Henry Greenfield

Second Time Around: a Novel Henry Greenfield

Jeffrey Ahrenson, fired from his teaching position in Brooklyn, transforms his disappointment to opportunity. An exceptional young teacher, Jeffrey becomes a disillusioned idealist who takes action against a corrupt and dysfunctional educational system. When the State Board of Regents investigates documented charges against Borough Hall High, a national think-tank, The Center for Educational Progress, hires Jeffrey, the whistle-blower, to go undercover as a student. First a prep school then an inner city school revel to "student" Jeffrey the malpractice, mismanagement, cronyism, fraud, test mania, and other fungi in the crevices of public education. He works toward amelioration, but his mission is threatened while falling in love with his math teacher who unsettles and ultimately unmasks him. Jeff's successes in converting teacher Verna Kimler to his cause are short lived due to inner city riots and Verna's father, a minister who carries unbelievably negative baggage and hell-fire rule over Verna. The characters who people Second Time Around are not unlike friends, neighbors, antagonists, perverts, snobs, conspirators, or control freaks one encounters in daily existence. Jeffrey's interaction with them marks his path to actualization.