Ego vs the Shenanigans & "those poor pigs"

On Friday, Henrietta and the principal interviewed Reg. Coach and I attended. It was tough. Reg did a good job. He's not always great at expressing his thoughts - he stumbles over words quite a bit. I'd urged him to take his time and not feel rushed. He did a good job. Henrietta hopes to have her report done by the end of this week. She will submit it to the superintendent, and then he will decide what happens to Ego. 

It became clear in the interview that Ego had lied. The principal shared that they'd interviewed Edo. He must've tried to dig himself out of the this hole. 

Principal asked Reg:  AFTER EGO SAID TO YOU, HEARD YOU'RE JUST A BENCH WARMER, DID HE THEN SAY SOMETHING LIKE 'BUT YOU KNOW YOU'RE ALWAYS NUMBER ONE WITH ME ON OUR HIGH SCHOOL TEAM'? 

Reg almost laughed, NO. HE DID NOT. 

Principal:  WHEN YOU TALKED ABOUT YOUR KNEE PAIN, DID HE DESCRIBE HIS CHRONIC PAIN THAT HE DEALS WITH?

Reg:  NO. HE DID NOT. 

It was also clear that Ego told the principal that the reason he threatened to kick Reg off the team at practice one night was because Reg had mouthed off to him. HELLO - false narrative. (*One of Mini's friends who stayed with us Easter weekend used the phrase 'false narrative' frequently and I've been working it into conversation whenever possible. Mini always recognizes it as a shout out to her friend, which makes her giggle).

Coach teared up a bit when he gave a little speach at the end. They asked Reg what his preference was for how this would be RESOLVED, not that he would necessarily get his way - but if he could choose.

Reg said he doesn't want Ego to coach him anymore, which implied that Reg thought it was fine if Ego continued to coach freshmen or teach in the classroom.

Coach:  HEY REG - WHAT ABOUT ALL THE OTHER KIDS? KIDS IN CLASS? KIDS THAT WILL HAVE TO PUT UP WITH HIM ON A FRESHMAN TEAM? THAT ISN'T RIGHT. 

(then he turned to the principal and Henrietta) AND AS FAR AS RESOLVING THIS . . . THIS WON'T BE 'RESOLVED' FOR US. LISTEN TO WHAT MY KID WENT THROUGH. THIS WASN'T RIGHT. IT WENT ON FOR A LONG TIME AND REG HAD TO DEAL WITH THIS GUY ON THE COURT AND IN THE CLASSROOM. NO - THERE'S NO RESOLVING THIS. IT HAPPENED. IT'S HARD TO SIT HERE AND RELIVE IT AND HEAR ALL THAT THIS GUY DID. IT SHOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED. IT'S THAT SIMPLE. 

This is a photo of Mom in her first year as a teacher in the 60's. It hangs on the wall in her house. Look at how MANY kids were in her class. She was an amazing teacher and always made her students feel special - opposite of Ego. 

I said a few words (also a little choked up) and of course I wish I'd said more, but I
pointed out that I'm a very trusting person. I mentioned that my mom was a teacher and this situation was mind blowing. It was hard to believe that a teacher could behave this way and that my fear is that Ego won't be reprimanded because of tenure. I said he shouldn't be allowed to be in a classroom unless it is co-taught. I assume they don't have that in their budget. 

I'm glad it's over. I feel like we've done all that we can. I fear that Reg's teammates might not have been honest, because they think Ego is funny. Not sure how they will handle it. We hope that they will take action. 

On a lighter note: 

 The hot dog saga.  I wanted to share this in a recent post, but as I wove in the various stresses of the airport tale the post got lengthy. (shock)

Dad had worked up an appetite during our stressful ride to O'Hare. Not all of us can make a frozen GF pizza and fold it up in a purse like a sandwich and pretend it's socially acceptable to yank a cold, fragrant pizza out and eat it mid-flight. I'm not a monster, I stored it in a Ziploc freezer bag  still it was a mess. No easy way to eat it. 

As we walked past the food court, Dad announced his quest for a hot dog. Since Mom has Alzheimer's, Dad makes his own lunch, a new development. He listed each day of the week and the coordinating sandwich he prepares for himself, which made Ed chuckle. Saturday dictates a hot dog lunch. Apparently my father has morphed into Rain Man. 

We'd convinced him that he wasn't getting a hot dog  . . .  THEN, low and behold - there was a hot dog stand mere steps from our gate. 

New and improved hot dog story:  A week later after Uncle had moved here, I drove Uncle Marty to meet his new internist. Dr. G is Dad's internist, too. Dad insisted on joining us. Uncle Marty has stage 4 cancer. It's in his bones and his lymph nodes. He met 2 of his other doctors the following week with Ann and Marie. 

Dad, who sat in the backseat, shouted at Uncle Marty:  WHAT TIME DO THEY FEED YOU BREAKFAST ON MONDAY (memorial day)? I'M GONNA COME PICK YOU UP. YOU CAN SPEND THE DAY AT MY HOUSE. 

Gentle-soul Uncle Marty, in a whisper:  9 am.

Filter-less Dad didn't hear him, so he shouted again. I continuously relayed Uncle's responses to Dad in the backseat. 

Dad:  DO YOU LIKE HOT DOGS. I'LL GRILL HOT DOGS.

Uncle Marty:  No! I don't like hot dogs. I watched a documentary about how they make hot dogs. Those poor pigs. Those poor, poor pigs. 

Dad still missed his response, so I shouted:  NO, DAD. HE DOESN'T LIKE HOT DOGS. HE SAYS POOR, POOR PIGS. 

Mini was in the car too, because I was dropping her at a friend's houseafter the doctor appointment, because even with 4 cars in our fleet now - there's always a shortage. We didn't realize that the doctor appointment would take an hour and 15 minutes, so afterwards I had to race to load 2 elderly men into my car, which it turns out is NOT  a thing. Her friends' plans had changed while we were in the appointment and she was in the waiting room and they wanted to hang out earlier and I was messing all of that up.

Anyway -  Mini and I died laughing at the pig conversation. How can two brothers be so different?

Have you seen a hot dog documentary? Do you eat them? Would you be upset if you sat next to GF me on a plane and I yanked a cold pizza out of my purse and snarfed it down?  I think the principal figured out that Ego was lying and I hope that means he'll come down on him harder. Can you believe I didn't hop up on the table and lose my sh*t when I realized Ego had lied?