Chapter 9 - THE FIRST GRACE HARRISON HEARING
One year after the sidewalk, the scholarship foundation held its first public student-rights hearing.
A terrible name.
A good idea.
Students receiving foundation-funded education could bring concerns directly to independent reviewers without going through their schools.
Ava helped design it.
Not as a mascot.
As a paid youth adviser.
She insisted on being paid.
Grace would have liked that.
The first case involved a student whose school threatened to remove housing support after his grades declined during his father’s illness.
The committee did not automatically side with him.
That mattered.
They reviewed evidence.
Created a probation plan.
Protected housing.
Required academic support.
Fairness is not always giving someone what they ask for.
Sometimes it is making sure power has to explain itself.
Afterward, Ava sat beside Sophie on the steps.
Sophie was nine now.
Ava asked:
“How are fractions?”
“Still evil.”
“Correct.”
I stood nearby pretending not to listen.
Ava was seventeen.
Back in school.
Her mother working part-time again.
Not rescued.
Rebuilding.
There is a difference.
May you like
I had learned to respect it.
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