In Practice Kitty Roach
Prologue

Marlo leans closer to Jimmy as she quietly says, "You should hear the row that's been going on in there! Something is wrong. Just wrong!"

What do you mean? Jimmy asks.

Well, there is some kid who is supposed to go to school, but it isn't working out. The parents are threatening mayhem. They say he is a genius. He has a design for a new computer chip that will make everything anyone has tried before, obsolete. I think I overheard them saying that he's been promised a contract with Microfelt when he finishes high school. He already helps them with design ideas or something.

Jimmy giggles. "You mean that kid in the wheel chair?" You can't be serious. He's spastic or somethin.' We used to make fun of a kid like that. He rode on the bus, you know? And every time he rolled down the aisle we would say stuff about him. One time we even rubbed limburger on the rubber of his wheel chair. He reeked!"

Wow, Jimmy. You are just so tough. What's with you? You some kind of moral pigmy? My mom has to be in a wheel chair and people look through her like she's the garbage can on the way into the store. She might as well be invisible. Besides, this is really serious. See if you can understand what they are saying."

"Dude! The parents are really rockin' and sockin'. It seems some kid threw a rock at their son. The parents already talked to the school district about protecting their son, but the teacher sets him outside in the hall during lunch 'cause she has a right to a few minutes to talk to her friends and get a cigarette or something."

"What's the big boss saying? Is he going to take the case?"

"I'm not sure. He was muttering about this not being his specialty. He doesn't want to take on the school or something. . . oh yeah, and why not just put the kid in a private school, since even if it does get to trial the kid will be through college before there is a decision."

"Oh, Jimmy, this is serious. They have to help this kid. If we gather enough information about the situation, maybe the boss would take it from there. I bet we can get stuff that will change his mind. Are you in?"

"What do I look like? I'm not the next Community Chest card on the pile. . . donate 250 community service hours to your favorite local charity. My favorite local charity is me and this will probably just get us in trouble."

"No, Jimmy, really! I can't do this alone, but don't you see how important this is? Please help me Jimmy. I know there are cases about this. I saw some sites on the web just the other night. Let's at least give it a whirl. How would you feel if someone chucked a rock at you or somebody in your family?"

"What ever! What can we do, anyway, Marlo. You know the boss is going to be really mad if he finds out we are interfering in cases again."

Marlo takes a deep breath, clears her throat and collects her thoughts. "Maybe we can get the footwork done without bothering him. That way we can just walk into his office, give him the stuff and if we do it right, it will be enough to make him want to help out."

Jimmy, sounding a little more convinced, "Well, if we keep it under a tight lid, maybe it'll work. I do want to make a difference for the kid, now that I think about it. It is pretty rotten to have somebody park you in the middle of the combat zone and leave you there without a way to protect yourself. I sure think something ought to be done."

"Great! This is my idea. There are about four ways we could do some footwork and dig into what's really happening. Let's split the work up and both of us gather info. Then we will check back and see how it's going."

"Well," Jimmy says around a mouth full of potato chips, "I guess that makes sense." His voice begins to sound a little excited, even muffled with the chewing. He laughs -- "And what will we call this work of art? The Bubble Gum Brief?"

Marlo gurgles over that one. "Why not? Who would ever get into the files and bother with that?" Anyway, let's get started. How do you want to divide up the research?"

Well, let's see. If we are going to cover all the bases and not get blindsided, we'll have to be pretty thorough. It seems like we should get information about the Federal and State laws and regulations."

"That should be the easy part, Jimmy. I can get that pulled together in short order. I just need to go through the major cases and get copies of the laws."

"Great!" Next we need to translate that into how the legal responsibilities are divied out for the school, teachers, parents and the student. How about that one? You want me to interview some people and find out how they think it works?"

"You bet! Holy Hot cakes. I think the boss will be in shock. He has to be willing to take the case when we have this laid out for him."

"Well, let's get rolling, Marlo. I'll hook up to the internet right now."

Go back to Module 2: In Practice

E-mail J'Anne Ellsworth at Janne.Ellsworth@nau.edu

This course developed by J'Anne & Martha Ellsworth

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