“Speaking of, the guys and I are considering opening up a charter school,” he tells me.
“You’re what?” I inquire. We talked about it in generic terms although it was more of a passing conversation, but I didn’t think it was something they were actually considering.
“It’s what’s best for Elodie and our future children,” he concludes.
“I happen to agree. If our kids are targeted by their peers because there’s division in the town and those parents encourage bad behavior, then our kids will never be comfortable or confident enough to make friends and focus on learning the material their educator is trying to teach them.”
“Because they’ll always be looking over their shoulder for an attack,” Rush adds.
“Yep,” I say, popping my P. “So y’all are really going to do this, huh?”
“I think so,” he states. “I have the guys looking into it so we know what all we need to open it to the public.”
“If it becomes too complicated, you could do a homeschool type of a set up with a tutor on site,” I propose.
“So what? We’d sign the kids up for a homeschool program but hire someone to help keep them on task and assist them with their classwork?” he asks.
“Yes, and it’s all done online so as long as we have an internet connection, the kids can do their classes from anywhere. They’ll all be in different grade levels so that may work out for the best. We can set up a computer lab for them and hire a teacher to watch over them and give them some structure.”
“That may be easier all the way around,” he ruminates. “There won’t be so many hurdles to jump over that way.”
“And you won’t be forced to accept outsiders,” I tack on to his voiced thought.
“That’s a plus,” he states, nodding his head as he mulls over what we’ve said. “Especially since most of those little pricks are the ones we’re trying to keep away from Elodie.”
“There is that,” I snicker. “Pricks plus Elodie equals Icer on a rampage.”
“Not a great scenario because you and I both know that he’ll become a nuisance and refuse to leave the classroom site,” he muses.
“That’s unavoidable, Rush. If he knows the kids are with an outsider, even if that person’s hired to watch over them, he’ll designate himself as their personal guard.”
“I’m liking your computer lab idea the more I think about it, Van. We could hire a contractor we trust to build a building to specifically cater to their needs.”
“You could have him attach an apartment to it also to accommodate whoever you hire. It could be a signing perk and bonus for them to accept the teaching position,” I remark, giving him something else to consider. “It’ll give them some independence as well.”
“That may be best since the townsfolk against us may use her or him as leverage,” he alleges. “It’s something worth mentioning in church when we present it to the guys to vote on and before we start going over all of our options.”
“There’s that open crop of land between the clubhouse and mortuary that’d be a great place to build the school. They’d haveprotection coming from both sides should something happen like the club being attacked,” I suggest.
“That’s where my thoughts were as well,” he admits. “And we may need to build it on top of some sort of underground bunker so if something like us being attacked happens, they have someplace safe to hide and ride it out.”
“Not just attacks from the club’s enemies, but the weather too, Rush. Tornado season in Texas is a foregone conclusion and unavoidable. We know it’s going to hit us whether we want it to or not, and if you have a shelter built, then the kiddos don’t have to traipse across the fields to get to one of the underground safe rooms we already have on site.”
“You’ve brought up a lot of good points, Van. I’ll share them with the guys and that way we can come up with a solid plan that the table will vote on without worrying over X, Y, Z.”
“In the meantime, since I won’t be working after the next two weeks, I’ll take on Elodie’s homeschooling.”
“Have you talked that over with Zoey?” he asks me.
“Yeah. She told me last night she was considering doing evening school with her once she got off work. It’s gotten worse as the days go by. Yesterday, some little punk put bubble gum in Elodie’s hair and it took Zoey five hours to get it out without having to cut her hair. So I told her that if she could hold off for two more weeks, I’d take over Elodie’s education.”
“And Zoey’s comfortable with leaving Elodie in school until your resignation notice has run out?” he inquires, not looking convinced.
“No, Elodie is taking a leave of absence of sorts,” I inform him. “Indiana has a lawyer working with the school’s attorney and they’ve come to an agreement that works for both parties involved. She’ll be doing her classroom and homework assignments from the comfort and safety of home. It’s a temporary fix until we have all of our eggs laid out in a neat, tidy row. In the meantime, while I’m playing school teacher, I’ll start putting out feelers for someone willing to come here on a permanent basis and tutor her.”
“Sounds good. Next year, we plan on kicking off the new businesses so you’ll need to be free by the end of this school’s term,” he reminds me.
“I will be. Especially if you get the ball rolling on your end,” I press.
