Public Ed

by Jack Bartley

The tiny tourist town of Inanow Bay is home to Ed McCleary, an award-winning, high school biology teacher becoming increasingly dissatisfied with his life. Administrators, politicians, and students seem to be conspiring to make teaching more difficult. In fact, some of the difficulties are the result of administrators and politicians creating bogus educational programs to further their own career opportunities. It doesn’t help that Ed repeatedly tweaks his superiors by venting his frustrations, laced with thinly veiled sarcasm, in a column for the local paper that exposes some of the problems educators face. Fortunately for Ed, his visits to the local bar and restaurant with his fellow teachers provide relief from the daily grind, thanks to the good-natured grousing that surfaces when his fellow cynics get a chance to loosen up. The start of a new school term shows little promise for improvement. Ed tries to impress the attractive student teacher in the room next to his with his rapier-like wit, but she fails to get the point. A new superintendent arrives on the scene to turn things around, but after sifting through the administrative "spin" Ed and his colleagues can quickly see that the more things change, the more they remain the same. As administrators and school board members scheme to maintain control of their private fiefdoms or create opportunities for covert liaisons, the politicians and businessmen kick around the institution of public education as they play political football. Meanwhile, the teachers of Inanow Bay High School forge ahead with the real business of education; they actually teach the students. The year progresses, and Ed’s mood swings take on the pattern of the ebb and flow of Inanow Bay’s tidal cycle. His social life improves, but his professional life heads for the dumpster. However, even as Ed’s faith in public education is tested, a series of coincidences, accidents, and failed plots open new doors for him, and Ed ultimately ends up where he would least expect it.

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 2005