This is part of the movie script based on my novel, The Junior High, Xlibris publishers, 2012. I have posted this entire script which is copywritten on http://www.inktip.com on several occasions. This is based on the 31 years I taught in a Junior High called Kakiat Junior High in Spring Valley, New York. The names in the script have been changed to prevent any lawsuits for defamation of character. Enjoy.
Dr. Pelham Mead Sorry the format from pdf does not print out well
DON’T BE SQUARE (C) COPYRIGHT 2015 1 ACT ONE- THE VOICE OF CUCAMONGA JHS 1 2 SCENE 1- INT. DAY- MAIN OFFICE OF CUCAMONGA JUNIOR HIGH 2 SCHOOL Standing behind the Public address system in the right hand corner of the main office is JOHN CARDONE(20s) an explosive speaker, full of enthusiasm, and sarcasm. JOHN is a Social Studies teacher that should have been a disc jockey. He is an Italian guy with thinning hair on top, and he wears horn rimmed glasses. JOHN is a teacher like no other teacher. JOHN is the “Voice of Cucamonga Junior High school,” who makes the morning daily announcements every day. JOHN CARDONE (20S) Good Morning Cucamonga Junior High School. (Announced in the manner Robin Williams used in the movie,”Good Morning Vietnam.” Loud and with great emphasis on dragging out the Gooooood Mornnnning part). The Cucamonga Junior High Tigers Football team , squashed The Panthers from North Junior High School yesterday with a score of 32- 7. Let’s give a big hand for DANNY MATHERS(14) who scored two running touchdowns! On another note: Students are reminded that mid-term exams are coming in several weeks. Please check the assigned test room schedule on the Guidance bulletin board. This years Faculty Basketball team will feature Rick the Runner, who never graduated from Syracuse, Don “The Tree Lee,” Mel “The Mauler” Schwartz, Bill “the bomber” Medley, Sam “the stomper” Steinfeld, and Joe “the Jumper” Bigone. Tickets are on sale now for the annual Student vs. Faculty basketball game which raises money for the Student Yearbook fund. (MORE) The Cafeteria staff wish to announce that personal pizzas will be on sale during lunch from now on. An automatic Pizza oven machine has been purchased, and will be used to crank out those delicious Pizzas. Remember “Don’t be Square.” That’s all for today. This is your announcer Johnny C. Signing off. 3 SCENE 2- INT. DAY- CUCAMONGA JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL SMALL 3 GYMNASIUM WALT WILLEY (20S)PHYSICAL ED. (Shouting to be heard above the noise) Line up, and sit on your attendance squads. Any medical notes bring them up now. If you have a mommies note now, take it to the Nurse immediately, and have her approve the note, and bring it back to me asap. BILL MEDLEY (20S)PHYSICAL ED. (Speaking to WALT WILLEY) Alright WALT, the lockerroom is cleared. All the students are in the gym. WALT WILLEY- PHYSICAL ED. Squad one are there any absences? No. OK, Squad Two, any absences? Yes B2 is absent, That is JAMES FISHLY. Squad c absences.. BILL MEDLEY, PHYSICAL ED. While Coach Willey is taking attendance let’s all stand up, and get ready for Jumping Jacks. Ready, begin 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, Stop. Pushups, assume the position on the floor, 10 pushups, (pause) Ready begin, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 WALT WILLEY COACH MEDLEY I have all the attendance and medical notes. We are ready for sit-ups. Class, buddy up with someone in your squad, one person will be on their back, and the other partner will be holding their straight legs. Sit-ups ready begin, 1,2,3,4,5,….10. Stop. JOHN CARDONE (20S) (CONT’D) 2. BILL MEDLEY You know Walt we have too many students in this class. I count 101 students total. The class limit is 45 per teacher, which would be only 80 students. I passed SAM FELDSTEINS’S class in the big gym and he has only 22 students. WALT WILLEY Yeah, I was thinking about that too. Maybe it is because we are new teachers that we have these overloaded classes? BILL MEDLEY Exactly what I was thinking. How do we control the noise level in this small gym. I cannot blow the whistle every two seconds, when the noise level gets too high. We need to come up with a solution. WALT WILLEY Exactly, I cannot hear my own voice in this small gym with 100 screaming 7th and 8th graders. Let’s take the class outside where the noise level will be lower. BILL MEDLEY Good idea Coach. Let’s do it.(Shouting to the Gym Class). Class, we are going out today. The weather is still in the high 50’s, so it is still good weather for Flag Football. Exit the gym by the back doors on the left and the right, and follow us up the hill to the Football field. Ready, Move out. WALT WILLEY See you at the top of the field coach. FADE OUT. 4 SCENE 3- INT. DAY- TEACHER LUNCH ROOM 4 FADE IN: 3. JOHN CARDONE Good morning Mr. Moonski. SAM MOONSKI(50) Actually, it is almost afternoon John. How are you doing? Have a seat. JOHN CARDONE Thanks. I have to get used to eating lunch so early in the day at 11:05. SAM MOONSKI Yes, the three period lunch system is a pain but with nearly 1,000 students attending Cucamonga Junior High, we have no choice but to break up the lunch periods by grade level. JOHN CARDONE I was wondering how did this school get the ridiculous name Cucamonga? The first time I saw the name, I could not pronounce it properly. (Laughing). SAM MOONSKI Well the truth is that the South Junior high students, who knew they were getting split between South Junior high, and the new Junior high, got the opportunity to pick the name of the new building to make them like it a little more. The choices in the vote were, Central Junior High, Eisenhower Junior High, and Cucamonga Junior High. The students hated the idea of having to go to another Junior High so much, that they all picked the local Indian name of Cucamonga, because they hated the name. Oh, well? JOHN CARDONE That is a funny story. Do you have any more gems about this school? 4. SAM MOONSKI Do I ever? Did you know that when they opened the school in September of 1960 the school construction was not finished yet, and the seats for the auditorium had not arrived. JOHN CARDONE So what did the Superintendent of Schools do? SAM MOONSKI He did not have a lot of choices. He could tell 600 parents and students that they could not attend school for several weeks while, other students were already in school or he had to come up with an alternative plan. JOHN CARDONE So what was the plan? SAM MOONSKI The Superintendent decided to forgo the Certificate of Occupancy inspection by the building inspector until the last five classrooms were finished, and the auditorium filled with seats. He took a chance and opened the school with construction still going on during the day. I heard they paid off the building inspector, not to inspect the building until all the construction was completed. JOHN CARDONE Did that plan work? SAM MOONSKI At least we did not have to postpone the opening date and have teachers, students, and parents in a waiting mode. The downside of that decision was it was impossible to be heard in the classrooms when the electric saws started in or hammering on walls. Teachers complained, but eventually they learned a sort of sign language during the noise. (MORE) 5. Students were patient when teachers had to hand out ditto flyers of notes almost every class. It took four weeks to finish the school properly. JOHN CARDONE That’s amazing. I’ll bet it was a real stressful time for everyone involved. SAM MOONSKI One other thing John, as you know I am the Chief Building rep for the Teachers Union. What have you heard about Ralph Newton? JOHN CARDONE Funny you should mention that. I heard some of my students taking about Ralph being a great teacher, and that an administrator came ever week in the past month to evaluate him. Is that legal? SAM MOONSKI No, it isn’t legal. A tenured teacher gets only one announced evaluation a year. We heard that Ralph had four unannounced evaluations in one month which is a violation of the Union contract. Now we have to prove it and the administrators seem to have hidden all the evidence. JOHN CARDONE I find it hard to believe. Ralph was a great teacher from the old school of thinking, but still effective with his classes. Thanks for the stories Mr. Woorley. I have a class to run to. See you around. CUT TO: 5 SCENE 4- INT. DAY- BACK SCHOOL HALLWAY 5 PERRY GENOVESE (12)STUDENT (Talking to his buddy Alfredo Donelson in the school hallway) My daily schedule in 7th grade wasn’t too bad. SAM MOONSKI (CONT’D) (MORE) 6. I have Mr. Padua, the fat guy first period for English, Mr. Runner for Science second period Health Education with Mr. Weizner, Lunch 4th period, Social Studies with Mr. Cardone; Wood Shop period 6, Ms. Betty Strong for Music chorus, and Ms. Highcastle for Math last period 8. ALFREDO DONELSON (12)STUDENT Yea, you and I are together only period 5 and 8. I even put in for my schedule early in the summer and I did not get what I wanted. PERRY GENOVESE When I first walked into Mr. Padua’s class for English I noticed the hard candies he had on his desk. When I looked closer at the candies I noticed that they has all melted and stuck together in one big clump. ALFRADO DONELSON I heard about those candies from some other students who have him for English. The word is don’t ever try to eat one of his candies. PERRY GENOVESE What about Mr. Cardone? He was always wearing hair wigs to class to make the effect of a Revolutionary soldier. He even pretended to be George Washington in several classes. He had me in stitches. I signed up for crosscountry last week. You should join us on the team Al. I know you like running and you are a good runner. ALFRADO DONELSON I didn’t get Mr. Cardone for a teacher, I got Mr. TOPOVER, and all he talks about is when he was a part-time State Trooper in the summers at Harriman State Park. PERRY GENOVESE You know the Coach of the Crosscountry team is the same guy who coaches the Gymnastic Team. PERRY GENOVESE (12)STUDENT (CONT’D) (MORE) 7. His name is Coach Medley. I have him for 3rd period for Phys. Ed. You should talk to him Al. Remember when he came to your elementary school, and did a Gymnastic Exhibition? You said you loved it. Cross country goes from September to November, and Gymnastics starts in November and ends in March. ALFRADO DONELSON OK, I will talk to him today to sign up for Cross country. We will have a blast running for the same team. FADE OUT. 6 SCENE 5- INT. DAY SOCIAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT CHAIRMAN’S OFFIC6E FRED TOPOVER(50) the Social Studies Department chairman is sitting behind his grey desk talking to JOHN CARDONE regarding JOHN’s first classroom evaluation. FRED TOPOVER(50S) John I have completed your first class evaluation, and I have some points that need improvement. JOHN CARDONE (Angrily) I noticed you cited me for having students sitting on the radiator. Do you realize that the class only has 32 chairs and tables, and you allowed the enrollment to go to 35 students. The is 3 over the contract limit with the Union. FRED TOPOVER I realize that John, but I have to make mention of it to get the administration to transfer three students out of that class. If I don’t cite you for the problem, they will say there is no problem. JOHN CARDONE Why did you put I needed improvement on student engagement? I do presentations in costume for my classes, but you missed all of them. PERRY GENOVESE (CONT’D) (MORE) 8. I have a debate between Lincoln and Douglas arranged with Mr. Lee, and his Social Studies class also. FRED TOPOVER Well, I have yet to see any of those demonstrations in your class. JOHN CARDONE Tell you what Fred, you come in next Wednesday to my 4th period 7th grade on-level class, and you will see one of my demonstrations of General George Washington telling the class about the British chasing him out of Brooklyn Heights and his retreat to the upper Bronx to Fort Washington, then to Fort Lee and finally to the backwoods of New Jersey chased by General Howe British Army. FRED TOPOVER OK, John, I will take you up on your challenge. I have not seen you do any of this historical demonstrations that you claim you do on a regular basic. JOHN CARDONE Next Wednesday, then I will see you 4th period. CUT TO: 7 SCENE 6- EXT. DAY THE BOMB SCARE 7 NED WOORLEY May I have you attention please. This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill. Teachers and students and staff, please stop what you are doing and leave the building following the Fire Drill signs in the hallway. Go to the nearest exit and leave the building in a quiet and orderly fashion. Teachers line up you classes as far away from the building as possible out on the Soccer field or at the side entrance to the school grounds. I repeat this is not a drill. JOHN CARDONE (CONT’D) 9. PERRY GENOVESE What do you think that is all about Al? ALFRADO DONELSON I think it is a Fire drill or something? PERRY GENOVESE Yeah, I guess you are right. Here come all the classes marching out onto the Soccer field. Now we have no room to play Soccer. Oh, well. JOHN CARDONE (Shouting to another teacher RICK RUNNER) Hey, Rick what is going on? RiCK RUNNER (20s) I think it is a Fire drill however they use the school bell for a fire drill. Maybe it is a bomb scare again? JOHN CARDONE A bomb scare? Are you kidding? RICK RUNNER No, we get several fake bomb scares a month. You are new. You will see what a pain in the neck they are in disrupting classes and wasting valuable time. JOHN CARDONE Do they ever catch these guys? RICK RUNNER No, not yet. They try to trace the call but the caller usually uses a pay phone and then runs. Someday they will figure out how to nail them and this fake bomb scare crap will be history. JOHN CARDONE (Seeing PERRY GENOVESE on the field JOHN CARDONE yells out) Hey Perry how are you doing? PERRY GENOVESE I am doing good, Mr. Cardone. What is going on a fire drill? 10. JOHN CARDONE No, a Bomb scare we think. An administrator will come around at some point in a golf cart, and tell us what is going on and when we can re-enter the building. PERRY GENOVESE OK, thanks Mr. Cardone FADE OUT.
