dona's 365

During a difficult IEP meeting for Penny, an emotionally disturbed teenager, Penny’s mother turned to Jeanne, my immediate supervisor at Pace School in Pittsburgh, and said, “You wear too much makeup.” Jeanne simply replied, “Thank you for your comments, but it is not my IEP.” The mother behaved after that.

Arrogant and condescending, Tom was the night-shift manager at the restaurant. He thought my disdain for him was amusing, and threw a goodbye party for me at his place before I left for England. When no one else came because of the blizzard, we entertained ourselves the best we could.

Sr. Barbara was one of the first nuns I got to know well. We carpooled to school together my first year as a teacher. She shared an apartment with Sr. Margaret , the first grade teacher. Sr. Barbara was the principal and because we were friends some other teachers distrusted me.

When our principal, Sister Joan, announced she was leaving the school and the convent because she’d recently recovered memories of abuse from her childhood, the staff was split in two. Either you allied yourself with Joan or the pastor . I chose Joan. What was once a sanctuary became a battlefield.

Tall, dark and slender, Barbara wore fur coats, designer outfits and high heeled shoes as executive administrator of the private school for emotionally and behaviorally disordered students. Although too overdressed to be of much help when restraining a violent student, she was real handy at soliciting funds from unlikely donors.

Generous, gregarious, and charismatic, Father Cilinski was the priest in St. Ann’s Parish during the four years I taught there. He delighted in treating his staff to dinners at his favorite Italian restaurant . Not being Catholic, nor Italian, I was mildly shocked at the copious amounts of alcohol being consumed.