Lucy bit her lip. It was a dilemma she’d faced before. How could she insist on preserving her family’s privacy when she asked people to tell their stories for publication every day? It would be hypocritical to insist on keeping Sara’s name out of the paper when she wrote about other people’s personal problems all the time. Why, the paper even printed an annual list of real estate tax delinquents in a blatant effort to embarrass them into paying up, and the court report listed everyone who got into trouble, from housewives who accidentally wrote a bad check at the grocery store to upright citizens who insisted on finishing that expensive bottle of wine at the Queen Vic and then attempted to drive home.

Her instinct was to protect Sara, of course, but she understood that refusing to go public about the hazing would be more dangerous in the long run because it would continue. The only way to stop it was for victims to come forward, and she knew that when one person came forward it often encouraged others to tell their stories, too.

“I’ll understand if you don’t want to do this,” said Ted.

“I do want to get it out in the open, believe me, but I don’t think Sara will go along with it and I don’t blame her. She has to face those kids every day.”

“Now that the Warriors have won a few games, most people in town think the coach walks on water and the team are his disciples,” said Phyllis. “Even Elfrida was raving about what a terrific quarterback Matt Engelhardt is and until now the only sport she had any interest in was curling.” Seeing Ted and Lucy’s puzzled expressions she continued. “Her husband’s a curling fanatic.”

“You’re right. People are already talking about how they might take the Moose Bowl this year,” said Ted.

“There has to be a way of approaching this that makes the administration the focus, not the kids. We need to go right to the top.”

“Well,” said Phyllis, who was typing the school calendar into the events listings, “it says here that the superintendent’s monthly administrative meeting is in fifteen minutes.”

“And who goes to that?” asked Ted.

Phyllis consulted the calendar. “All the principals, the guidance director, the student services director, the curriculum specialist…and the athletic director.”

“Then let’s go,” he said, turning to Lucy.

As Lucy grabbed her bag and followed Ted out the back door to the parking lot, she kept one very large doubt to herself. She had a feeling the administrative meeting wasn’t covered by the state’s open meeting law and therefore not open to the press except by invitation.

And in fact, when they arrived at the Superintendent’s office, the first words out of his secretary’s mouth were, “Administrative meetings are private.”

“This state has an open meeting law,” said Ted.