The District

About this book

Hadley Henning, a single mother, has one goal. She wants her seven-year-old son to have the best education. It's financially illogical but her determination and cunning land her in the best school district in the country, Windsor Meadow. Unfortunately, her son's academic performance isn't up to its preternaturally high standards. Starting with the school psychologist, Hadley is pressured into having her son diagnosed at the SPA, a facility that services every family in the district all of whom are taking a medication for a newly named condition: Sporadic Perceptive Acuity, or SPA. An inventive way for big pharma to reintroduce a med that made a ton of money for an over diagnosed psychiatric disorder. Its patent, about to expire, could be renewed if it is tweaked and prescribed for this new condition, guaranteeing a financial windfall for all involved. Hadley will not let her son take a drug based on answering a questionnaire. Power players in the district conspire to either have her son take the meds, transfer to a special school or become a ward of the state giving them the power to rule on his behalf. Other parents are afraid their real estate values will suffer if Hadley's son's grade point average brings everyone else's down.Moms befriend her for a short while to ferret out her weak spots, then turn on her in classic mean girl style. The educators and SPA director meet regularly to figure out a course of action. Even the head of the Pharmaceutical company that makes the medication is part of this conspiracy. Hadley is ostracized. Videos of her and her son, edited to make them both look bad, go viral. This gets the attention of a local TV station. A reporter finds Hadley to be totally sympathetic and helps her in gaining information about several of the key players. In the end Hadley discovers a connection among all of them. She uses this to turn the tables on them and expose their unlawful behavior. It is a pyrrhic victory at best.