Today is Ivy Day, and also the interview day for the principal's job at Lacassine, to which I applied a few weeks ago. If I get the job, I will be able to get a bigger budget for gambling, as well as more safety nets should things go south in gambling. However, the superintendent must not catch wind of this, a nervous Camden is in the lobby of the Jefferson Davis Parish School Board. If teaching jobs were already undesirable enough as it is, principalship is even more undesirable. Yet, I can't help but feel like this job process is a gamble.
Once the interview begins, in late March, with the parish's superintendent as well as the head of HR and the outgoing principal, he starts talking about various points in his career as a career development teacher, his dealings with administrative paperwork, and so on.
"What do you plan on doing as principal of Lacassine once in office?" the superintendent asks him, knowing the answer would reveal a crucial part of how Camden sees educational leadership.
He then goes on to talk about improved career and college advising, eliminating academic favors to athletes, building a math team, educating the student body about the dangers of drugs, alcohol and gambling. And incorporating more practical uses of math, such as financial literacy.
And then the outgoing principal goes on to list concerns about his plans, asking them how he would alleviate these concerns. Especially since a lot of people in Lacassine's student body wants to remain in the region for work, without necessarily giving much thought to college attendance.
"Do you have any questions?" the outgoing principal asks Camden.
"I have one semester left to my masters in educational leadership, may I then undertake my capstone internship at Lacassine, if hired?" Camden asks the trio, believing that he could then kill two birds with one stone.
The four then discusses the logistics of getting him to start interning at Lacassine and then a transition plan so that Camden can start the 2025-2026 school year as a full-fledged principal at Lacassine, if hired. Never ask questions about salary in a job interview, he tries to resist the urge to ask about such.
"And when will I hear back about the next step?"
"I'd say by the end of the week" the superintendent answers him.
"Thank you for this opportunity" Camden then shakes the hands of all 3 people in turn.
As soon as he leaves the parish central office, he starts daydreaming about the extra budget from the bump in salary and what that implies in terms of his gambling. For months, the folks at the racetrack told me about how I would like to be a racehorse owner, and one of them even wagered the cost of a racehorse ownership license on that. Upon returning home from the parish office...
"I apologize for not being as present for you as I would have liked, lately, but I had my interview today for the principal position in Lacassine" Camden explains to his kids.
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The question is now: do the parish central office like me enough to actually become principal at Lacassine? Camden questions whether he will get the job. More money and therefore greater gambling budgets, await.
"What does that mean?" Jacob asks him.
"For one, commutes will be longer, so I could be home later"
"What do you mean, you could be home later? You often come home late!" Myriam retorts, reminded of those nights where he apparently had recs to write for students, served as designated driver for after-work happy hours, and so on.
"I will still have paperwork to tend to, might not be the same paperwork, though. However, Lacassine is a much smaller school, so I can still teach career development and do guidance counseling" Camden explains to them.
"I guess, better be honest now than to suffer the consequences later" Brittany sighs, but she knows more money doesn't mean that family life will actually improve. And certainly not if it means that his hours get longer.
And then Camden storms off to fill out his horse ownership license application, which he didn't feel comfortable filling out until now. If I want to gamble on the fast lane, roulette is the best bet for me. If I want to take it slow, I'd go to the racetrack instead, Camden reflects on what he wants out of gambling. The application processing fee might cost him $100, but he has his application upgraded to a Multi-Jurisdiction Racing License (MJRL) at no extra cost especially since he feels he must plan for the possibility of owning a horse, in whole or in part, that will be called upon to race in different states.
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On April 2, the now-traditional post-Ivy Day morning announcement takes place, with the 3 students Camden worked so hard for the first half year to get them to gamble their future away at the principal's office:
"I am William, you probably remember me from quiz bowl, and I will attend Cornell next fall!"
"I am Vontae, I will be attending Emory next fall" Vontae then makes way for Sapphire on the PA system.
Vontae got rejected from Rice ED1, he got into Emory. May the chips fall where they may with Sapphire, who didn't want to do ED2 anywhere, no more than the other two did, Camden feels satisfied with the gambling made by his students around whom he built his expectations for his year at work. A year of work boils down to this.
"Last but not least, I am Sapphire, I will be attending USC next fall. Go Trojans!"
Good, she applied test-optional there, and I am happy to see this gamble pay off. Hopefully I can make it work. For undergrad, in general, you stand a better chance if you are a "reverse splitter", or high GPA and low SAT/ACT, in which case you can omit the score if allowed, than a "traditional splitter", or low GPA and high SAT/ACT. I was in some of these kids' shoes, too, Camden then hears the phone ringing. Which he promptly picks up.
"This is the superintendent's office" the parish's superintendent announces him. "I hereby announce that you will intern as principal at Lacassine and you will officially become its principal pending some conditions" he then emails Camden with his work contract as Lacassine's principal.
The most important 2 conditions include earning his degree by a certain date and passing the appropriate Praxis test by the same date. Camden then proceeds to email Glen regarding the job offer, knowing it carries implications for career development courses as well as counseling. For sure, Lacassine had inadequate guidance counseling, but I wonder if it's a "rob Peter to pay Paul" kind of situation from the superintendent's POV. Lacassine's class size is about one-third the size of this one, he reflects on what he knows about Lacassine before heading to the principal's office.
"Sorry for the interruption, but I have another announcement to make. This is Camden, your guidance counselor and career development teacher, I hereby announce that I will become the principal of Lacassine starting next week" he announces in the PA system.
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"Speaking of which, we're due to have a meeting regarding guidance counseling and the career development course for the rest of the year. Do you have anyone in mind for the guidance part?" Glen asks him.
"To the best of my knowledge, based on my interactions with students, the AP French teacher has been able to help kids with college-related questions"
Camden puts me in a bind. I know that French teachers are harder to get than I would have liked, but guidance counseling is a critical role. I will be responsible for sending the final transcripts this year, Glen ponders the implications of Camden becoming principal of Lacassine for his own school. He proceeds to ask Steven, the AP French instructor, to come at his office.
"Because Camden will become Lacassine's principal next week, we need to sort out whether you feel able to help in a guidance counseling capacity, at least for the rest of the year" Glen asks the Steven.
"I must admit that my fellow colleagues' knowledge of guidance counseling is not great, but if I am not mistaken, the first half of the year is not the same as the second half" Steven responds with a concern. "So I would say, yes. However, if I am to do it next year, I ask that I only teach AP French: I believe some substitute can teach career development, or a business teacher, and guidance counseling is a lot of responsibility"
"As a parting gift, I will have the complete set of pennants of every college attended by past Venomous Agendas post-pandemic shipped here to decorate the guidance counselor's office" Camden then offers Glen.
And the cost of these pennants will, in part, determine my budget for the quarter horse season opener. I need to plan for the following: Emory, USC, Harvard, Caltech, McGill, Laval, UF, Duke, Wake Forest, UPenn, Baylor, Cornell and the usual in-state fare, Camden keeps track of the orders while remaining mindful of not charging the pennants to the school's credit card.
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Upon returning home, he announces the news to the family:
"Woohoo! I'm now the principal at Lacassine! Once again, we'll go to the races for your birthday, Myriam, and we'll go to the quarter horse season opener"
"The races, again? What are you doing when the racetrack isn't in season?" Brittany confronts him. "You seemed to be the designated driver for your coworkers more often than I would have liked! Are your coworkers alcoholics or something?"
That question gives him pause. Even though I started going to the Coushatta Casino in the neighboring parish playing roulette, I turned to poker and it took me 3 months of regular poker playing to become good enough to just break even over that period, and I'm only going to play better, so my new plan is to go to the casino, play poker 3 days per week and play the ponies the remaining 4, he seems a little lost, tuned out of what Brittany asked him.
"I was trying to think of who drank what and how much among my colleagues. Like Steven, the AP French teacher, who mostly drank red wine" Camden tries not to mention gambling. "Other faculty drank, but not enough to amount to alcoholism"
"What's so special about the quarter horse season opener that you want to take us to it?" Myriam asks him, while still being unaware of the goings-on of the horse racing world.
"It's like season openers for Venomous Agendas sports, mathletics or what-have-you. You start on a blank slate; you begin with new hopes on hand" Camden explains what a season opener means to him.
I'd better save up for the quarter horse season opener. This moment means so much to me, I ought to make some research whenever the entries are released for it. But you know what this means: more happy hours, more trips to the casino, and more designated driver duty, especially since the school personnel in Lacassine will want to get to know me better, speaking of which...
"I forgot to mention that, in the early days, I expect that I will have to perform designated driver duty more often, but I will still spend more on fuel regardless"
"I guess, better be upfront about the costs of working this new job now before it's too late..." Brittany sighs, dreading the drinking habits of staff at Lacassine.
If they drink as often, as his current coworkers do, I'm not sure about whether that job is a good thing. Nor is it a good idea to bring the kids to the racetrack, even for the season opener. Him being a principal gives us some financial breathing room because being a designated driver the way he did cost him a lot in gas, Brittany seems to have a lot on her mind with Camden starting his new job.
And, of course, Camden thinks of other adjustments he feels are necessary to keep gambling. He will drive 130km per day he'll be "acting as a designated driver" to the casino as opposed to 110km currently. And must budget for fuel accordingly. However, distance won't change if he does so at the racetrack. I also realize that a bigger gambling budget would do me no good if I gamble "under the influence", and hence abstained from drinking, even on casino comps. Which is why I could keep up the charade of being a designated driver for so long.
"One more thing: I want to save up for both Myriam and Jacob going to college, and I have the feeling that both will attend out-of-state privates, so please don't go around thinking that we can suddenly afford more, or better stuff. Oh and retirement should also be planned for"
"However, I can see both attend the kind of prestigious university that can give sufficiently good financial aid to be worth attending over even Tulane" Brittany retorts. "You told VAs of the kind I expect them to grow into not to be shy about applying to such schools"
Now, I ought to be doing both things for real. Yet I feel like I am under more pressure to keep gambling under wraps! But maybe... maybe I can go run errands and then I can conceal casino play by having the errand last a bit longer on weekends! And have the fuel expenses charged against my casino gains! Camden gets a flash before he tells his wife about it.
"For the rest of the month and, after that, on Sundays, and the Mondays and Tuesdays on which I am not on designated driver duty, I will have first dibs on errands" Camden announces to the family. "That said, tomorrow I will be on designated driver duty; it's my last day among the Venomous Agendas"
He thinks that, by doing errands, and save up for both retirement and the kids' college education, he can contribute to the family, but I have the nagging feeling that it might take him a while to do errands, Brittany might be willing to leave him the benefit of the doubt, at least for the time being.
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On Friday night, Camden takes a few of his co-workers, such as the AP French teacher and the principal, to the casino.
"Good luck in Lacassine" Glen wishes Camden, while the trio splits up and goes every which way on the gambling floor.
Time to hit the poker table; my budget is made up of the fuel bills for the past month plus the cost of the pennants decorating the counselor's office, Camden makes a running count of how much his budget for the night is going to be, to the nearest $5, before going to the cashier. Playing at the $5 table usually means there is going to be a lot of occasional players, and I plan on playing poker all night. If possible, I aim to win enough to pay back the pennants and the fuel expenses.
So while Camden has mixed luck in the beginning, he just feels like he is unlucky near the end of the night. It's ok, while I can't tell when my luck will turn around, it will eventually, stay focused and don't take the alcohol from the pit boss, he starts ruminating when the next hand is dealt. And praying that it will after the holes are dealt.
By the end of that hand, with a couple of players who already folded, the pot has grown to a significant sum of money, well in excess of the table's buy-in, as well as the budget he began the night with, with only 2 players remaining. I can tell the remaining opponent is a little fidgety, which makes me feel like he could be bluffing. The key word here being could, he tries to think of whether he should attempt to call the bluff. Yet, calling the bluff means he's going to be all-in at the river, i.e. the final betting round. I'm on the last legs, I increased my bets all night, fingers crossed that I'm not returning home empty-handed!
"I'm going all-in" Camden calmly announces to the rest of the table.
This is the sort of moment that I live for on the gambling floor. I go all-in, whoever wins this showdown, wins the whole pot, an excited soon-to-be-principal scans the table for the reaction of the player remaining. Especially when the community cards hardly offer anything good. The absolute best either side can hope for is a three-of-a-kind hand. I win this hand, and I will have paid back March's fuel bills and the pennants. I lose, I'm going home empty-handed.
He then flips his cards face up, revealing a 2 of clubs and a 7 of spades. Good for one pair of 7s. He then crosses his fingers. Oh my god... this will make or break my night! These few seconds send shivers down his spine, as his opponent is about to show his cards.
"Oh shoot..." Camden's opponent realizes that his pair of 4s is not going to cut it.
Then Brittany texts him, asking for when will the party ends. To which he responds, "I'm leaving the premises in about 5 minutes"
During these 5 minutes, he proceeds to cash in the winnings from that poker hand, and then returns home, after dropping off Steven and Glen to their respective homes.