Teacher, my dad lost his job. Do we have to move?

01-31-2011

By Michael Winerip/New York Times

Diane and Eric Kehler tried not to talk about it in front of the children, but as Jen Hegerty, the guidance counselor at Wilson Hill Elementary School, says, “Children have eagle ears.” Mr. Kehler lost his $90,000-a-year job as an information technology manager. And though he and his wife discussed their problems in whispers, eagle ears don’t miss much. Their son Mathias, 12, a quiet, cerebral sixth grader at Wilson Hill, got quieter. “Our house was sort of in a state of despair. We weren’t as happy as usual,” Mathias said. “I stopped having good ideas to talk about with my friends.” Mrs. Kehler has a college degree but had chosen to be a stay-at-home mother. That ended. She took a job at McDonald’s to cover the cost of groceries. At school, Mathias and his sister, Leah, a fourth grader, qualified for reduced-price lunches. (more...)

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Teacher, my dad lost his job. Do we have to move?

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