Hell's Kitchen Community School has 36 classes, from 1st to 12th grade, with over a thousand students.
Alvin is now the principal of this school. To achieve this, Alvin convened a meeting of the Hell's Kitchen gangs. After "friendly" negotiations and a "fair" election, Alvin was elected the principal of this community school.
As for the principal appointed by the Ministry of Education, who cares?
The first thing Alvin did after taking office was to negotiate with Kingpin. As a gang boss, the underground godfather of Hell's Kitchen, it's only right for you to contribute to the education of your hometown, isn't it? And this contribution can't be a one-time thing; it has to be a long-term commitment. Thus, Kingpin, with his generous contribution of 5 million US dollars annually, proudly became a school board member.
With money, recruiting teachers wasn't difficult. Even though this is Hell's Kitchen, it's still working in a school, isn't it? He hired a headhunting company to find excellent teachers who were unemployed. Once found, he would send a "sincere" invitation: excellent pay, free room and board, and insurance. You have to give me this much respect, right? You might not know Alvin, but you have to respect Kingpin, right?
As for the students! As a man who spent his previous life helping his son get through fourth grade, he still knew the schedule of a good school.
Referring to the schedule of Maotanchang Middle School, students arrive at 7:30 AM for morning reading, classes start at 8 AM, a break from 12 PM to 1:30 PM, dismissal at 5 PM, and "voluntary" evening self-study starts at 7 PM.
Those who don't want to participate need to ask for leave from Principal Alvin. Generally, unless someone in the family dies or the house is on fire, Mr. Alvin will not agree. Besides, Mr. Alvin is very busy and not often at school.
Alvin stood at the school gate, watching the students scurry into the school on tiptoes, like mice seeing a cat.
He was very pleased to hear the current vice-principal, the former principal, Nelson Norris, highly praising his methods.
Why should my son study from six in the morning to nine at night every day, while these brats here can happily play around all day? All of you, get to class! From now on, this will be Hell's Kitchen Maotanchang Branch School.
JJ, who was acting as a bodyguard with a shotgun, shed a tear of sympathy for the children of this school. What kind of school is this? This is a children's concentration camp in Hell's Kitchen!
Dom loved coming to school with Alvin. He found the work here very interesting. Pouncing on a student, listening to their frightened screams, and then rummaging through them for interesting trinkets—he found it all very amusing.
In just a short while, Dom already had a pile of trophies behind him, including snacks, toys, and so on. Several children of varying sizes, holding dangerous items that had been confiscated from them, were lining up in front of Alvin, waiting for their turn.
Alvin held a uniquely designed butterfly knife, twirling it around, and asked the 13-14-year-old white boy in front of him, "Which class are you in? What's your name? Why do you bring a knife to school?"
The white boy, with his neck stiff, said, "My name is Phil, from ninth grade, class one. The knife is for trimming my nails."
JJ, who was watching the show, burst out laughing, "You need a half-foot long knife to trim your nails at home?"
Alvin couldn't stand people speaking with their necks stiff. He slapped Phil on the neck, making him scream in pain and crouch on the ground, holding his head.
The kid was still a bit defiant after being hit. Although he didn't dare to fight back, his eyes were glaring fiercely at Alvin. This wouldn't do! How dare he glare at the principal!
"Detention, 2 days. Nelson, give him a copy of the school motto and make him copy it 100 times," Alvin said angrily. He didn't believe he couldn't handle him. If school methods didn't work, he'd use prison methods.
Watching the defiant Phil being dragged into the school, screaming, by the burly JJ, the other few kids behind him were too scared to breathe. They honestly admitted their mistakes, received their punishments, and copied the school motto from 10 to 50 times.
The last little black chubby boy, however, stumped Alvin. He gritted his teeth and asked in a cold voice, "What's your name? Which class are you in? Who the hell told you to bring marijuana to school?"
The little black chubby boy mumbled, head bowed, "My name is Raven, from sixth grade, class two. My dad told me to bring the marijuana."
Alvin roared in anger, "Who the hell is your dad?!"
Raven became even more frightened and said, head down, "My teacher, Mr. Nathan, always has headaches. He's very kind to me. My dad found out, so he told me to bring him a bag of marijuana to help his headaches get better."
Alvin, suppressing a surge of anger, kicked an iron trash can at the door. He didn't know what to feel.
This kid's dad was most likely a drug dealer, and to thank the teacher, he had his child bring a bag of marijuana to the teacher for his headache. What kind of situation is this?
Unable to blame Raven, he patted his head and said, "Teachers with headaches go to see a doctor. Don't bring marijuana to school again, or you'll end up like Phil, in detention! This bag of marijuana is confiscated. Now get to class!"
Raven, as if granted a great pardon, rushed into the school with his head down.
Seeing Alvin in a bad mood, Nelson chuckled softly, "It's already much better. A few years ago, this place was practically a talent reserve base for gangs. Can you believe there were kids openly selling drugs in school back then? It's already better than I could have imagined."
Alvin paused for a moment after hearing that, then said coldly, "How are the land applications with the city government coming along? I need to build the student dormitories quickly to keep these kids cooped up in school. They can't keep hanging out on the streets. I want them all to go to college."
Nelson smiled and said, "Almost there. There's plenty of empty land in Hell's Kitchen. The empty lot behind the school is enough to build two more teaching buildings, two student dormitories, and one teacher dormitory."
After a moment of hesitation, Nelson continued, "It's just the design of the student dormitories. Won't it be too cramped? Is a 30-square-meter dormitory for six people too crowded?"
Alvin gave Nelson a sidelong glance, thinking, *You haven't seen student dormitories in remote areas of Huaguo. I didn't make you build the student dormitories like open bunkhouses; these kids should be burning incense and praying. Six people and you still think it's crowded? Many universities in Huaguo don't even meet this standard! 95% of families in Hell's Kitchen are in extreme poverty, and I'm not even charging tuition. What more do you want?*
Perhaps noticing Alvin's unfriendly gaze, Nelson quickly changed the subject. "But this will do. At the very least, we're providing a safe learning environment for the children, allowing them to study in peace. Your contributions to this school will be remembered by history," the gray-haired, cunning old gentleman said.
These words put Alvin in a good mood. He happily patted Nelson's shoulder. This old fellow had been the principal in Hell's Kitchen for 15 years and had some competence. Although his character was average, at least he said things that people liked, and he was good at dealing with the Ministry of Education.
After all, the school's operation still relied on the Ministry of Education's support; equipment and funding all needed him to run around for.
"Alvin, you bastard, look what you've done!" an old voice cursed from behind.
Alvin rubbed his nose. The owner of this voice wasn't so likable!