Lean On Me - A Brief Conversation Between Colleagues
Ms. Levias:
Mr. Clark.
Mr. Clark:
Yes, Ms. Levias?
Ms. Levias:
May I talk to you for a minute, please?
Mr. Clark:
What do you want?
Ms. Levias:
I want you to transfer me.
Mr. Clark:
To where?
Ms. Levias:
Out of here!
Mr. Clark:
You know, this doesn't surprise me one bit, Ms. Levias. I've sensed resistance in you since our very first meeting.
Ms. Levias:
You're an egomanical windbag.
Mr. Clark:
Who are you talking to?!
Ms. Levias:
I'm talking to you! You like to whip people who can't fight back! I thought I could take it because I had a father in the same kind of pain that makes you such a bastard, but I was wrong! Life is much too short! I will not endure you any longer!
Mr. Clark:
You will not endure me?!
Ms. Levias:
The only reason I haven't walked out, and half the staff along with me, is because those children need us here.
Mr. Clark:
Oh, the children need you?
Ms. Levias:
You're so busy talking discipline, you forget to educate!
Mr. Clark:
Is that so? Then what the hell do you think I've been doing all this time?
Ms. Levias:
So you cleaned it up. That was the easy part.
Mr. Clark:
That's the easy part?
Ms. Levias:
Those children want to be helped. They have worked their hearts out for you, Joe. Done everything we've asked them, believed what we told them. But I feel sorry for them. They're not ready to take that test!
Mr. Clark:
What the hell are you talking about? I have done everything——
Ms. Levias:
I! I! It is always I! There are 300 teachers on the faculty here! You do not do it all alone!
Mr. Clark: [''begins to walk away'']
I don't have to stand here and listen to these accusations.
Ms. Levias:
You will listen! You will stand there and you will listen!
Mr. Clark:
All right, Ms. Levias. All right, go ahead and talk.
Ms. Levias:
For the past seven months, you've been flapping your mouth and you haven't heard a thing. You haven't even seen what's painfully obvious.
Mr. Clark:
I'll tell you what I DO see, lady——
Ms. Levias:
NO! I'M talking now! Let me finish! Everybody here may not like you as a person, but we all applaud your effort. But what you don't understand is that the same people who support you are the ones that you're beating up! You don't even take the time to say, "Thank you", "Job well done", nothing. You just step in their necks, constantly abuse them, criticize them.
Mr. Clark:
(walks towards Ms. Levias) Ms. Levias, what do you want from me? What the HELL do you want?!
Ms. Levias:
I want you to get this straight. Most of the teachers that are here are here because they care about those children out there. This school, this fight, they are in it with you. They take it home at night the same as you. They are part of those children's lives. You are thoughtless and cruel. And it hurts. And none of them deserve it. They are sick of it, and so am I!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Lean On Me - Confrontation Over Authority and Respect
Thomas Sams:
Hey, Mr. Clark, what did they get you for?
Ms. Levias:
What's the charge? What's this all about?
Leona Barrett:
It's about someone finally standing up to this man instead of taking his orders like a maid.
Ms. Levias:
How dare you speak about people like that? Who do you think you are?
Joe Clark:
Mrs. Barrett, if you think you can-
Leonna Barrett: [holds up the tape recorder]
SHUT UP! You're finished! The school board's gonna hear this at 7:00, and we're gonna vote your black ass out.
Thomas Sams: [''calling after Barrett''; grabs his crotch at her]
Yo, bitch! Vote on THIS!
Joe Clark: [''turning back to Joan'']
Sams, you go to class! Ms. Levias, you're acting principal now. I expect you to perform as I would.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Lean On Me - Authority and Accountability in Education Leadership
Joe Clark:
You think you can run this school? If you could, then I wouldn't be here, would I? No one talks in my meetings. NO ONE! You just take out your pencils and write. I want the names of every hoodlum, drug dealer, drug user, and miscreant who's done nothing but take this place apart on my desk by noon today. Reverend Slappy...You are now my chief custodian, Reverend Slappy. You will scour this building clean. Graffiti goes up, it's off the next day. Is that clear? ...Detention students can help you. Let them scrub this place for awhile; let them discover what a fine living people like yourself make doing this. And tear down those cages in the cafeteria! If we treat our students like animals, that's exactly how they'll behave...! This is my new Dean of Security, Mr. William Wright. He will be my Avenging Angel, as you teachers reclaim the halls. This is an institution of learning, ladies and gentlemen. If you can't control it, HOW CAN YOU TEACH?! Discipline is not the enemy of enthusiasm...! Mr. Zirella, you are my new Head Football Coach. Mr. Darnell -- stand up, Mr. Darnell -- Mr. Darnell will be your assistant. You know why you're being demoted, Mr. Darnell? Because I'm sick and tired of our football team getting pushed all over the field! Thank you, sit down! I want precision. I want a weight program. And if you don't like it, Mr. Darnell, you can quit. Same goes for the rest of ya. You tried it your way for years. And 60% of your students -- excluding those with criminal records -- 60% of them can't even pass our state's Minimum Basic Skills Test. THAT MEANS THEY CAN HARDLY READ! They've given me one school year, less than 12 months, to turn this place around...to get those test scores up, so the state will not take us over to perform the task which you have failed to do -- TO EDUCATE OUR CHILDREN! Forget about the way it used to be. This is not a damn democracy. We are in a state of emergency, and my word is law. There's only one boss in this place, and that's me - the "HNIC." Are there any questions? Mr. Wright, with me.
Mr. O'Malley:
HNIC"?
Ms. Levias:
The "Head Nigger In Charge".
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.