No one really understood it. Jeff Stephens was a remarkable teacher…or at least, so said the grades of the students in his classroom. Week after week. Month after month. Year after year. Top-rated test scores in the nation. He was moderately well-paid, but with his track record…why would he he stay at the MV Regional High School, located on the East Coast, and attended by the children of the rich and famous? There were bigger schools (MVRHS served about 800 students annually in grades 9-12), MUCH bigger salary/benefit packages, private schools, even consulting other teachers on how to teach better. So why would he stay? It would have been understandable if he had been bug-eyed over the celebrity parents…certainly hangers-on are not rare in the "celebri-sphere"…but he treated them like he would any other parent. Courteous and professional. Nothing more. So…why?
But he, himself, was tight-lipped on the subject. He was asked many times by other teachers, parents, students…even reporters. He always replied that he was simply content where he was. And that was that. Or was it?
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