14
BRANTLEY
I went through every single line of Kevin’s test, looking for any possible points I could give him. We’d been working together all week, and he was smarter than he gave himself credit for, but he was still struggling.
I didn’t think about what the grade would do to his average because I couldn’t. I had to be a teacher first and a coach second. That was the promise I made to myself when I took the coaching job. School always had to come first. And if that meant benching one of my stars, I would deal with it.
It was also why I came up with my system of putting grades in every Sunday. It eliminated any manipulation of grades. If I was consistent, then I was fair.
But it wasn’t easy.
I wanted to give all my students A’s, but when they didn’t earn the grade, I couldn’t do it.
