he going to get rid of our gym teacher and send us to the gym by ourselves? Thatâs no different than taking away our librarian, Mrs. Reynolds.â
When Justine, Safdar and Michael finished reading the paper, they gave each other high fives. But their grins faded when the PA system came on and they heard, âJustine McKeen, please report to the office immediately.â
Chapter Nine
When Justine got to the office, Jimmy Blatzo was waiting for her. He had his Pooper Scooper T-shirt on.
âIâm not letting you get into trouble by yourself,â he said.
Michael and Safdar showed up too.
âHang on,â Michael said. âYou are not going in there alone.â
Safdar looked at Jimmy Blatzo. âThatâs okay?â
âGood to see you guys,â Jimmy Blatzo said. âLetâs get this over with.â
They entered the principalâs office. The principal, Ms. Booth, sat behind her desk. They lined up in front of her.
âStrange,â Ms. Booth said. âAnd here I thought I called only for Justine.â
âWe are in this together,â Michael said. âSee our T-shirts?â
The school secretary knocked on the open door. âMs. Booth, thereâs a bunch of kids out here. All of them are wearing Pooper Scooper T-shirts. They said if Justine McKeen is in trouble, then they are too.â
Ms. Booth put her face in her hands. When she lifted her head, she said, âI donât have enough room in here. Please take them to the library. Tell them to wait for me.â
Ms. Booth held up the paper. âDo you see this headline? School Official Cares More About Poop Than Kidsâ Literacy .â
âYes,â Safdar said. âMy eyesight is good. I had a checkup last week andââ
Blatzo elbowed Safdar. âShe didnât mean it like that.â
Ms. Booth put her face in her hands again. Then she looked at Justine. âLet me guess. The Pooper Scooper Club was your idea.â
âThe school supported a walking school bus, right?â Justine said. âFrom that I learned we can make a difference by working together. So I thought if the whole town got involved, maybe we could get Mrs. Reynolds back in the library.â
âWe miss her,â Jimmy Blatzo said.
âSo you made sure everyone in town saw a photo of Mr. Ripley pointing at dog poop on his shoe?â Ms. Booth asked.
âThere was poop all over the park across from the school board office. He told me to solve that problem instead of the librarian problem. So I listened. The dog poop is a big problem.â
âJustine,â Ms. Booth said, âdo you see that because the T-shirt says Stop the Poop at the School Board Office , some people think that means Mr. Ripley is full of poop? Not that there is too much dog poop in Central Park?â
âI wish I could lie to you,â Justine said. âBut that did occur to me.â
Ms. Booth sighed. âSome people think the T-shirt is disrespectful.â Ms. Booth sighed again. âSome people think itâs funny. I do wish Mrs. Reynolds was back in the library.â
âWell,â Justine said, âMrs. Reynolds said if enough parents cared, maybe that would change Mr. Ripleyâs mind.â
âI have good news for you,â Ms. Booth said. âThis morning, two hundred parents sent emails asking if they could buy a Pooper Scooper T-shirt. Most of those emails also ask why the school doesnât have a librarian. Why are parents sending emails to the school to order T-shirts?â
Safdar coughed. âMs. Booth, I wish I could lie to you. But maybe, just maybe, somebody made a flyer that has the schoolâs email address on it. Maybe that studentâs name was Safdar.â
âYes, Safdar,â Ms. Booth said. âIâve seen the flyer. Next time, you need to ask to use the schoolâs email address, okay? Or at least make sure you donât put your name on