"Come on," I say to Blake. "Let's see what we can solve."

I stand and he reluctantly follows.

Ms. Reid has her door open. I knock on the frame and she looks up from her computer. "Oh, hello Mr. Graham, Blake. Come on in."

"Thank you, Ms. Reid. I hope we aren't interrupting anything important." I sit down at the conference table and gesture for Blake to sit next to me.

"Oh, nothing that I can't finish up in a bit." As she stands to join us, she smiles at Blake. "How are things going?"

"Fine," he mutters.

"Math is going great," I interject. "But Blake brought something else to my attention, and I was hoping to get your input on next steps."

"Of course. What's going on?" She asks, leaning forward.

"Blake, do you want to tell Ms. Reid what you told me?" I prompt.

"Can you?" he asks, scrunching up his brows with uncertainty.

"Sure." I nod and then turn my attention back to Ms. Reid. "Well, Blake here had a bit of an issue in the boy's room with a fifth grader, and it made him feel like he doesn't belong there."

"Oh really? Can you say more?" she asks, concern in her voice.

"I don't want Danny getting in trouble," Blake quickly adds.

"At the beginning of the year Danny Sumpter told Blake that the only place boys could pee was in a urinal, and if he couldn't use a urinal, then he couldn't use the boy's room," I explain.

"I see." She nods. "Was anyone else in the bathroom when he said this?"

"There was someone in the other stall, but I don't know who," Blake answers, his eyes are focused on his hands as he picks at the rough edge of his bitten down thumb nail.

"And what about the way he said it, can you give me any more details?"

"Well, I was walking out of a stall and he stopped me. Said he had been waiting and that, well ... what Mr. Graham said." Blake's voice falters.

"Hmm. Okay. Blake, did you tell your mom this?"

"No." His eyes remain cast downward.

Ms. Reid looks at me, her lips pressed thin and her brows furrowed. A beat passes, and she nods. "Here's what we are going to do," she says decisively. "We're going to get to the bottom of this. Mr. Graham is going to talk to your mom and I am going to talk to Danny– Don't worry, you're not getting him in trouble, I just want to talk to him."

Blake doesn't look too happy as he shuffles back down to class. I feel bad that we lost our math time to this, but I also feel optimistic that I finally understand what's preventing him from reaching his potential in whole-class instruction. And now we can work on solving the problem.

* * *

The next morning I get to work a little earlier than usual to meet with both Ms. Greene and Ms. Reid.

When I called, Blake's mother was understandably upset by the news I had to share. I think she was actually more concerned that Blake hadn't told her first, rather than at what happened. But now that we all knew about what Danny Sumpter said, it is time to put together an action plan.

After dropping my bag by my desk, I take my coffee and go sit at the conference table in Ms. Reid's office.

"Did you see Ms. Greene on your way in?" she asks.

"No, but I'm sure she'll be here shortly." I take a sip of my coffee. "How did your conversation with Danny go?"

Her nostrils flare slightly as her lips press shut and she shakes her head slowly. "That kid's going to be a politician." The way she says it, she definitely does not mean it as a compliment.

I let out a short laugh. I'm not used to Ms. Reid making jokes. But before I am able to ask her to elaborate, Ms. Greene knocks on the doorframe.

"Good morning!" we both say, practically in unison.

"Please, sit down, Ms. Greene, thank you so much for joining us this morning," Ms. Reid gestures for her to come in and take a seat.

"No, really, thank you guys for being willing to meet so immediately about this matter," Ms. Greene says, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"So, how's Blake doing this morning?" I ask. "Did he share any other incidents with you when you spoke with him last night?"

She takes a deep breath before starting. "Honestly, I just can't believe he didn't tell me about this Danny thing earlier. He's usually so open with me, you know? And it's not like I don't ask him how things are going all the time. I know that bathrooms are a big thing, and I just thought everything was going fine. I could just kick myself for missing this," her voice quivers.

"It's not your fault," I reassure her. "We missed it too."

"And the important thing is what we are going to do now that we do know," Ms. Reid adds.

"Yes, I agree. But to answer your question, no, he didn't share anymore with me last night. Just that he felt the fifth grade boys were ... I don't know, watching him. He couldn't come up with any specific examples. He just felt –well, a certain group of boys, Danny and his friends– looked at him strangely." She gestures somewhat erratically with her hands as she speaks. It's clear that she's at a loss.

Ms. Reid nods sympathetically. Even though I find her hard to read when we're sitting in staff meetings – I would never want to play poker with her – I do admire the clear and steady way she communicates with parents. "I think we should take it as a good sign that he was unable to name specific incidents of harassment or mistreatment. That would seem to indicate that while some children may not be as comfortable with Blakes transition as we would like them to be, they aren't openly harassing him."

"Well, what about what Danny said to Blake in the bathroom? Will that boy face consequences?" Ms. Greene asks.

"I did speak with Danny, and he claimed to just be repeating advice that his father had told him about bathroom etiquette. I would sum it up as ignorance rather than mal intent." Ms. Reid's voice does not hint at the earlier doubt she had expressed to me before. "So, I would not suggest anything punitive."

I guess Danny should be a politician if he was able to convince the principal to repeat his flimsy defense.

"But even if there was no intention to harm Blake, this still needs to be addressed in some way," I quickly add. Ms. Reid and I hadn't discussed consequences, so I hope I'm not crossing a line, but better me saying it than a parent, right?

I am relieved when Ms. Reid supports this suggestion by saying, "Yes, of course."

"What were you thinking of?" Ms. Greene asks.

"I believe that the best weapon against ignorance is knowledge," I say, harkening back to the sensitivity training that the staff all attended at the beginning of the school year.

"Well said, Mr. Graham. And as educators, our first priority is to educate. All teachers use the same social-emotional curriculum. Many classrooms are having wonderful and in-depth conversations about identity and acceptance. Ms. Dunn, for instance, has been going above and beyond to integrate issues around gender-identity into her class meetings."

"Oh yes, she's been great," Ms. Greene interjects.

"So, I think the first step should be talking with Danny's teacher and making sure that these issues are being covered as thoroughly. Maybe the school counselor could lead a specific discussion as well." Ms. Reid suggests.

"I suppose those are good initial steps," Ms. Greene says, not sounding convinced.

"We can keep brainstorming ideas," I say. "As you know, the staff all received sensitivity training at the beginning of the year. Maybe we need to be more purposeful with how we disseminate what we learned to the student body. Danny and his friends might not be the only kids who could benefit from additional resources around how to support Blake. I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but I can do some research into available materials."

"Maybe you could reach out to the LGBT Educator's Group, specifically, Aiden Mills at the high school," Ms. Greene suggests. "I believe he did some work around this when he came out as trans."

"That's a great idea," I say. It would be interesting to speak with another trans educator. And maybe he would have some advice on how to teach slick cool-dudes like Danny to be nicer to kids who are different from him.