Minimum Competency
A novel about education, testing, life, and death in upstate New York
by
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As he went further down the path, checking both sides for rubs, Moses could not help but notice there was a large amount of disturbed brush. Even with his nominal amount of experience, he could see that something big had come through within the last day or two. Excited, he figured he had better check closer to the little pond, in case a couple of bucks had fought in the clearing. Someplace in his distant past, Moses had read in an outdoor magazine about these duels and how often the bucks could get their antlers locked together. Now wouldn’t that be somethin’? Moses thought, ignoring his pounding head and increasing his pace in anticipation. As he neared the clearing beside the pond, Moses found the shortest route blocked by a mass of brambles. In a hurry and rather than go around he decided to push his way through, which is how he put is foot right in the middle of the dead man’s chest.
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About the Book
In Snyder’s Corners, a small dot on the western rim of New York’s Catskill Mountains, life is tough. Jobs are scarce, money is tight, and the best part of education is the state-ranked basketball team.
Jimmy Kalid, a ninth-grade English teacher at Kaaterskill Central School in the area’s centralized district, realizes something’s amiss. Despite impressive test scores, his students can barely read. Then his new girlfriend, Phyllis Nielsen, while substituting for the eighth-grade English teacher, makes a discovery that causes everything to make sense.
When Joseph Scalani, the nephew of a mob boss—and paper pusher in the State Department of Education—comes to town with evidence of test tampering, he’s hoping to shake down the perpetrators. Instead he meets a pair of incompetents: the bumbling Chief School Officer and his lackey. These two must scramble to cover their tracks, confounding a county sheriff, who rarely sees anything beyond petty theft.
As the mob, the school’s leadership, and the sheriff collide, each player rises to his true level of incompetence. Their only hope to unravel the mystery is the town’s singular pair of intelligent teachers – Jimmy Kalid and Phyllis Nielsen.
About the Author
Jim Mortensen retired in 1994 after teaching math at a small high school in upstate New York for thirty-five years. He has worked as an editor and columnist and has authored several books. A life-long fly fisherman, Jim and his wife, also a retired teacher, live in New York.