Caitlin

By Marilyn Daniels Stauter

Caitlin: Unconditional is about the teenagers nobody wants--obstructive at school, nuisances at home, and an implied threat to every store they go into. The school district has finally decided to put them all together in one building and forget about them--until the next troublesome kid comes along. They have put an untested administrator, Caitlin Ross, in charge of the building. She's an outspoken advocate for kids with no power, and the newly opened Olympus Alternative is a good way to get her out of their hair. Besides, she's willing to work for less money. We meet a boy whose parents shoot their drug dealing accomplice, a gay student who steals a gun to prove his manhood, and a girl who, along with her baby, is being molested by the parents with whom they live. The teachers include a health teacher who's a virgin, a music teacher who falls in love with a student, a PE teacher who hates kids, and new hires so eager to teach they offer to split one salary. Caitlin's significant other, Parks, is a Seattle cop. His partner, Pongo, has a mother who regularly lures him home to the Philippines to try and marry him off to a nice local girl. Olympus' front office is run by Annie, who, like all good secretaries, reads minds. Earl, their custodian, is a former Shell Oil executive who refused to move his wife and daughters to Saudi Arabia, and instead becomes a boiler room counselor. Caitlin herself is a woman who has found her niche. Determined to work with the kids nobody else wants, she is one of the first female administrators in her district. The district opened Olympus to be in on a national trend, and regularly threatens to close it. Staff, students and parents fight to keep it open. When 40 kids graduate, everybody cries. After the district discovers that some 'good' students, including 2 Olympics level ice skaters and a ballet student at a local arts school want to take advantage of Olympus' flexible hours (and teachers), they drop the requirement that all students have to have been suspended in order to attend. This is a school with no frills: a black eye to some, a place that protects and celebrates kids to others. It's not your usual high school, but in many ways, Olympus is the high school you wish you'd gone to.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1512141437
• ISBN13: 9781512141436
• Release Date: February 2016
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.0"