David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

this age, it’s like they have a muzzle on.”
She didn’t say it, but you could imagine
her thinking that if someone went and
built a massive subdivision on the gently
rolling meadow next to the school, she
wouldn’t be that unhappy.
“I started in Meriden as a middle-
school math teacher,” DeBrito went on.
Meriden is a middle- and lower-income
city in another part of the state. “My
largest class was twenty-nine kids.” She
talked about how hard that was, how
much work it took to follow and know
and respond to that many students.
“You’ve got to be able to have eyes in
the back of your head. You’ve got to be
able to hear what’s happening when
you’re working with a particular group.