Parent - "Teacher" Conference

The teachers asked me to stop by my landlord’s house (he lives right below me) and talk with both of the parents and their daughter Arianny, who is in 6th grade. The dad leaves the house early every morning to work, leaving the mom in charge getting their two girls ready for school. Well lately, Pedro has noticed that when he comes home for lunch at noon, the oldest daughter hasn’t been to school. So he stopped by the school, talked with the teachers, and left me with the job to find out what’s been going on.

Here’s how the conference went:

As I enter the house, Pedro and his wife Johanny are yelling at each other. I knock and shout out “SALUDOS” to make my presence known in the hopes that they would calm down in front of me. Johanny told me to sit in the kitchen and they continued yelling at each other, so I just had to butt in.

Lauren: Excuse me, but the teachers asked me to talk to you all. They’ve noticed that Arianny has missed a lot of days of school and that she’s not really doing her homework.

Pedro: That’s exactly what I’m f***ing talking about. She’s such a bad mother, doesn’t even send these dumb girls to school. They’re going to grow up to be even dumber than their mother.

Johanny: Hmph! I do my job. I wake her up. I send her to school. I can’t make her learn. That’s her own d*** problem.

Lauren: Well I don’t really know the details because I’m not Arianny’s teacher. But –

Pedro: See here you dumb b****. Now the whole school knows you’re a bad mother and they’re telling everyone about it.

Johanny: Ask him why they miss school. He needs to buy her a notebook. She can’t go learn without a notebook. And the other one needs shoes. How is she supposed to go to school without shoes??

Pedro: Oh no! I bought her shoes and you gave them to your sister. I work hard for this family. They’re never lacking food. What do you do?? You don’t even have my dinner ready when I come home at 10 p.m.

Lauren: Ok, going back to the issue with Arianny; it’s important that she has the support of her parents. Maybe you can decide on an hour every day to sit down and do homework, and both of you can be available in case she has problems.

Pedro: Yeah, that’s what the gringos do. But my wife doesn’t care about that –
Lauren: I know it’s difficult with both of you working and y’all are very active and busy with the church, but it’s important that both of you become involved in scholastic issues.

Pedro: She can’t even learn a church hymn. Dumb. Just like her mother. These girls are going to grow up and be poor because they won’t ever get a job. They’re so dumb.

Lauren: Well Rosanny (the youngest daughter, who’s in fourth grade) is doing great. Her teachers say she is one of the best in her class.

Pedro: No thanks to her mother. Last year Arianny flunked and you know what that b**** of a wife of mine did? She hid Arianny’s grades from me so I wouldn’t know.

Johanny: That wasn’t me!

Pedro: So I threw the g**d*** television out the window to give her more time to study.

Johanny: You don’t even f***ing care about their studies. They’ve been in school for (she pauses and starts calculating the amount of years in her head) many tears and you’ve stepped foot in the school once. Or never.

Pedro: Just because you go to meetings doesn’t mean you learn anything from them. Dumb b****. Can’t even learn a church hymn. Next time I WILL go to the meetings.

Lauren: Ok, well I hope we can resolve this soon. Girls, you know I’m always around if you need help with homework or anything else.

And I fled. That night Johanny and the girls moved out of the house. And now three days later, they still haven’t returned. Did I just break up their family????