Chapter 17 - THE HEARING
The district hearing lasted six hours.
Parents spoke one after another.
Marcus Price described Landon waking from nightmares after being locked in the supply room.
Another mother said her daughter had begged to stay home every Thursday because that was Kendrick's "behavior review" day.
April Vaughn admitted she had stayed silent too long.
Dana Mills appeared by video with her attorney and accepted responsibility for falsifying records and attempting to delete files.
Then Bell testified.
For the first time, he did not defend himself.
"I told myself I was protecting the school," he said. "I was protecting statistics."
One board member asked, "Did you know children were being harmed?"
Bell's eyes dropped.
"I knew enough that I should have stopped it."
Superintendent Reece's attorney objected repeatedly, but the recordings were played anyway.
His own voice filled the gym.
I don't care how Celeste gets results. I care what lands in writing.
The crowd erupted.
Then Kendrick's attorney stood.
"My client has been turned into a monster based on selective recordings and frightened children's memories."
Leah's face went red.
The attorney continued.
"The video everyone discusses begins after the haircut had already started. It does not show how the scissors came into Maisie's hand."
That was true.
Rafael's recording started too late to show the beginning.
Kendrick looked across the room at Maisie for the first time.
A tiny smile touched her mouth.
Then Beth Nolan, the counselor, stood from the audience.
"I have something that does."
Every head turned.
Nolan held up a small black device.
"My counseling office shares a wall with Room 214. I use an audio recorder for my own dictated case notes. It was running that afternoon because I forgot to turn it off before I left sick."
She handed it to the investigator.
May you like
"The wall is thin."
And the recording began eleven minutes before Mr. Ortiz reached the window.
