purchase, did purchase, and apparently used LSD at the school.
    Wells School has not always been a happy experience for_______. He has been on disciplinary probation within the last year, although not for this term, and he has generally impressed us as a boy who seeks his fun and solace outside the realm of school-work and activities.
    It was not our business to investigate the extent of ______ ’s involvement with drugs, but from various statements made to both the Student Court and to the faculty committee, the involvement seems to be extensive and various. Neither ______ nor his friend           expressed any contrition about the course of recent events, which may be a defensive pose. It may also be a serious concern. In my experience here many boys have rebounded from trouble, even serious trouble, but I have rarely—in fact, never—known one to do so while still involved in psychoactive drugs.
    My secretary, Marge Pearse, will send transcripts to whatever schools you indicate. Please address such inquiries and related materials to her attention.
    I close this letter with honest regret, but also warm hopes for brighter days on _________ ’s horizon.
    Faithfully,
    John O. Greeve
    11 October
    Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel Hruska
    5560 Ledgehill Road
    Danbury, Connecticut
    Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hruska,
    I am writing to confirm officially what I told you over the phone last night: that I have accepted the Student Court’s and faculty’s recommendation that we ask you to withdraw Ed from Wells immediately.
    I know this decision has saddened and upset the Hruska household. It has saddened and upset Wells, too. As I wrote you last spring, I really thought that Ed was over the hump and would succeed here. I am practically certain that he was free of drugs during all of last year, and his impressive academic turn-around shows it.
    One of the reasons I regret seeing Ed go is the loss to our community of a family like yours. You have been uniformly forthright and supportive in all of your dealings with us. No family in my memory has shared more thoroughly their son’s past history, “warts and all.” What hurts so much about this incident is that I know how much you were counting on Wells School as a place where Ed could be free from old troubles. Sometimes I wonder if there is any place in the United States where Ed could be free from those influences. I wish Wells were such a place, but apparently it is not.
    For what this observation is worth, it is my opinion that Ed was not really very close to the other boys involved in the LSD business. Three of the others are a form ahead of him, and as Ed admitted, they took little interest in him beyond his being a potential customer.
    I hope this latest mess is what Ed needs to get fed up with the secretive,