It was summer.
The best time of the year for many in the country, be it the sun, weather or vacation. And in the case of students, it was, most of all, summer-break, a period of relaxation and lazy enjoyment ideally. For teachers at the various schools across the civilized world, it was both a period of vacation, and planning.
And at the private St. Barnes boarding school, its principal and teachers were having a series of critically important meetings. For the school was, unbeknownst to most parents and students, at a crisis point.
What was the crisis? A decline in the schools popularity and attraction, and one that by all metrics looked irreversible, especially when one looks at the many schools that were closed down recently across the country and what linked them, the new paradigm for teaching the next generation were through strict usage of gender shaping to create a homogenous student body. And it seemed parents cared far more for those that did use gender-shaping than those that didn't. But St. Barnes already used gender-shaping, where before it was a school open solely for well-off boys, it now accepted girls as well, provided their parents accepted their child being gender-shaped into a boy.
The problem lay in the schools attractiveness compared to others.
And why was it such a big deal? Because St. Barnes was a private high-quality boarding school tailored to the boys of well-off business managers, administrators or workers where their parents couldn't always afford to come home, therefore letting their parents rest easy knowing their son was in good hands for most of the year. And being a private school, its student pool was limited to moderately well-off families able and willing to pay the notably more expensive option compared to public schools, the good thing about the increased expense is that it made the schools budget large enough to hire highly-qualified teachers and instructors.
But if their ideal demographic became less interested due to a shift of concerns away from quality of teaching and instead to its Gender-Change policy? And when that demographic became biased to a select few alternatives due to efforts, discussions, opinions and 'memes' on Social Media, like, say, a certain catchy rhyme that went along the lines of “If you’re a mommy in some doubt, turn his weenie inside out!”
To a school dependent on the middle-class wanting the best for their boys future, this was tantamount to a nightmare scenario when there existed public boarding schools with a not-that-much lower education-rating (a basic rating system showing the approximate average score amongst a schools students in exams) and a much stricter gender-change policy for girls, in the same state. The administration of St. Barnes boarding school was practically in a frenzy trying to find a solution to their popularity problems, and ensure they wont crash should the current trend "raise them as boys, finish them as women" lose traction after a year or so.
In meeting after meeting, groups of teachers, administrative workers, colleages, sponsors and even the janitors were asked to come with alternatives for the coming future of St. Barnes come the end of summer-break. If it wasn't for the states recent education aid-packages for the integration of gender-changing into the country's education infrastructure, it would have been impossible to get the school truly ready for the students and whatever policy was decided upon by the faculty.
But whatever they chose, be it 'mundane' or 'unique', St- Barnes would be prepared to give their students a high-quality year of education. As the faculty weren't looking for a solution just when summer break started, rather they've been searching out every alternative throughout the year while observing the trends. Teachers traded favours with old colleages and friends in other schools with a stricter gender-policy for information into initial education plans. Administrative workers crawled the net for possible solutions, finding information then extrapolating upon it. Sponsors sendt out feelers into the job market for educators in non-standard classes or certain professions. And in one certainly special case, one of the Janitors offered trustworthy and influential contacts in the criminal underworld, which was in an upheaval of its own, wholly different yet with certain similarities to the one currently suffered by the education sector.
And after two weeks of constant meetings, both physical and digital interspersed by inquiries to external contacts, the Principal (or Headmaster), one Jacob Barnes, was given a list detailing the different alternatives found to be practical by the rest of the faculty. It was a list of both expected and unexpected, normal and unusual, mundane and bizarre, even Legal and Illegal, yet all were choices found to be of promising worth no matter how outlandish some were.
This list became the bane of the Headmasters sleep-schedule for several days, inquiring into certain alternatives, digging through the necessary bureaucracy for changing the schools gender-policy and some official names, then consulting with private lawyers about the legal processes and even coverup for the 𝘥𝘶𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭 alternatives and acquisitions, even exchanging a few texts with underworld kingpins and professional propagandists. All to pick one of the alternatives.
Then with the schools future chosen, a pile of paperwork necessary for it to be all carried out is filled out then sent to the appropriate authorities to then give approval and licensing for the needed work. Then a quick notice is given to the parents of every student (both new and old) as well as on the schools official website about 'the schools re-evaluation of its gender-change policy for improved educationary measures'. After, the necescary educators and contractors for the chosen policy are contacted about a pending job-offer, then suppliers are contacted for the necessary educational equipment. Afterwards underworld contacts are inquired about their offered services and goods, and certain deals are quietly made and covered up by private investigators and lawyers.
And when finally the necessary facilities are constructed, replaced or modified, the parents of already-enrolled students are contacted about the schools updated gender-policy, and the possibility their son might require an additional year of education in order to catch up with the schools updated educational plan. And when every parent is carefully convinced to consent, usually through the repeated citation of "your sons future", "the best path forward" and "his greatest opportunity in this changing world", the workers go on to seek out parents interested in enrolling their child in the newly-revamped St.Barnes boarding school and convince them to enroll their child to a general success.
And then summer-break, as suddenly as it comes, ends, and masses of students both new and old are driven to the St. Barnes out-of-the-way, countryside campus, where they'll be spending most of the school year away from the 'care' of their parents. All carry a notice telling them to attend in the gym for a welcoming-speech by the Headmaster, information on the school year and (possibly falsified) bulletpoints about their planned education blah. blah. Oh, and the schools new and exciting gender-change policy!
That was the reason why most students were annoyed, angry, nervous or worried as they left busses, cars or minibusses outside the fenced-off campus grounds and began to walk towards where the school gymnasium was. Even from outside it was clear to the old students the school looked changed, but the question remained, what kind of school had they come to?