Houston. The teacher was smiling and seemed quite happy. She ex-
plained that she was feeling much better (she had been battling a seri-
ous illness) and that her doctors said she would be fine. She said that
now that her energy was back, she would be doing better. Ms. Nguyen
replied that she hadn’t noticed any lack of energy or reduction of class-
room effectiveness. Despite the illness, Ms. Nguyen had seen the same
great teacher she had always seen.
The teacher continued in a very animated manner for a short time lon-
ger, then got up and left. She was her usual buoyant self in her class the
next day, working hard with special needs children.
About six weeks later, the teacher committed suicide. The issues in-
volved were not school related and went beyond her illness. However, to
this day, Ms. Nguyen still has the feeling that she should have detected
something, that had she listened with greater perception, she would have
seen that the teacher’s positive and animated manner was a mask for
deeper problems, that she could have possibly gotten this teacher some
help. Ms. Nguyen will never know.
On other occasions, being a good listener means allowing teachers to vent
about vexing school issues, even if you have no control over them. Ms.
Valletta, the principal of the vertical high school, had an elevator situation.
The art deco elevators were installed during FDR’s presidency and two or
more of the six were often inoperable on any given day. The district had a
contract with a repair company. The custodian and the elevator repairmen
were on a first name basis because the latter were there almost every day.
The problem was simple: The infrastructure of the elevators was so old,
no one made parts for them anymore. When something broke, it either had
to be replaced by another old part or repaired by hand. The concept of
interchangeable modular parts had not yet completely replaced craftsman-
ship in the elevator industry of the 1930s. There was a simple solution:
completely replace the infrastructure of the six elevators with whole new
systems. The cost, however, was prohibitive. So the cycle of breakdown,
delay, and repair continued.
Periodically, teachers would come to Ms. Valletta’s office to ask what
she was doing about the “elevator situation.” Available for their perusal
were numerous letters to the district office requesting elevator replace-
ment. Ms. Valletta listened to teacher complaints and validated their
Speak Little; Listen a Lot 31