Wednesday, July 04, 2007

notes on a scandal

I have no where else to share this story so I'm just going to write about it here and get it out of my head.

This year, the preschool we send Misaki to got a new principal. The new principal has been a music teacher at the school since it started so I didn't really think much about it. She's made a lot of new rules. Some are good, like they are going to start studying Japanese characters with the kindergarteners, and some are really annoying, like the fact that you can't just call the school if you need to have your child stay home from school and you can only bring cameras or video cameras to three previously selected school events throughout the year. Also, this principal likes to talk even more than the last principal, which I would have thought to be impossible, but sadly no.

The last principal was probably in her 40's, but it's obvious that she has put a lot of effort into taking care of her appearance. She genuinely cared about the school and the students so I was surprised that she had left. I heard a few months later that she had stolen money from the school so her father had asked for her resignation. I thought that was the end of the scandal but last week they had a meeting for parents with the new principal but because there were so many unanswered questions about the resignation, they decided to share more about it and it turns out that the former principal stole money from the school to buy a car for a young man that she was involved with!

I'll let you digest that for a moment.

The details break down from here because of my Japanese, but she's either being sued by the preschool organization or by some parents, I'm not sure, but the whole thing has totally blown my mind. I'm not really sure why, but it has.

OK, hopefully by writing this down I don't have to think about it anymore.

2 comments:

coarse gold girl said...

"OK, hopefully by writing this down I don't have to think about it anymore."

Oh man! Now I'm thinking about it! If I were you, missing out on all the details would be enough to drive me crazy . . . actually, here in our neighborhood, suddenly a young man, a young (very young, I'm thinking, 20 or 21?) woman and a three year old little girl have appeared in a house that formly housed only. . . who? It was a mystery house from which on kodomo kai recycle days a teenage girls would emerge hauling bags of empty whiskey bottles. But I never saw anyone else. Well, the three year old ended up in the pool out back with my girls and so when I was talking to the woman I mistakenly said, "you could always come and check out Saki's youchien--they have a mommy and child day once a month" and she instantly told me "OH. I AM NOT THE CHILD'S MOTHER." But when the child's father drove by she smiled and told me, "that is my husband." So my kids asked the Daddy at the park who the 3 year old girl's mommy was and his answer was, "Okaasan ga nai." Hmmmmm. the curiousity is killing me.

scandals. world wide and always riveting. to me at least!

coarse gold girl said...

although, maybe I ought to clarify--I'm having a bout of intense curiousity about the living situation down the road. Obviously the man has either divorced or lost his wife. Not really a scandal. Actually more of a linguistic mystery. I'm sure if I could have understood everything the young woman was saying I wouldn't still be wondering!