Branded - Eric Walters [3]
“I want to start by offering congratulations to our girls’ volleyball team, which won the city championship!”
The crowd cheered and clapped and whistled. The applause slowly faded away.
“Now I’m going to announce another way that our school is going to lead the entire city. The school board has selected our school to pilot a new project.”
“My guess is guard dogs or bars on the windows,” Julia whispered out of the side of her mouth.
“This new change will help to improve security,” Mr. Roberts continued.
Maybe the guard dogs weren’t so far off.
“These changes will allow us to be more visible, not just at school but also in the community.”
“My guess is fingerprints, mug shots or tattoos,” she muttered.
I knew Mr. Roberts hated tattoos. This was strange since he had a tattoo on his arm. It was the Marine Corps emblem, an eagle sitting on top of the world. Once a Marine, always a Marine.
“Rather than simply telling you about our new change, I want to show you.”
He gestured to the side, and Oswald walked onto the stage. He was wearing a jacket and a tie! I didn’t even know Oswald owned a tie.
“Introducing our new school uniforms,” Mr. Roberts announced.
There was a stunned silent reaction from the audience. It was as if no one could believe what they’d heard or seen.
“He didn’t just say uniforms, did he?” Julia asked loudly.
In the silence of the auditorium her words carried across the room. They triggered a response, and people started to talk and groan. There were even some boos.
Mr. Roberts raised his hands in the air and the noise lessened, but it didn’t stop completely.
“Your attention, please!” he barked, and the room fell silent again. “Oswald has the honor of being the first student at our school to wear the new uniform.”
Oswald was obviously being punished in a very public way. He looked uncomfortable. Oswald liked being the center of attention, but this was too much attention in too central a spot.
“It is a simple uniform,” said Mr. Roberts. “Black pants, white shirt, blazer and tie. The green sweater Oswald is wearing is optional. The sweater and the blazer feature our school crest.”
“We have a school crest?” I whispered to Julia.
“Of course we do.”
“Starting next semester,” said Mr. Roberts, “which you all know begins in three weeks, we will become the first public high school in our city to wear uniforms.”
This time there was an instant reaction and the booing became a larger part of the mix.
Mr. Roberts had to raise his voice to silence the crowd.
“Now, are there any questions?” he asked. It seemed like he was looking directly at me—no, he was looking at Julia.
Julia jumped to her feet.
“Why wasn’t the student council consulted about this decision?” she demanded.
“There are many things which are beyond the scope of student council, but in this case, things just moved so quickly that there wasn’t time.”
“How fair is it that students are expected to wear a uniform when some of your staff dress like they’re going to the beach?” she asked.
We all knew which teachers she was talking about—although recently they had been dressing more formally.
“You make a valid point,” Mr. Roberts agreed. “As we all know, some members of my staff have, in the past, dressed in a highly unprofessional manner. This has been corrected.”
I looked up on the stage. The head of the English department was wearing a tie. The only way he would have worn a tie before was wrapped around his head like a headband.
“The new uniforms will be worn by all members of this school, including teachers and administration—as they were informed in a staff meeting prior to our assembly.”
There was no reaction from the teachers on stage. Some of them had to be unhappy, but they sat there stone still.
“There are many reasons this decision was made, and I hope to have the opportunity to discuss this with you over the course of the next few weeks.” He paused. “It’s now the end of the day. You are dismissed.”
On cue, the bell sounded. Kids jumped to their feet and started