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“SIR, WE ARE BEING FOLLOWED.”
EPISODE 1,469: NIGHTMARE ON A SCHOOL TRIP
Note; MOST school trips are smooth and trouble free. This trip was not.
Sure enough, a carload of boys were hot on our tail. Not a good omen we had several teachers and one trustee of the Toronto Board of Education. March break, a week when we planned a school trip in this case a trip to Montreal.
That was nearly 50 years ago and I forget the reason for the trip and most of the kids. Teenagers travelling under the thumbs of their teachers were unlikely to get into trouble. Right?
That blue car had no thumb. So we began with a bad omen. I was a bit nervous. Our hotel was OK. at least it seemed that way until several odd reports happened.
“Sir, there are ‘safes’ under the pillows.” Yikes! Not under my pillow. I checked. Just under certain pillows it seems. Could be one safe under one lonely pillow all the same we had to be careful.
Boys on 4th floor…Girls on the sixth floor…teachers on the seventh floor. Separation. All chance of sexual actvity ruled out.
I had a pile of papers to mark. Occasionally I glanced out the window. Montreal was calm.
Then it happened. One hand appeared on our balcony. Then second hand…head…leg and foot…. A boy was climbing from the fourth to the sixth floor. He looked at me and said, “It’s OK, I know how to climb.” I froze. Said nothing. Did nothing to have the boy loosen his grip. His intentions were Platonic I hoped and wondered if the balconies all had climbers.
Meanwhile, teachers were spending the night in front of the elevators. “Not a bit of trouble!” Little did they know about the climber. Imagine if he fell. I could not speak or move. Then he was gone. There were two to four girls in the room above ours…too many for a sexual encounter l reasoned. Best to keep my mouth shut.
Were climbers hanging like live strings of spaghetti elsewhere? I never knew. A far worse event happened.
“Sir, come quickly, a boy has overdosed…he’s unconscious.”
“who is it?” “New student.” “What drug?””No idea, sir.” The room was full of students surrounding a kid. New kid for second semester. Flat out ; BEING drunk was bad enough…drugs were far more dangerous. “Call 911…we need an ambulance…now!”
I rode with the boy…he did not move as the medic probed and took blood pressure. “I will call ahead … get a doctor right away.”
“Are you the teacher?”’ “one of them.”. “We will have to pump his stomach…need permission…”
I remember that terrible night. I sat alone all night at the end of a long corridor. At the other end doctors and nurses worked over the boy. Seemed to be four of them … seemed urgent. Hours. All night.
“He should be OK now.” The boy was alive and well…he said nothing…no thanks to the people who may have saved his life. We took a taxi back to the hotel. “Has anybody phoned Mrs, Hambleton? “Yes, she says to send the boy back toToronto if he is able.” “He is able…out of danger. How did he get drugs?”
That happened long ago. What I remember clearly is the contents of his suitcase. Everything was so neatly packed. Extra clothes…shirt that loooked brand-new…socks bundled. I guessed his mother loved him despite his stupidity. “Sending you home”.
That was the last I saw of the boy. I don’t think he returned to school. A few months later he was arrested for gang rape I was told.
“Remember his neatly packed suitcase?”
“I remember it well and think of his poor mother trying to get her son lifted…loving her son despite his behaviour . Crying.
alan skeoch Dec. 8, 2025
p.s. I cannot remember why we took those kids to Montreal. It certainly was not an exercise in climbing or to find treasures under pillows or to get a stomach pumped…or to test a mother’s love for an errant son.
This is not a happy story. Sorry . The next story is a happy one. I just had to get this story out of my memory…failed to do so.

EPISODE 1,463 : DO THE COUNT: THE GRADE 13,FIELD TRIP — SHOULD WE LEAVE SIX BOYS?
“OK, do the count…should be 32 of you deadbeats.” “32, sir…let’s hit the road.”
My grade 13 class was loaded. The kids were excited. Little wonder. It was the middle of May in 1970 and we were topping our Canadian history course with a field trip to Niagara On The Lake and the Brock Monument.
The kids ranged in age from 16 to 18. Take a close look at that. I had some kids who could legally drink beer. This would be a big problem…a fumble by the quarter back so to speak. Namely me.
First stop was Fort Mississauga built by black troops who were not entrusted with guns in the War of 1812 but were trusted with bricks from the ruins of Niagara on the lake.
“Do a count! We should have 32.” “We have 35, sir, remember we got your wife and kids.” “Full count 35, right on the nose. The Brits and Canadians built another fort at the south end of the town and that is our third still” “Third stop? What about the second stop , sir.” “You will have two hours to get from Fort Mississauga to Fort George…take your time … this is a beautiful town with lots of shops and fast food joints all strung out along he NiagaraRiver. Enjoy yourselves. We will meet at Fort Geroge. They scattered like leaves in the wind. The boys moved fastest. Historic sites be damned. A few clustered around Marjorie and I. Some liked our kids, Kevin and Andrew. Mostly girls.
Let me cut to the problem. At the south end of the town there existed a beverage room…a beer hall called the Duke of Wellington. Rather run down place in 1970. Today it is fancy hotel catering to affluent tourists. We passed it en route to the bus waiting to take us to the Brock Monument. Never gave the beer hall a second thought. “Do a count.” “29, sir.” “Count again.” “29,sir…six missing.”Can you see them coming?’” “sir…some of the boys stopped at the Duke for a few beers.” “ damn, damn, damn!!!
We could not wait. Let the boys get home on their own? “Next stop the Brock Monument…the boys can get here if they can run for a few miles.”
The boys came running …Thinking how in hell they would get back to Toronto. “Would Skeoch abandon us? Truth is, I don’t know what I would have done.
“Do a count.” “35, sir…all here.”
alan skeoch december 4, 2025
P.S. What would you have done/? Leave six boys to fend for themselves? I gave them a good story to tell their grandkids. The good old days when beer was cheap and Skeoch was waiting.

Which they did. By the time they reached the bus the beer in their guts waswellsloshed.

EPISODE 1.462: FAILURE WAS NECESSARY I DECIDED: but SHE SURPRISED ME’
alan skeoch dec 2, 2025
Mrs. X fled from roving bands of Soviet soldiers intent on rape and murder in the closing days of 1945. German forces were in full flight to the Baltic Sea. Many never were successful.If what she told me is true…and that’s a big if…then she must have been 14 or 15 years old. Soviet soldiers were getting even with Nazis for brutalization of Russian citizens. I remember reading “Documents of the Expulsion” for a Russian history course at University of Toronto. 1945 was a bloody year in Ukraine, Poland and the BAltic states. Enough said.
Who was she? Mrs. X was assigned me as a student teacher around 1970. If she was 15 in 1945 then she would have been around 60 years old in1970, Far too old to be a student teacher. If she was a baby fleeing in her mothers’ arms she could have been in her 40’s when we met. Her story was possible but not probable.
I had her for two weeks…memorable weeks. We clashed almost immediately. To her the study of history was an exercise in rote memory…boring in other words. I preferred a more Socratic approach. Sitting at the back of the room I noticed The big boys were tense. Some had clenched fists…they were nervous and likely had not done their homework. Normal. She scared them. Mrs.X clashed with me very early in the weeks. But now, decades later, all I remember is those tense boys. Fear is no way to teach.
I decided To fail her by the end of the first week. To do so there would be trouble so I thought Mr. Ellis our principal should prepared.
“Mr. Ellis, I am going to fail Mrs.X and there could be trouble.”
His response was a big surprise. “Mrs. X has already turned a report in on you. Do not ever be alone with her. She will claim sex abuse. Probably best to pass her and get her out of our school. What do you think?”
“I think she should be failed.”
Thankfully i was coaching football and had players around all my free time…never gave her a chance claim untoward sexual touching.
At the end of the second week I failed her. She knew that was coming and got very angry. I heard afterward that others had trouble with her. Apparently one of her profs was charged with sexual touching and the case went up the chain of command as far as the Ontario cabinet. But that may not be true.
She screamed at me and threatened to get me. When I got home I told Marjorie that we should be careful. But nothing happened. My failing mark was a turning point for Mrs. X, or so I was told.
We only met her once afterward at a flea market where Mrs, X was selling things.
“Marjorie, that is Mrs. X, she has not seen us…let’s get out of here.”
alan skeoch Dec. 3, 2025
P.S> I stil have a copy of that report, Just in case needed,

SHE WAS CRYING…I WAS SCARED .
alan skeoch december 1., 2025
Tears were silently rolling down her face as she stood by my desk. It was 3,30 and Parkdale Collegiate was nearly empty…we were alone in my classroom… the young girl who was crying. Terror situation for all male teachers. I dare not touch her.
“What’s wrong MORGAN?” She just stood there crying silently. Nice kid whose boyfriend I also knew. He stood outside in the hall. Protecting her it seemed. Something was terribly wrong . A silent cry for help. A fear of going home. More than fear. Terror. Dangerous situation. Male teacher alone with female student.
Where to turn?
Ahh! The School nurse. “Wait here Morgan, I will get help for you.” And then walked quickly — not running —to the nurses tiny room.
I have a girl crying in my room, afraid to go home. I think it is a case of sex abuse but I am not sure. Can you help?”
“Stay here — say nothing — let me take over.” I never saw her again until several years later when she and her husband visited Parkdale C.I. to shake my hand.
“We have an island booth in a plaza.” They were a happy couple. I never asked about the crisis nor was I informed about the resolutilon. All good.
alan skeoch december 1, 2025.
p.s. I wondered how Lynn or Mary or Leila handled such crises. I was over my head. I do not think nurses are present in schools any more. In retrospect Morgan should have been taken the principal I guess. There must be many cases like MORGAN’S. P.P.S. Why did I fear touching?

EPISODE ; 1,460: GRAND THEFT AUTO…WOULD YOU HAVE WRITTEN TO THE JUDGE?
alan skeoch nov. 29, 2025.
A boy was put in my class at Parkdale C. I. while awaiting sentencing for theft…”Grand theft – auto” to be precise. Serious. He was 15 years old and very shy and very troubled. So I sent this letter to the court.
“TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
JOHN DOE is not a leader type. He seems to have been swept up in a car theft ring of criminals. He is A nice kid who has made a big mistake.”
He sat in the first row at the back of my grade ten history class for a few weeks then disappeared. I sent my letter to the court and never saw the boy again. I did however get a phone call from the judge who said my letter was crucial. “your letter was important…” “ JOHN DOE will be sent to a group home”
There were critics, “Al, the boy is a criminal…stole $250,000 worth of cars…What if it was your car he stole? Would you still have sent the letter?
alan skeoch november 30, 2025