William's morning had gone quite well. He had some concerns over what Jenny's parents would do concerning her wedding and how it would affect her, and he needed to think of a way to explain to Martha that he'd essentially offered to adopt a student if things went bad. He was fairly certain that Martha would understand when he explained why he'd made his offer to Jenny. He'd remembered that there had been some times when things had been tense between Martha and her own parents and her older sister, which he now figured related to her being bisexual. Her parents had a fairly firm and very obvious anti-gay stance and Martha's sister, which she hadn't made any anti-gay comment, often bragged about how good her relationship was, and much of this had occurred before William and Martha's marriage had been strained. He figured that might help her understand the stress that Jenny was under, even if it's exact nature was different from what his wife remembered.
His other morning classes had gone well, and the students did respond well to returning to the normal class activity after Monday's classes had been altered due to his being at Yvette's hearing on that day. By his lunch break, William felt a bit relaxed and pleased with the progress made. As he made his way out of his classroom for lunch he was alerted the the sound of footsteps coming down the tiled hallway toward him. He turned to see the dean coming his way.
"Mr. Anderson, how has your morning gone?" the dean asked as William shut his classroom door.
"It's gone quite well," William answered, "A little behind schedule based on not being here Monday morning... but we did make progress. I'm pretty confident we can make up for the time lost."
The dean nodded and took a step to a side as William stepped away from his door to be ready to go to lunch.
"Was there something you need, sir?" William asked.
"You made a request for Washington State's teacher exam tests to be delivered for your wife," the dean answered, "and I do have some updates for you."
William blinked and then nodded. He had asked for special tests to be arranged to Martha take those tests on the date of the court hearing. He had forgotten about that briefly when Martha informed him that she would have the opportunity to take the tests more than once and the Moon Lake School District didn't have requirements for the grades to be in before the application was considered, so long as they had updates that the tests were scheduled and many of those tests were normally scheduled before the due dates that Martha had to meet.
"You do?" William asked, "Well... I was on my way to lunch. Can we talk on the way?"
"Of course," the dean answered with a soft smile, "There is some paperwork that your wife will need to fill out and return... but that's mostly procedural maters. Nothing big."
William slowly nodded as the two of them began walking along with the ultimate intention of making it to the student union building, as the cafeteria and restaurants there weren't just for the students. William had actually enjoyed the standard meals that the college's cafeteria offered. The two of them walked quietly for a few moments. Once they came to the door that took them out of the building that the English department was in the dean spoke up to explain the update that he have.
"I did get an agreement with the State Department of Education office and they will agree to send out a proctor with a special copy of the test," the dean said slowly, "from the way the guy on the phone commented... he said the version he'd have would be the beta-test version of the one they plan to use for this school year."
William looked over to see the dean give him a rather weak smile, and looked like he was somewhat puzzled by what he had reported.
"I think its a computer game sort of thing," William commented, remembering one time in Minnesota finding Eric at his computer driving tanks around a random battlefield, "A phase in which they're trying to see how well the game works..."
"Ah," the dean shrugged, "Well... they did give me the assurance that if the tester... your wife... can pass the test, they'll accept the score, even if they change the chest when they issue the regular tests."
"That sounds good," William nodded, "Did it give you any trouble... to deal with these things... or..."
"No real trouble," the dean answered, "they had a little concern over the fact that it was being called in special... but this thing does actually happen from time to time. People that move one of the neighboring town and want to teach again and need to upgrade their certification and so on... the situations like your wife's aren't as common... but that's also due to the fact that most of the school staff in the town's district are weres. Our long lifespans mean that we need to work longer and can't retire easily..."
"And if were children still mature in eighteen years..." William said slowly.
"They have to enter the work force while so many of us are still "young" and in the work force," the dean nodded, "It's generally why some of us leave Moon Lake... jobs aren't available and the young were goes in search of work..."
William nodded as that did make sense. As they made it to the Student Union building, the dean arrived first and opened the door. William nodded politely as he walked in and then waited to for the dean to come in and retake the lead.
"So... when will the test proctor arrive for the test?" William answered as they kept going to get to the cafeteria.
"Well... from what they agreed to... the first Monday after Thanksgiving," the dean said slowly, "it will then mean an all day of testing for your wife."
"I'm sure she can handle it... and if not... from what she found out at the school..." William said slowly, "she could get a potential second shot at when the tests are normally issued."
"Yes," the dean nodded, "though you'd need to talk with the Education department if your wife does need to retake the tests after the first go around."
William nodded again. It'd potentially mean some hoops to jump through if Martha had to take the tests again, but he remembered how Martha had talked about working with young students while they were dating. She'd always sounded bright and chipper and even clever on how a lot of those things worked. He was certain that she could do well on the tests so long as she had some time to prepare for them, which it would seem that she would get. If she didn't pass, William figured it would only be based on some of the technicalities that had changed over the years since Martha last taught. She'd then be able to easily then use the failed test to see what she'd need to improve on.
The two of them quietly went through the line when they reached the entrance to the cafeteria and then punched in a staff ID number on a key pad that the one of the cafeteria staff had with them. They collected their food for lunch, though the dean picked out a different lunch menu from William. William picked out a few pieces of fried chicken with some cheesy noodles while the dean picked out a few hamburgers and some fries. Once they had their lunches they went into the main cafeteria area and sat down at a table that was empty for the moment.
"So... you said there would be some things that Martha would need to fill out?" William asked as he sat down.
"Yes," the dean nodded, "it's basic identification type work, to let the state know who the test taker is. It will include all the assorted information that would cover who the test taker is... demographics, that sort of thing."
"So, they'll ask on race and gender and so on," William commented slowly. It was a statement, even though it sounded like a question.
"Yes," the dean nodded, "which is a rather standard answer, I'd suppose... or have the two of you had sex since your transformation?"
"We've had plenty of sex," William answered, "but she became a werecat before that happened."
The dean paused and nodded, "well... in either case, be it werecat or werefox... make sure she lists what would be the normal designation."
"Secrecy of were society?" William asked.
"That could be part of it," the dean shrugged, "more that the state doesn't think your wife is crazy."
The dean then wrestled with something in his pants pockets. William heard the crackling of paper, and eventually the deal pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it across the table to William. William took it and paused his lunch to unfold the paper. It was a email printout with a website address, and a list of instructions to be followed with a listed email address. Basic parts of it seemed rather straightforward, but William wondered why there was an email address on there as well.
"Is there a reason for the email being there?" William asked, "If she logs on and fills out the information... wouldn't they get the information they need?"
"They want duplicate copies," the dean answered, "she is to log on and enter the information and submit it. That would go directly to the office that would put it with the test as it is arranged. The other would make sure that the information isn't lost due to a bug. And all of this is only being done because this is being done "special" for your wife. She isn't in our database as a student and she isn't in the state's database as a retired teacher reactivating their certificate. It's a means to keep her information on file... and so on."
"Okay," William said slowly, "and that's all there is for it?"
The dean nodded, "I'm sure it seems like a lot to go through... but in many cases... this part is the easy part. You'll eventually have fingerprints she'll need to give, original transcripts from where she got her education to teach the first time around, any and all relevant work history... which could be tough depending on how good the last school she taught at was with regards to record keeping. The school district won't be to bad with these sorts of things... but the state will have its fair share of hoops to jump through just to get a licence."
"You know... I don't think I had quite as many hoops to jump through..." William commented slowly.
"Well... one, we're at a college with a different set of requirements and objectives from public schools," the dean answered, "in that sense we have a bit more freedom with regard to setting specific standards, expectations, and our calendar. And since our students have all graduated high school and paid tuition to come here... we aren't fully held to the same methodology requirements that have gone into the public schools."
William nodded. He doubted elementary school students would function well on lectures and large group discussion, even if it was on topics that were related to what they were learning.
"And at the same time, Moon Lake's college is a private university that has more ties to the city than anything else," the dean continued, "so we're also allowed to have a bit more freedom from many of the state requirements that would apply to even Washington State and the University of Washington... let alone the public school system at the high school, middle school, and elementary school levels. There are the hopes to jump through, as I'm sure you remember before you moved here with your family. but they're different hoops from what your wife will have to jump through to teach in the public school system."
William nodded slowly, "Well... this will at least be a step in the right direction. Thank you."