Professional Development - Kate Canterbary Page 0,1

morning. I have a hard stop at ten thirty." She closed her notebook, laced her fingers together on top of it. "I couldn't help but notice you two are still struggling to establish a working relationship that isn't smothered by your shared resentment of each other."

"Our working relationship is fine when we don't have to interact," I said. "Drew keeps to his half of the building, I keep to mine, and everything is great."

"Except my half of the building inherits the students from your half of the building," Drew argued. "It would help if they rolled into fourth grade having mastered third grade standards."

"You know damn well the vast majority of last year's third graders were at or above grade level at the end of the year," I said.

He shrugged. "But not all, Tara."

"No, not all, Drew," I replied. Was this how it felt for blood to boil? Was this it, the overwhelming sense I was going to turn cherry red and blast out of my seat in rage? "It will never be one hundred percent and the fact you believe it's attainable is the root of our problem."

Nodding, he said, "Allow me to acknowledge that, for once, you're right. It is the root of our problem. I expect more and so should you."

"Porcupines," Lauren said, using the one trigger more powerful than bananas. It was a time-out, red card, and veto all in one, and she'd only used it once before. She held up her hands, breaking apart this argument. "It's clear you both have strong opinions about effective school leadership and it's one of the things I admire about each of you. That these opinions differ only makes them more meaningful. The challenge I've wanted you to tackle since it became clear we needed to cleave the dean role into two—"

"I still disagree with that," Drew muttered.

She leveled him with a glare and I took immense joy in watching the arrogant glint in his eyes cool. "Porcupines," she repeated.

"Excuse me," he replied, staring at the table. "My bad."

It was absurdly unfair how good he looked while brooding over that verbal smackdown. Like a modern-day Dracula, turning up his coat collar to protect himself from the discomforts of this world.

Not unlike Dracula, Drew sucked the life out of everything around him.

"Since this role was split and Tara was selected to lead the early elementary side, I've hoped you two would shift on those differences," Lauren continued. "Not abandoning them but coming together in service to those differences."

"That was my hope for this work too," I said, not at all above sucking up to my boss. Dirty mind aside, I was nothing if not a teacher's pet. "Though I'm not sure we're able to do that"—I spared a glance at my moody, chastened nemesis—"when these differences are fundamental."

They were also elitist horseshit. My counterpart seemed to think his Ivy League education—Dartmouth, and he wouldn't let you forget it—meant he was the most intelligent person in any room.

But Drew's degree wasn't in education or child development. Not even math, the subject he'd taught for five years before helping Lauren open this school. Nope, Drew had studied philosophy and—allegedly—stumbled into the classroom.

Because that made any sense at all.

I, on the other hand, had degrees in both child development and early childhood education. I was fully qualified for my work, even if I'd studied at low-ranking state schools.

"I hear what you're saying and I know you believe it and feel it," Lauren replied. "But I know you two. I chose you two. And I know you're more aligned than you think." She pulled a file folder out from under her laptop, handed papers from it to us. "That's why I want you to attend this training session. Registration closed six months ago and the wait list was a nightmare, but I made some calls and swapped with a few other school leaders to secure seats for you."

"This…this is in upstate New York," Drew murmured, frowning at the paper.

"And it's next week. It's right before holiday break," I added.

"We'll be off campus the last two days of the term," Drew said.

"Correct," Lauren replied. "You'll have plenty of time on the drive to and from Albany to make sense of those differences."

Drew dropped the paper as if it was poison. "You want us to—what?"

"There's no reason for you to drive separately," she said, her words slapping in their finality. "Look, I know it's short notice but it's not as though we had anything critical taking