DIFFERENT STROKES

BY

TONI-ANN A. BREEN

Southern Connecticut State University

The following case involves a middle school

situated in a large town and encompasses issues

that affect the students, faculty, and administration.

Most directly, it could be utilized by administration

and faculty professionals, implemented as part of a

professional development program or as a

teacher/administration education class. In both

situations, emphasizing the importance of

perspectives would be especially beneficial. As

teachers and administrators examine the different

perspectives at work here, and imbed their own

perspectives and backgrounds into their analysis,

much can be learned. The administration and

faculty from schools of different levels of cultural

diversity would add different outlooks to the case.

Teachers with less exposure to the problems of

racism and discipline would have an opportunity to

step, figuratively at least, outside their comfort

zones. By taking a serious look at the perspectives

of teachers, as well as students, who are faced with

it regularly, teachers of limited experience with

these issues can obtain a larger sense of what is

happening in education. With knowledge comes

power, to solve problems and to make changes. So

as their neighborhoods grow and change, the

knowledge and understanding that teachers might

gain from a case such as this will guide them in

their decisions, helping to effect solutions that can

make a real difference. Similarly, teachers from

more culturally diverse schools, involving constant,

intense racial and disciplinary situations, could

offer tremendous insight into solutions. Their own

expertise and perspectives would be invaluable to

the analysis.

Mainstreaming is also a prominent issue in many

schools today. In this case, it is intertwined with

problems of legal compliance, communication, and

discipline. The case provides an opportunity for

faculty and administration to look at the

perspectives of parents with special needs children.

Parents play a bigger role than ever before in the

education of their children, and are well versed in

the law that governs their situation. With that, as

seen here, comes a need not only for legal

compliance, but understanding on the part of the

administration and faculty. It is in this way that this

case can become an excellent teaching tool. An

analysis of the case forces a need for knowledge.

As in dealing with inclusion, an understanding of

IEP's and the law in general, is mandatory.

Without it, suggestion for action is not possible.

Many different avenues can be followed to access

information regarding Special Education, on the

Internet (www.cec.sped.org) and off. In addition,

case analysis discussions with special education

teachers and regular education teachers involved

with mainstreamed special needs students will

provide invaluable insight.

Some questions for the participants involved in this

case analysis are:

1.) Is the school's Zero Tolerance discipline policy

appropriate in a case of racial harassment?, and if

not, develop a new policy for this school and

implement it in the Kevin Smith situation.

2.) As assistant principal, how would you handle

the situation with Kevin Smith?

3.) What message is Brent Mulder trying to send

with his zero-tolerance policy?

4.) What message is being received...by

students?...by parents?...by teachers?

5.) What else can Brent Mulder do to most

effectively get his message to students and

teachers?

6.) How should, with respect to the law, the school

proceed with mainstreaming?

7.) What role should Amy Brown, Special

Education Director, play in the mainstreaming

process?

8.) What should Brent's role be?

9.) Does the discrepancy in discipline between John

Stafford, a regular education student, and Michael

O'Neil, discredit the school's disciplinary policy?

10.) Is it fair for there to be a discrepancy in

discipline between those two students?

11.)What is the next most effective action that

should be made with Michael O'Neil?

12.) What is the best possible program change that

can be made for Michael O'Neil?

13.)What will Brent Mulder say to Mr. Stafford

and why?

14.)What is Deborah Morton's perspective on

mainstreaming in general?

15.)Are Deborah Morton's feelings regarding

special ed students and the regular ed curriculum

justified?

16.)Will Mainstreaming pose a problem for Lisa

Betts's interdisciplinary unit?... if so, how can

these problems be handled?

17.)What would Mrs. Tomanelli say about the

possibility of rewriting her son's IEP to exclude

mainstreaming?

18.)What would Mrs. Tomanelli's perspective be

on Deborah Morton's views concerning

mainstreaming?

19.)What part can or should the Guidance

department play in each of the issues involved in

the case?

Although not written specifically as a case for

students, some segments could be expanded on

expressly for that purpose. The racial and

disciplinary incidents involving the students are all

true and could be written and implemented as part

of a peer mediation program. Students reading the

case might work in groups to brainstorm ways that

a peer mediation program could help handle similar

problems. It would give them an opportunity to

take on the perspective of a peer who is being

harassed, as well as the faculty responsible for

dealing with the problem. Ask them: If it were you,

how could you best handle the humiliation and

anger that would accompany racial harassment?

What is the best thing students can do to bring

about positive change in a school facing these

situations? What do you think is the most important

thing that an administrator could do to send

appropriate messages to all students engaging in

violent situations? Have them set up three methods

of dealing with peer conflict within their own

mediation program. Have them spend a day in a

more culturally diverse school setting. The learning

opportunities are immense.

DIFFERENT STROKES

SCENE 1 -The First Day of School

It was the first day of the school year and as always

Brent Mulder arrived early. He was looking

forward to beginning his third year as assistant

principal at Wilberton Middle School and was

pleased with his most recent accomplishment. After

the school's other assistant principal left earlier in

the summer, it became Brent's job to handle all of

the scheduling. With no prior experience in

scheduling, he had to assign 1002 students in

seventh and eighth grade to appropriate courses and

teachers. The master schedule was to remain the

same, and gave Brent the framework necessary to

implement the new schedule. However, prior to

this year, the schedule had been done completely by

hand, something he had hoped to have an

opportunity to change since he started at Wilberton

Middle School two years ago. It meant canceling

his family's summer vacation, but his hard work

paid off. Brent completed the scheduling and felt it

was now up to speed with the automated twentieth

century. Despite the accomplishment however, he

definitely looked forward to relinquishing this duty

to the new assistant principal, just hired this week.

As the students finally began to file in, scheduling

was far from first on his mind. He wondered what

new challenges the students themselves might hold.

Wilberton is a large town, encompassing all ranges

of the socio-economic and racial scale. Students

enter this one middle school from a conglomerate of

nine elementary schools, made up of students from

nine different neighborhoods. Some border one of

the most expensive areas in the state in which to

live, while others are located on the line of the

lowest socio-economic area of one of the state's

largest and most racially diverse inner cities. In the

past, the students had weathered these differences

quite well. It was often the parents who had

problems dealing with the differences and Brent

hoped that this year would show improved

tolerance amongst all people involved. As he

watched the students enter the school, he recalled

some of the past problems.

One most trying case he dealt with last year was the

protection of a boy named Kevin Smith. He was

termed a "skin-head" by most students at the school

and his life was threatened regularly. His father

explained that Kevin's haircut, or lack there of, was

due to a skin condition and nothing more. To

complicate matters, however, Kevin regularly

taunted all students of a different color and/or

religion with racial and religious slurs, enraging

those students and sending tempers flying. Each

time this happened, Brent was responsible for

implementing discipline. Per order of the school

disciplinary code, any and all students involved in

physical violence were punished. Kevin would

deny any wrong doing and it was ultimately the

other students who felt the brunt of the discipline.

Wilberton Middle School employs a zero tolerance

discipline policy, which implements the fullest

possible extent of discipline by law: ten days

suspension for any display of physical violence, a

policy Brent fully endorses.

The policy also encompasses discipline for

harassment: five days suspension for verbal

provocation of violence. Brent is thankful for this

clause, as it helps to keep the discipline policies a

little more fair to those students on the receiving

end of the harassment, particularly in the case of

Kevin. It is difficult to prove, however. Brent

would do his best to question all students in these

situations, with hopes that the truth would come

forth, but it was extremely time consuming and not

always fruitful. In these types of situation,

however, it was all he had.

SCENE 2 - Mainstreaming?

Two weeks into school, things were relatively

quiet. No major disciplinary problems had surfaced

and Brent contentedly watched the students file

through the halls at the end of the day. He was

thinking that the peer mediation program that he had

implemented a year and a half ago to help curb

some of these problems might actually be working.

It was a completely "blind" program that allowed

for teachers and students to enter the names of any

group of people felt to be in conflict, with total

anonymity. The peer mediators were especially

enthusiastic this year and seemed highly committed.

The program had been used twice already since the

start of school, and worked very well. There were

two relatively small problems involving female

students, but Brent was especially impressed with

how quickly all parties got into the flow of

procedures. He was hopeful that students would

continue to look for alternative ways to solve

problems that might easily result in violence.

His feeling of contentment faded as he was

approached by Nancy McCann, one of the two

Special Education teachers at the school. Although

the issue at hand was not at all discipline related, it

was a major problem that would most likely take

extensive time to repair.

"I have a parent who doesn't seem exactly happy

with the placement of her son," she said. Brent,

curious and ready to help handle the problem

asked, "What's up?" He was somewhat bewildered

and shocked by the answer.

"She said her son's IEP calls for mainstreaming in

the areas of Art, Music, Physical Education and

Health, and that's not what she thinks is

happening."

"Well, what is happening?" asked Brent. "Is he

being mainstreamed or not?"

Nancy briefly explained, "All of the special needs

students are being mainstreamed into classes being

taught by regular education teachers, but are not

being included into classes with regular education

students." She handed Brent the note that

Mrs.Tomanelli had written with regard to her son

Jason. Brent took the note and went back to his

office. He was thinking about Nancy's comment

concerning mainstreaming. How could a child be

considered mainstreamed at all if there were no

regular education students included in the class?

Furthermore, he wondered how much

responsibility rested on the shoulders of the person

who handled the scheduling.

SCENE 3 -Verbal Harassment VS.

Physical Violence

A commotion just outside the entrance where the

school busses picked up the students caught the

attention of Brent and a few other teachers both

inside and outside the school. All faculty members

in the area rushed to the scene to find two boys on

top of someone thrashing violently and screaming

profanities. One of the boys was white and one was

black. As the teachers pried the boys away, the

situation became a little clearer. It had been seen

before. Kevin Smith and another white male who

had recently shaved his head as well were

underneath the other two boys. They looked a little

worse for wear, but not badly hurt. The teachers

had arrived on the scene almost immediately.

One of the boys who was fighting started

screaming. "We didn't start it. Those two racist,

skinheads called me a nigger."

"We did not. You're the racist! You figure since

we've shaved our heads, we're part of the KKK!

We didn't do anything."

"Let's go," said Brent as he led the two fighters to

his office. He left Kevin and his friend for the

principal to deal with. She had just arrived on the

scene. As he walked away he heard one of the

teachers muttering... "once again Kevin Smith

would get off scott free in honor of our wonderful

disciplinary policy."

"Someone needs to think seriously about changing

that," was the response from another teacher. Brent

stayed focussed on the matter at hand and continued

to the office with the two students.

SCENE 4 - Damage Control

Brent groaned as he hung up the phone. He had

been speaking with Amy Brown, the Special

Education Director of Secondary Schools in

Wilberton. He had the utmost respect for Amy.

Still, he could not help wondering how this

situation could have carried on for so long. It

seemed that the entire Special Education department

was content to explain the mainstreaming part of the

IEP of all self-contained special needs students in a

way that is inconsistent with the law. They defined

mainstreaming as an inclusion of these students into

regular education classes, defined specifically by

the credentials of the teachers teaching a particular

class, and gave no consideration to the inclusion of

typical peers. He was thinking about

least-restrictive environments, but couldn't quite

understand why no-one else had.

At this point, the most important thing to do was to

comply with the law. At least one parent, Mrs.

Tomanelli, was aware of the situation, as well as

the rights of her son. Amy Brown had explained

that all of the sixteen self-contained special needs

students had IEP's requiring mainstreaming into

Art, Health, Music, and Physical Education,

therefore, all students and their parents in this

situation needed to be accommodated. As the

"scheduler," he needed to make it

happen...immediately!

Briefly reviewing the schedule, he realized that

combining all classes with regular and special needs

students would actually reduce class size, a definite

plus for students and teachers. He would need to

prep both students and teachers as to what would

be happening. He thought the students could

probably understand it best from a class size

perspective, while the teachers would be briefed on

the whole picture--compliance with the law being

the number one priority. He figured it would be the

students who were hardest to convince. Change is

always difficult for kids, and from the looks of

things at least ten regular education students would

need to be moved in each class. He wondered how

the teachers would handle all the different

modifications required for these special needs kids,

and how it might interfere with the regular ed kids.

Furthermore, he hoped that they would remain

aware of them. He knew it would be imperative that

the special ed teachers as well as the regular ed

teachers would come together as a team in order for

this to work for everyone, but was not entirely

convinced that would happen.

Over the next two weeks Brent spent most of his

personal time working on the schedule and devoted

his school time to the Kevin Smith incident. He

spoke with about twenty students who might have

seen or heard what started the fight between Kevin

Smith and the other boys. No one had anything

very concrete to offer. It was becoming evident,

however, that it was not only the teachers who

were concerned about the deliverance of justice in

cases like these. Enough of the students were

verbal enough for Brent to get the picture. He

remained firm in his position on the issue -- "There

is no tolerance for violence and there is always

another way to handle a problem, one possibility

being the peer mediation program."

He also spent time talking with Kevin and his

friend about what they did to provoke the problem.

They both denied any harassment and maintained

that there was prejudice against them because of the

way they cut their hair.

"We have a right to shave our heads and believe

what we want. This is their problem," said Kevin

with a tone of arrogance and disgust.

Brent suggested talking with one of the guidance

counselors or social workers, but knew that it

would never come to fruition. If Kevin didn't seek

them out, Brent knew the counselors would not

seek Kevin out. He had also, in the past, suggested

to Kevin's father that they seek some kind of

counseling outside the school for Kevin's behavior,

but Mr. Smith had held fast to the idea that Kevin's

hair cut was due to a skin condition and his racism

was a figment of the administration's imagination.

SCENE 5 - Mainstreaming!

When Brent finished the new schedule he held a

meeting to brief the teachers involved in the

mainstreaming situation. All of the regular

education teachers as well as the two special

education teachers were present. The purpose of the

meeting was to explain what the scheduling

changes were and why it was being done.

Previously in each of the affected disciplines, Art,

Music, Physical Education, and Health, three

regular education teachers had taught about thirty

regular education students each, and two had taught

eight special needs students each, during the same

period. Brent randomly assigned the sixteen special

ed students to the five different teachers involved

within each discipline. Now four of the five

classrooms would include three special needs

students and the fifth classroom included four. In

each of the disciplines, the fifth classroom was

taught by one of the regular ed teachers previously

responsible for teaching the special ed students. He

felt this made the most sense since it was those

teachers that were most familiar with teaching

special needs kids. He then randomly chose and

assigned twelve regular education students from

each of the three original "regular education"

classrooms to the two original "special ed

mainstreamed" classrooms. This resulted in a

decreased class size for the three original regular ed

classes, and although it increased the size of the

other two classes, it cut the number of special needs

students tremendously. He had moved about 208

students in all, and was comfortable with the

results. He thought that some of the students might

object to a change in teacher, or being separated

from friends, but the teachers were getting much

smaller classes, which would be a positive change

for everyone.

After briefly explaining the law and Wilberton's

lack of compliance with it, he gave each teacher

their new class roster. He expounded on the

benefits of smaller class size and waited for their

acknowledgment as well as their agreement.

"Are there any questions?" he asked.

Most teachers responded with some basic, but very

important questions concerning their responsibility

for teaching their newly acquired special needs

students, questions that Brent welcomed. He had

hoped that they would show concern for these

matters and thus, do whatever it would take to best

handle their new situations. He introduced them all

to the two special education teachers also present at

the meeting, and explained that they could help with

any information the regular ed teachers may need.

He also suggested that the two regular education

teachers from each discipline previously

responsible for teaching all of the special needs

students could also be a wealth of knowledge. They

had been teaching these students for a month now

and had been responsible for all "mainstreamed"

special needs students for years.

Deborah Morton, the health teacher who had

traditionally taught the eight special needs students,

responded with a different concern.

"The real problem here is that the special needs kids

can't handle the standard curriculum, and putting

them in regular classes like that is setting them up

for failure. What are the parents going to say when

their kids suddenly can't make it through a health

class that they have had no trouble with until now?"

Brent replied by emphasizing the need for legal

compliance. "Right now our main focus needs to be

getting us on track with the law. Change is difficult

for everyone, but we really have no choice in the

matter. Each of you will need to take appropriate

steps to make this situation work best, not just for

you but for all of the students."

Lisa Betts, a physical education teacher, spoke up

at this point. "What about the interdisciplinary unit

we were supposed to start with the science

departments?" she asked. Lisa was the person who

had designed the unit, and was extremely

enthusiastic about it. She called it "The Human

Body--Fitness and Health". It was the first time that

the Phys.Ed. department had ever been involved in

an interdisciplinary unit. The science teachers had

entered the project with great enthusiasm as well.

"We're supposed to start on Monday, but I have no

idea how the special needs kids will fit into this?

Am I supposed to put everything on hold now? The

students are looking forward to it too."

Deborah Morton was also involved in an

interdisciplinary unit. "The health department is

doing an interdisciplinary unit with the foreign

language department. Do the special needs kids

even take a foreign language?"

"Oh come on, Deborah. Foreign Languages is

using our lessons to develop their dialogues and

vocabulary lists. It will hardly interfere with that,"

said Tom Hudson, another health teacher at the

meeting.

Things were getting much louder than Brent had

anticipated. "Again," said Brent, "you can talk to

the special ed teachers about these concerns. It may

turn out that nothing has to change and everything

can remain on course. If changes do need to be

made, then that's just the way it is. We really have

no other options."

The meeting continued for a short time. Brent

answered some more questions, while Deborah

Morton, the health teacher, sat shaking her head.

Brent was getting used to this kind of response

from Deborah. He knew that she had also applied

for the assistant principal position when he did, and

felt that her attitude toward him was much more

personally driven than professionally. He

adjourned the meeting without further comment to

her, and the teachers went home.

The following day they explained the schedule

change to the students. It was explained in terms of

class size and the best option for learning and

teaching. Each of the students had a letter of

explanation to take home to their parents. Brent

hoped for the best.

SCENE 6 - OOPS!

Before settling in at his desk, Gary Armstrong, one

of Wilberton's guidance counselors, checked the

peer mediation box located just inside the guidance

office doorway. He and one of the school's social

workers were responsible for facilitating and

monitoring the program. Teachers, administrators,

and students alike could submit a peer mediation

form completely anonymously into the peer

mediation box. The form simply provides a space

for names of people thought to be in conflict. It is

not necessary to know who submits the form or

why. Upon receiving a form, Gary calls in two

peer mediators as well as those students listed on

the form. The peer mediators are students who have

applied for the opportunity and been accepted

through a rigorous process. Gary and Bonnie, the

school's social worker, sit outside the mediation

room while the parties talk things out. They enter

the room only if they feel someone is in danger or if

they are asked. The program was fairly new, but

Gary felt it was time and effort well spent. Usually

Gary and Bonnie were the only faculty or

administration ever involved in the mediation

processes. As he read the names on the form this

morning, however, Gary knew this would be

different. One name on the form was that of a

seventh grade regular education student. The other,

Michael O'Neil, was a special needs student. He

had come to the school after spending the previous

year in a self-contained residential education

program. He was one of the special education

students recently mainstreamed, and Gary thought

that, until now, he had never been schooled in a

regular education classroom. In addition, there had

never been a peer mediation incident involving a

special needs and regular education student. He

was unclear how to proceed in this situation, so he

called the peer mediation expert, Brent Mulder.

Brent had spent a bit of time last week over a matter

concerning this very same student. Michael O'Neil

had thrown a heavy metal lock out the window of

the bus on the way home from school one day. The

lock hit the windshield of a car that had been

traveling behind the bus and shattered it. The driver

of the car identified Michael, as did nine students

present on the bus, as the culprit. Brent was still at

school when this happened and upon hearing of the

incident, immediately began his suspension

procedures. He spoke with Michael's parents that

evening, explaining the incident as well as the

school's discipline policy. The following day

Michael had remained at home. Late in the day,

however, Amy Brown informed Brent that this was

not acceptable for a special needs student, and

Michael's IEP specifically called for no more than a

three day in school suspension, with a total of no

more than ten suspension days over the course of a

year. A hearing needed to be held to determine if

the incident was due to his disability (Seriously

Emotionally Disabled), and if so, appropriate

measures called for a change in his program. The

change that Amy Brown suggested was that he not

be allowed to ride the bus home from school. It

was agreed that he should not be barred from riding

the bus entirely, because that would isolate him too

much from his peers. Although Brent had no other

recourse in the situation, he found himself groping

for the rationale behind the decision. It went against

the zero-tolerance policy, and his unconditional

belief in it.

After speaking with Gary Armstrong he was

concerned about what might be coming next. He

advised Gary to go ahead with the program in the

usual manner. Since no-one in the mediation

program would be wielding punishment, there was

no danger in overstepping the IEP guidelines. He

couldn't stop wondering what the conflict was

really about and hoped it would amount to nothing.

Until now, the new mainstreaming schedule had

yielded no other problems.

When the phone rang again, it was Amy Brown,

not with information about Michael O'Neil,

however, with a suggestion for handling the

mainstreaming situation. She had had many

conversations with Deborah Morton since the new

mainstreaming program was implemented. Deborah

was dead set against the idea, and seemed

genuinely concerned for the education of the special

needs students. Although no other problems had

been reported in the two weeks that had passed,

Deborah struck a nerve with Amy. "Brent, I really

think that the best possible course of action with

regard to mainstreaming might be to rewrite the

IEP's. Deborah has been teaching health to the

special needs students for six years, and I really

feel that she may be right about their inability to

function within the regular curriculum...and based

on the situation with Michael O'Neil, I think maybe

these kids just aren't up to this challenge."

Brent was speechless. He could not believe what he

was hearing. When he first learned of the school's

ignorance of the law, he was shocked and handled

the problem in the best possible way that he could.

He finally responded to Amy with the only question

he could manage. "What about the law?" he asked.

"As long as we abide by the students' IEP's, we're

OK," Amy said. So, what do you think?"

"I will not do it, Amy," he answered. "I worked

like crazy to make things right based on the

information I got from you. I believe that this is the

way things should be. If you disagree, you need to

handle the situation yourself, or have someone else

do it."

"Well," Amy said, "I'm not set on what to do at

this point. I just thought that I would bounce this

idea off you. How is everything else going?"

Brent cringed. This was probably the last thing he

wanted to tell, Amy. "Michael O'Neil and another

student were requested for peer mediation. I have

no idea what the conflict is but I'll stay on top of

it." He hung up the phone, and took a walk through

Wilberton's halls.

SCENE 7 - Double Standards

Tom Hudson, one of the health teachers, had just

walked into his classroom. He usually would take

about a minute to let the class settle itself down,

before he began his lesson. As he walked over to

the chalkboard he heard one of the students yell.

"Hey, knock it off O'Neil." It was John Stafford,

and he was yelling at Michael O'Neil. "I know it

was you, so knock it off!" he screamed. Tom had

never had a problem with John before, and he was

surprised to see him yelling like that.

"OK, OK," Tom said. "What's going on over

here?"

"He threw a pencil at me, Mr. Hudson. I know it

was him, because he called my name right before it

hit me. He's a trouble maker," said John.

Tom was able to calm the boys, as well as the rest

of the class, down enough to get through the next

45 minutes, but when the bell rang to signal the end

of the period, Michael charged through the room,

and pushed John Stafford from behind. John stood

up, ran at Michael and began hitting him. Tom

Hudson was able to break up the fight within a

minute or so. Neither of the boys seemed hurt, but

John was still ready to fight. "I'm sick of it! He's

always pushing me and tripping me. I can't stand

him!" John was still yelling and Mr. Hudson had to

hold him back.

Another teacher came in and cleared the classroom.

The two teachers escorted the boys down to the

office and met Brent along the way. Tom told him

the story as they walked back to the office. He left

Michael O'Neil with Gary Armstrong in the

guidance department and asked him to call Amy

Brown. He needed to know what the appropriate

action for Michael should be. Nothing was left to

question. Tom Hudson had seen the whole thing.

"Michael pushed John to the limit, Brent. I watched

the whole thing." Once John was out of earshot,

inside Brent's office, Tom made his feelings

obvious. "John is a good kid, and doesn't deserve

to have to put up with that."

"It doesn't matter why he hit him Tom," said Brent.

"What matters is that he learns there are other

alternatives. Fighting is wrong....Period!"

"Well Michael was also physical, Brent. Just make

sure he gets what's coming to him as well." It was

important to Tom to stress this point. He liked John

and felt badly about him getting in trouble in light

of the circumstances.

Brent returned to his office to handle the ten day

suspension procedure for John Stafford. He had

every intention of also punishing Michael O'Neil.

The problem was that he knew without a doubt that

Michael's punishment would not be close to that of

John Stafford.

SCENE 8

Mr. Stafford waited in the school's office for Brent

to arrive. His son, John, had started his ten day

suspension three days ago. Mr. Stafford had since

learned that the other boy was not suspended at all,

and from what he had heard about the fight, this

was unfair and unacceptable. When Brent arrived,

the secretary introduced the two men.

"I'd like to talk to you about John, Mr. Mulder. I'm

a little upset about what's going on here," Mr.

Stafford said when they were done shaking hands.

"Sure," said Brent, "Come into my office." Brent

led Mr. Stafford to his office and offered him a

seat. He closed the door and they talked.