Deviant by Adrian McKinty Read Free Book Online Page B

between teachers and me. I don’t permit triangulation, and by that I mean horizontal communication between students or even between teachers. Danny, if you have a complaint or a problem, bring it to me, and I will deal with it.”
    â€œThe kids aren’t allowed to talk to one another?” Waltsaid, not entirely sure he had understood what Mr. Lebkuchen was saying.
    â€œPrecisely. School is for work. They can talk or play as much as they like outside these walls, but from nine until three thirty, they are here to work. No triangulation means increased focus on what they are here to do.”
    â€œDo you find, I mean, do the kids … silence seems …” Danny’s mom couldn’t phrase her objection the way she wanted to, and her voice trailed off.
    Mr. Lebkuchen smiled. “It takes some getting used to, of course. It’s harder on the teachers, actually.”
    â€œThe teachers have to be quiet too?” Walt asked.
    â€œOh yes. You could hear a pin drop in this school. And in the staff room, the lunchroom … it’s wonderful. We have almost no discipline problems; silence, it turns out, is conducive to work. That’s why the monastic model worked so well, and I think that’s why they used to have signs that said ‘Shh’ in libraries. Of course, nowadays you can’t hear yourself think over the noise of iPods and computers in public libraries. No iPods allowed in the school, by the way. OK, young man? I’m sure you’ve got one?”
    Danny nodded.
    â€œWell, none here, please. And no phones. Not that they would work anyway.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Walt asked.
    â€œIt was an idea I took from the Denver Public Library. They have a cell-phone jammer to stop people from talkingon their phones inside the building. I mean, kids are kids of course, and they’ll always find a way around any system.”
    â€œI’m still not getting it,” Walt said.
    â€œWe discovered that they were texting each other on their cell phones, but now we’ve installed a jammer and put a stop to that.”
    â€œOh, I see,” Walt said.
    â€œWe’re still a new school, so some of the things we’re trying are probably going to seem strange.” Mr. Lebkuchen’s cheeks colored slightly as he explained. “For example, one of the ideas we took from the Baltimore pilot project was the gloves.”
    He twiddled his fingers for a moment.
    â€œGloves?” Juanita asked.
    â€œYes, all our students wear white gloves all the time. We can spot immediately children who have been playing in the dirt or (excuse my coarseness) picking their noses. The gloves promote hygiene, discipline, and responsibility. You’d be surprised how this one little cosmetic change can transform an environment. Of course, many public schools have a uniform code these days, but we’re only one of half a dozen in North America whose code includes gloves.”
    Juanita looked skeptical and Mr. Lebkuchen, smiling, picked up on that. “As I’ve said, it may seem strange, but our results speak for themselves. We tested twelfth in the country in the Uniform Reading Test. Twelfth in the country! And that was against private schools. We beatPhillips Exeter, Colorado Academy … many others. In June last year we got a citation for excellence from First Lady Michelle Obama. And remember, many of our children could barely read at all when they came here.”
    Juanita nodded, but Walt had decided that he didn’t like Mr. Lebkuchen or his school or his methods. The lack of music, the uniforms, gloves, silence, scripts for teachers … by themselves that didn’t amount to much, but taken as a whole it was over-the-top. He knew he’d only get one go at this, so he launched an attack that he knew might hit home with Juanita. “That’s all very well, Principal Lebkuchen, and strangely enough I went to Phillips Exeter