Sex. Murder. Mystery(175)

“She wasn't giving the teachers any information unless they asked about it. Food and cards came from different schools so we knew people were concerned but we never had support or concern from the district, not once,” said a teacher from Shorewood.

And they needed support in the most desperate way. They had children crying in class because of the stress of losing the beloved teacher in such a stunning and public way. Others acted out because they were mad at the replacement the district had hired. For a time, even the parents picked at the wound.

“One father said of the substitute that she was fine, but she was no Mary Kay Letourneau,” recalled a teacher. “Thank God she was no Mary Kay Letourneau.”

The goal of the Shorewood teacher group was to just get through the day and do their best to make sure that the children received the best education possible. No matter what had been disclosed that day—and every day seemed to bring another tawdry revelation—the teachers numbly went about their duties. When 9:05 arrived and the kids would come in, they'd put on a different face and pretend that nothing about Mary Kay Letourneau mattered at all.

“Trying,” one said, “to protect the kids from being hassled.”

The media intrusion was a hindrance to the educational process in ways that no school should have to endure. The media that was camped out on the street had been ordered to stay away from students.

“They could step on the sidewalk, but not one foot on the lawn,” recalled a teacher.

But they tried. They followed kids. They shadowed teachers as they walked into the building. Their satellite trucks sprang like oversize toadstools all along the street in front of Shorewood. One second-grader came up to her teacher and pointed out the window to the television vans lined up.

“So we had this impromptu lesson. What's a good time to be on TV and what's not a good time to be on TV? What do people say when they don't want to talk? No comment. That's what you need to say.”

It upset the Shorewood teachers when Mary Letourneau's class photo and another taken by a teacher at camp found their way into the pages of magazines and newspapers. They were outraged when they learned that the district had given permission for their use. Weren't students supposed to be protected?

Further irony came later when a national magazine published the class photo and only Vili Fualaau's image had been blurred to protect his privacy.

None of the other students had their identity obscured in any way.

“I'm surprised no parent sued the district. I would have,” said one Shorewood teacher.

Instead of making matters better, the counselor at the school inadvertently fanned the flames, according to a teacher who witnessed her “approach” to the crisis.

“Our own counselor was more of a problem,” said the teacher.

The counselor went before the students of room 39 and asked questions that led to nothing but pain for the woman who was trying to salvage the school year for the group abandoned by their beloved teacher's arrest.

“What did you love about Mrs. Letourneau?” the young woman asked.

The kids piped up with a litany of praise. She was fun. Pretty. Let them do what they wanted. Lots of art. Music. Fun.

“What do you hate about Mrs. [new teacher]?”

The kids didn't volunteer anything, so the counselor prodded them.

“Is there anything you are doing in class that you don't like? Is there anything that Mrs. [new teacher] is doing that you don't like?”

Finally the words came.

“I don't see why we have to… ”

Other voices joined in, as the kids complained about the new order under Mary's replacement. The lessons. The extra work. All of it.

Later, when the kids in the class had left for the day, a dumbfounded teacher who had witnessed the exercise berated the counselor for turning the students against the substitute teacher. How was that going to help the students move on? Other techniques at healing the wounds of the scandal only served to anger the remaining teachers even more. It particularly miffed some teachers when the counselor allowed Mary Letourneau's students to keep a notebook of the articles written about the “love affair” between teacher and student. The kids were told they could look at the contents of the binder any time they wanted—even when class was in session.





Chapter 48

SHE NEVER SAID it out loud because it would have hurt her friend so much. But the idea spun circles in Michelle Jarvis's head when she made her first trip to Seattle a day after Audrey was born. Where was someone, anyone, from Mary Kay's family? It was Michelle who had the duty of bringing Mary Kay home with her newborn daughter.

Where's her support system? she asked herself. I can't believe that I'm it. I'm the only one.