Eliza did look on with some pride at the gathered students that were there in WSA's main auditorium. It was in a way what school for Lyre and Animalia should be, Humans and Animalians together, essentially how it had been in Animalia's first year. However, Lyre High had never been equipped to handle the physical requirements of many Animalian species, and particularly the larger ones. Thus the creation of WSA in the first place, and separating the two districts so that WSA could function as a public school with open enrollment that would give Animalians the things that would put them at ease without putting the Lyre School District into the financial troubles that would be needed to upgrade the buildings and facilities for the Animalians.
Of course, that in turn created its own issue, and one that Eliza had even warned Animalia's city council on was that WSA's function was rapidly turned into something more akin to a private school and legalized segregation in that Lyre's Animalians were required to go to WSA and had so many that they didn't have the space to accept any Human students applying under the open enrollment policy. The visits between Lyre High and WSA weren't much more than field trips that really wouldn't show Humans and Animalians getting along together and working together, which Eliza had found as a core part of what Animalia had been trying to sell. That was something that Eliza had warned on, and Sophie had debated with her friends on when she could, but Animalia's City Council didn't fully realize the issue until there came the report that after all those that had been caught in the initial outbreak and became Animalians by accident or converted later, the Lyre School District, which had already been shrinking, declared that the previous school year to be its last, as there simply weren't enough students in the Lyre School District to keep it running.
That realization was something that had been a big shocker, and Eliza figured it was simply one of those moments where many of the uplifted Animals that either been pets, livestock, or wild animals weren't fully aware on the full nature on how many things in human society worked. Thankfully, they did accept plans and revisions that would at least keep the people in Lyre/Animalia together and wouldn't require Lyre's Human students to be bussed nearly an hour to another town. It meant enlarging the WSA campus so that WSA could keep class sizes at a good and manageable level and provide for teaching positions for at least some of the Lyre School District staff to come over with the Human students, and that had been the big thing for the summer's work, but since much of the desks and chairs and facilities at WSA had been made to be adjustable for both the larger Animalians and the smaller Animalians that were roughly the same size as Humans, there was no major problem there. In this, while the Lyre School District was technically closed, with Lyre and Animalia reintegrated, WSA had the buildings, facilities, and faculty to educate ALL of Lyre and Animalia's children be they Human or Animalian and with reasonable amounts of comfort for all.
And that had been the focus of the start of Eliza's speech, but there were other things that would obviously need to be mentioned, particularly at the High School level. High School students generally tended high on various hormones, and in Eliza's memory, she'd seen plenty of issues where High School students had engaged in sexual activity, regardless of whether or not their parents condoned it. It was something that lead to teen pregnancy because so many schools were often demanded to not have any real "sex education" courses that would go beyond demanding abstinence, which wasn't something that happened at the rate that many parents wanted to acknowledge. And that was where WSA had many of its features that fell in line with much of Animalia's practices. It DID have sexual education classes, which focused a lot on safe sex, ranging from contraception to preventing STDs, and accepting that regardless of how "civil" one was, sex was NOT something that could just be mandated away. Humans and Animalians were BOTH sexual creatures by nature, and trying to reject that was a bigger part of the problem than anything else.
And in the public sphere with things like the Claw Coliseum with its integrated showers and restrooms there had generally been a good acceptance of that, but had not been without its own legal issues where some Humans, generally tourists, had tried to play to how open Animalia was on sexual issues to try and play things to their direct advantage. Security measures had made sure that there were no rape cases, but Eliza also knew that she would have to be on the ball to make sure that all the Human students coming to the High School at WSA were aware that while Animalians were more open on sexual issues, that did not mean that WSA would tolerate rape and sexual assault and that they had taken the security precautions to make sure of it.
"And I am optimistic about the success we can have together," Eliza then spoke as she came to what was essentially the elephant in the room regarding the welcome back to school, "however there will be things that all of us must remember. First things first. WSA's showers are unisex and all Human students will need to understand that their Animalian classmates that have found bond-mates or are dealing with issues related to "heat" will be more... frisky from time to time. And in acceptance of Animalian culture... we are willing to tolerate consensual relationships. Though, this means that ALL students, Human and Animalian MUST take sex education as an elective in their first year here, and no, it is not a "how to" course."
There were a couple of groans that Eliza heard after that. She simply continued with the last part of her speech.
"The faculty and staff are also WELL aware of all expected issues that may come about because of the policies we've enacted," Eliza continued, "and I will make this point VERY clear. We have no tolerance for rape or sexual assault. No MEANS no, no excuses. And we do have the means to monitor ALL areas where that issue can arise. Things are arranged to allow for as much privacy as possible, but should any student, Human or Animalian try to take advantage of another, they will be caught and stopped. We are to be here as friends and collogues and to learn. Not to take advantage of each other."
From there, Eliza stepped back from the podium and let the students then begin to dismiss and go about start of the day. She didn't really expect any trouble on that issue, as Animalia had seemed to have avoided those sorts of issues in the sense that it wasn't Animalians that had forced themselves on anyone. Even the issues with those dealing with Regressive Hypersexuality hadn't forced themselves on anyone, but she knew it was a sensitive issue and that a few parents in Lyre did come into voice questions and concerns regarding WSA's policies regarding the showers and the tolerance of more "adult" relations in them. In this, she knew that if WSA was to stay open as a completely integrated school that there would have to be at least some compromises on all sides so that the rules were fair and clearly known. Eliza didn't expect a problem, but it was best to get that out in the open before a problem came out of nowhere and WSA found itself under attack for not being prepared for it.
It was just one of those responsibilities that as principal she had to handle. Though it did leave her thinking of Beth and the camping trip they'd had over the summer that let them escape from many of those things...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Ah... catch that mountain air!" Beth's father said firmly as he stepped out from the SUV that the group had driven to their present camping spot.
It was relatively quiet at the moment with various coniferous trees growing straight up and toward the sky. There was a soft breeze that blew them and rustled the cones that were in the tree as it blew and left a fair bit of light fluttering down onto the campsite area. The area was relatively open enough to allow for three modest tents with a central campfire pit, made around a metal ring with some ash and wood from old campfires still there. The closest thing to the small gravel "driveway" was a park bench. There were a few small chips in the brown paint, but it didn't look to bad and Eliza didn't think splinters would be an issue. In fact as Eliza helped Beth out, she'd figured that small things weren't too much of a problem. Her fur was thick enough to catch somethings and her pads were tough enough to deal the rest. That had been one of the best parts of being an Animalian.
"You say that every time we have one of these trips, dad," Beth commented, giving some indication that these sorts of trips was something that was usually her father's idea.
"And it's still true!" Beth's father declared with a smile.
"I'm just glad that I don't have to be on a leash all the time and with limited areas where I can go," Killer commented as he came around the vehicle, "many of these places... even if they allowed pets, don't want them running loose."
"Among many of the things you've liked about being an Animalian," Beth chuckled to her former pet and now a sort of older brother.
"And now you'll get to see all of Yosemite through new eyes!" Beth's mother patted Killer's back, "it'll be fun for ALL of us."
Killer nodded as he looked around at the trees and listening to the wind blow through them. It was very different from life at home. Lyre and Animalia weren't exactly huge mega cities, but Animalia had had a lot of development in the time after the initial outbreak. In this the community there was growing into a rather busy area with activity of all kinds. Some of it was just people passing through and some of it was with the people coming to the summer events. It often kept him and Beth's father pretty busy at the convenience store they were employed at. One had even had a girl coming from a college somewhere to be part of the Bare as You Dare competition asking if he was one of the judges. It was something that showed the potential for things becoming busy and hectic.
But this campsite was quiet. Sure there were some sounds, like cars driving to and from campsites. There were also some conversations that floated on the breeze and the occasional squeals of joyous children at the sight of chipmunks, but none of these carried the sort of impending hectic and frantic excitement that went along with what man terms "civilization." It was something calm and more natural, and in some ways, Killer liked that. Despite his name and despite the fact that the Doberman Pincer had been bred to protect and help tax collectors, he'd had a rather docile temperament. And in this, he liked being with his family in places that were quiet like this. And since Beth had found herself a bond-mate after becoming an Animalian, family now included Eliza.
"Come on, Killer," Beth's father said to him, "let's get the tents set up and let the others see to everything else we'll need... like getting firewood and plan out what to do for fun."
Killer nodded moved to follow Beth's father while Eliza quietly looked over the campground with Beth and her mother not to far away. Eliza actually smiled as she looked things over. Her reasons for it though, was more that it got her away from all the paperwork that came with being a principal and an administrator. WSA's first year hadn't gone bad, with the exception of the backlash over how things had been rushed into establishing WSA as a separate campus from the Lyre School District after Heather's arrival in Lyre/Animalia, but in the end that situation looked to be back in hand with the school districts to be integrated again in the coming fall. The biggest thing that Eliza had ended up running into was that that plan soon involved adding to the campus to provide room for everyone and so on. It was more paperwork than just making sure that the showers were properly cleaned, and in a sense was tiring in and of itself. But, once the work was done, Eliza was confident things would be fine.
"So what do you think?" Beth asked, "We've had a lot of these sorts of camping trips over the years. Not all of them have been as far as Yosemite... but... it is something that's been fun for my folks in getting out of the house and away from some of the chaos my dad's run into at work."
"You don't want to hear about the guy who wanted to use the bathroom and then got lost trying to find it... IN a convenience store," Beth's nodded, "Brock spent a week face palming after that."
"Was the man drunk?" Eliza wondered.
"No... and neither was he disabled in any way," Beth's mother answered, "he just seemed to walk toward the door to the bathrooms, look to an aisle, go to it, dance for a moment, and then head back toward the bathroom again, only to get distracted by something else and then asking hurried questions. It was like the guy was just lost... Thankfully, that seemed to be the only "problem." By many means that was fairly tame."
"Well... I can agree with the want to get away from chaos," Eliza gave a small chuckle as she noted Killer and Beth's father, Brock, carrying the bags that the tents were in and setting them on the ground in the cleared area for tents to be set up, "mine's been a bit more with paperwork and administration... but the chaos is still there."
"All the signatures scrubbed away?" Beth teased with some reference to WSA's high school showers where just about everyone with a bond mate spent some time through the course of the school year.
A part of her had wished that she and Eliza could have had some of that sort of fun, but then, she also knew that Eliza was under her own set of supervision due to the rules that schools had regarding relationships between teachers and students. The Nevada department of education had ignored her and Eliza being together since they'd started dating before WSA was established and Eliza was given the opportunity to start over again as a principal at the high school. However, Eliza had show a lot of professionalism at school and the two of them couldn't do anything that related to their relationship on school grounds so long as Beth had been a student. With her graduation, that was no longer really an issue. She'd been admitted to UNLV and was still seriously considering a major in Education, and a lot of it related to the guess that since many Animalians in the US ended up settling in Animalia, WSA might have to expand because of the growing population.
"It's not so much that part as it is the forms, paperwork, organizing things," Eliza answered, "particularly with the enlarging of the High School, Middle School, and Elementary buildings among other things in connection to the Lyre and Animalia districts being integrated for the coming fall."
"Do you think things will work out?" Beth's mother wondered.
"To an extent with how... used people in Lyre have been with Animalia, while there may be some concerns on certain issues," Eliza answered, "I'm pretty sure that things will be fine. It's just a lot of administrative work."
"Though... now that I'm out of school... I could help relieve some of that stress," Beth told her and licked Eliza's cheek while the three of them soon set about walking toward a camp center that had pre-cut and chopped firewood to use. It'd take Brock and Killer a little while to get the tents set up.
"That can be later," Eliza couldn't help but purr at that, "but come fall... you'll be in college. And your mom and I will do anything we can to help."
"I know," Beth nodded.
"In the meantime... I'm glad to be some place quiet and not having to worry too much about signing things," Eliza said to them and placed one arm around Beth's shoulders as they walked along, "It will be fun."
Beth nodded, "What have you thought on the UFC-A tournament, so far?"
"It's been good," Eliza gave a shrug as the subject changed, "granted at the moment it's only the preliminary rounds and given the health and healing requirements... it'll probably STILL be going when the summer ends. I can tape the matches for you if you can't get the channel they're on in college."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Eliza smiled as she thought back on the camping trip. It had been fun, with some hiking, campfire stories, and so on. Beth was still curious at the wedding plans that Eliza and Beth's mother had been working on, but so far those plans remained a secret. And when they returned to Lyre, Eliza really did feel invigorated for the start of the school year, even thought he first week coming in the last week of August would have its own related confusion.
"So how went the assembly?" her vice principal asked as Eliza made it back into the High School's office area, "anyone protest the rules?"
"I think the only "protest" was that the sex education classes aren't a "how too" course," Eliza commented, making her vice principal chuckle a little bit, "So how are we with regards to things like attendance?"
"They've been starting to come in as the students make their way to their classes," her vice principal commented, "I think most of our issues at the moment is going to be some tardies... particularly with the Human students who during visitation days las year largely didn't get beyond the places like the front entry way and the gym where they could interact with Animalian students in a big group. But I think that will even out as everyone gets used to the routine."
"Most of it... so there are some absences?" Eliza asked.
"I think for the moment we have two that I know of," her vice principal spoke, "Sophie Albers and Roland Luwrie… though from what I understand, their absence can't be helped. Of there are others... they haven't been reported yet."
Eliza nodded. The two members of Animalia Ambassadoria had been sent as part of a special mission a few days ago to cover the official opening of the Dinotopia Aquatica colony on Skull Island. It was still summer then, and in theory they SHOULD have had time to get back to Lyre/Animalia for the first day of school. However, the best laid plans didn't always pan out. While they made it out to cover the opening in time and with no troubles, Eliza remembered seeing the news show their coverage on the opening of the colony and then seeing a weather report that had a massive storm come out of nowhere and hit both Skull Island and the area of Florida near it directly. Thankfully the storm didn't do any lasting damage, but it did ground the flight that Sophie, Roland, Andrew, and Jen were supposed to return on for several days, and last Eliza had heard, they were still waiting out the storm in a hotel in Florida.
"Yeah... the Storm from Nowhere as it's been called," Eliza sighed, "hopefully it ends and they're able to make it back... as I think this... the integrated district and everyone together... THAT is what Sophie wanted."