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Every year, most public schools find themselves doing a juggling act—trying to balance budgets to provide students with the best courses and programs on the least amount of money. And in The Very Principled Maggie Mayfield by Kathy Cooperman, one administrator turns to desperate measures to make ends meet.
The story finds elementary school principal Maggie Mayfield backed into a corner. Nothing matters more to her than her kids and their education, so when the school’s STEAM programs are threatened once again, she has no choice but to cooperate with an education company that’s using the school and its students as test subjects for their new MathPal software. Things start looking up when Maggie catches the eye of the company’s handsome CEO, Danny Z. But she soon starts to feel like the deal (like her new boyfriend) may not be as harmless as she once thought.
The Very Principled Maggie Mayfield is a quirky satire about the lengths to which school administrators will go for their students. All that matters to Maggie is keeping the kids’ art and science and PE programs—even if it means sacrificing 10 minutes a day to a glorified video game that claims to be teaching kids math. But, of course, Maggie’s good intentions quickly spiral out of control as she ends up in a hush-hush relationship with the charming CEO of the company that may not share her good intentions—and her budding romance and the ongoing challenges of running a school blind her from what’s really going on.
Thanks to Maggie’s relationship with Danny and the variety of characters in her life, the story certainly has its share of laughs. Maggie finds herself in some pretty outrageous situations. But, underneath it all, this is a story about the importance of a well-rounded education—and the mess that educators and administrators find themselves battling every year. Along the way, the story also introduces a few of Maggie’s students—students whose lives are greatly impacted by the school’s STEAM program. While those stories feel a little out of place in the middle of Maggie’s adventures, they help to emphasize the point of it all. And though Maggie may have her share of comical missteps, you can’t help but admire her passion and dedication.
Part comedy, part commentary, The Very Principled Maggie Mayfield is a light and entertaining tale of an educator on a quest for romance and funding. Fans of chick lit—and school arts programs—will enjoy the read.
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