THE NEW TEACHER

Sarah Handley and her husband had recently moved to the little town of Columbusville out on the prairie. It was a big change from the east coast where they had both grown up, but his job with the railroad required him to move with his young wife to a place that both excited them and concerned them. It was the first time either of them had been away from their families, yet they knew the journey and isolation would give them a new strength in their lives.

Columbusville was a town of about 15,000 people with the bulk of the commerce centered around the many farms in the area. The railroad gave the town its birth and many of the inhabitants were employed by the company. Frank Handley knew he would be out of town quite frequently and he worried for his wife, but Sarah was a young twenty-six year old of very independent means who would quickly make friends and find her own life.

As was the custom in those early times, there were few things for a young woman to do for employment, but one which Sarah was very qualified for was to become a teacher at the local school. She had graduated from high school and even taken a few courses in the college near where she and Frank had previously lived. She didn't need more than that to be of service to her new community and it was with this knowledge that she went to visit the small institution early one Monday morning.

The school was housed in a two story brick building with large white columns supporting a white marble facade. It was an attractive enough building, one that showed the support of the town's people to the value of education. When Sarah walked up the steps she felt a new challenge facing her and was confident that she would find a place for herself here. She walked down the wooden floored hall to the office and found a very pleasant elderly lady sitting at a desk behind a counter. The woman looked up and asked if she could be of any help. Sarah replied, "Yes..., I'd like to talk to the principal about employment."

"Oh..., well, just one moment and I'll see if he can talk to you now."

The woman quietly rapped on the door of the principal that Sarah noticed was painted with neat block letters that spelled out "Gunther Scott, Principal." The secretary opened the door, peered in and informed the gentleman that a young lady was here to see him. The secretary must have received a positive reply because she said, "Mr. Scott will be very happy to see you now."

Sarah smiled at the woman and walked behind the counter and entered the office of the principal. She walked to the desk and introduced herself. Mr. Scott stood up and extended his hand saying, "Gunther Scott at your service. What can I do for a fine lass such as yourself, this morning?"

Sarah immediately noticed that he had a rich Scottish accent and smiled. He was a fairly large man of about 40 years with a graying beard and black hair. His hand was firm and he possessed a manner of control and authority.

"I'd like to discuss the possibility of becoming a teacher, sir. I've just moved here from Pennsylvania with my husband who works for the railroad, and I have some experience working back there in one of the schools. I work very well with children and I think I could offer something to the students here."

"Well, you certainly sound like a nice girl. What's your own background? Got any education yourself?" he asked.

"Of course, sir. I finished high school and I've taken a few classes at the college where we lived," Sarah offered proudly. She knew that few women had much beyond the sixth or eighth grade.

"Did you happen to bring any references with you?" he asked.

Sarah was prepared and removed from her bag a very positive letter from the school where she had worked before and offered it to Mr. Scott. He opened the envelope in which it was contained and read it quickly. "This sounds very good, Miss Handley. It so happens that I have a young lady who is going to be leaving us in a few weeks and you may just fit in nicely with us. She teaches a group of seventh and eighth graders. Do you think you could handle that?"

"Oh yes!" replied Sarah. "I know that would be perfect for me."

"I want to think it over tonight before I formally offer you the position, but I don't see a problem. There are a few things you might want to think about yourself, though. First of all, I'm quite demanding of my staff. Most of the instructors are between twenty and thirty years old and I demand a lot of them. Some of them can't cut it and they don't last long. We have a very good school here, but if performance isn't up to expectations, then there are rather unpleasant prices to pay. Now I also expect the same of the students. I'm quite strict and I expect my teachers to uphold the rules and send any student who breaks those rules to me. I'm a firm believer in corporal punishment, Miss Handley. Do I make myself clear?"

Sarah didn't know what to say. She didn't really think about it much, but punishing students by spanking wasn't unfamiliar to her. It was used occasionally in the school where she came from, and although she never spanked her own students, she knew that some of the boys and a few girls were spanked by various teachers and principals. Certainly most children were spanked by their parents and Sarah was no exception. She quickly remembered how her mother would take her across her knee and paddle her little bottom up to about the age of ten years old.

As she listened to Mr. Scott, she thought it was probably his Scottish heritage that was making him the way he was and she could only nod in agreement with him. She certainly knew that expressing any disagreement would ruin her chances for a certain position here. Besides, she knew she could take control of her class and then she wouldn't have to send misbehaving students to see the principal.

"I have no problem with that, sir," she replied softly.

Check out the dialog from this animation!

From Kelly Garrett Visits the Disciplinarian

"Hello, Kelly," greeted the receptionist.

"Good morning, Mrs. Greene," replied Kelly.

"What can I do for you?"

"I..., I guess I've been sent here by my homeroom teacher to see Mr. Caldwell. I came to school a few minutes late again this morning and, well..., you know. I guess he thinks I need talking to or something."

"Well, that's too bad. I know how hard it must be to get here with all the things going on in your life. Isn't the big debate championship this weekend?"

"Yes, we've been practicing pretty hard for it, too."

"Well, Kelly, just have a seat and I'm sure he'll see you in a minute. There is one other student waiting before you."

"Thanks, Mrs. Greene."

Kelly sat in a chair and just kind of stared nervously at the clock, wishing she had gotten up a little earlier this morning. Oh, well, she thought, a scolding by Mr. Caldwell wouldn't be too bad. She got a long with him really well and he often said 'hello' to her in the hallways.

"John?" inquired Mrs. Greene.

"Yea?"

"Mr. Caldwell will see you now."

"Far out," replied the boy, sarcastically.

John opened to door to the principal's office and went in, closing it behind him. Kelly didn't pay much attention to the boy, who she didn't know, but thought his attitude was a bit lacking. He seemed almost rude and Kelly couldn't stand that kind of sarcastic talk from the younger students. I hope he gets sent to the disciplinarian, she thought.

Maybe ten minutes passed and then the door opened again and the boy emerged. Mr. Caldwell followed him out and said to the receptionist, "John is going to be visiting Mr. Powers. Will you please walk him down the hallway to make certain that he arrives at his destination?"

"Of course, Mr. Caldwell," replied Mrs. Greene.

"So, Kelly, what can I do for you?" asked the principal.

Kelly got up and walked into his office and answered, "Oh, Mr. Caldwell, Mrs. Lowell sent me to see you. I..., I've had a problem getting up in the morning since I've been working on the debate contest. I guess I've been late three times this month."

Mr. Caldwell sat down at his desk and looked at the attractive 15 year old girl standing nervously before him. "That doesn't sound too good, Kelly. You know that tardiness isn't an acceptable practice here, don't you?"

Kelly had thought this visit was just going to be a cursory trip to the principal's office to satisfy her homeroom teacher, but Mr. Caldwell wasn't going to let her get by with just a "visit".

"Well, yes sir, but...,"

"Kelly, you have very good grades and are an excellent student. I appreciate the fact that you are involved in a lot of activities and I know it takes a lot of your time, but if you choose to join other things, you mustn't let your school work suffer."

"But my grades are fine."

"Yes they are, but grades aren't the only thing. You have to obey the rules of the school and one of those rules is that you arrive on time. The rest of the students are expected to do that and you certainly can't be an exception."

"I know..., its just that...," she began.

"I don't want to hear excuses. You are obviously spreading yourself too thin. I think perhaps you should concentrate of just a few things instead of being everything to everyone."

"But I like the clubs and things that I'm involved with. I think they're important."

"Of course they are, but not at the expense of taking care of the basic rules. Now I'm afraid that I have no choice but to punish you."

Kelly took in a breath and waited for him to continue.

"I'm suspending you from all outside class activities for a week, Kelly."

"Oh no! Please, Mr. Caldwell! You can't do that! I have the debate championship this weekend. Please!"

"Kelly, you know that arriving for class on time is a requirement, don't you?"

"Yes," she replied softly.

"Well then you must certainly understand that breaking the rules requires that I punish you. That's a rule that I must live by, as unpleasant as it is."

"But sir, there must be something else you could do besides that!"

"I think the punishment needs to fit the crime, Kelly. You keep coming to school late because of your activities, so I'm curtailing them."

Kelly shuffled from one foot to the next, on the verge of tears. She had worked very hard for the championship this weekend and now her efforts were all for nothing!

"Please, Mr. Caldwell...,"

"Kelly, if you were younger I would be sending you down the hall to Mr. Power's office. You should consider yourself lucky that I'm not requiring that."

Kelly thought for a moment and almost impulsively said, "I'd rather be paddled than let my team down."

"Surely you're joking," replied the principal.

"No..., no I'm not. I guess you're right, sir. I do deserve to be punished, but please..., PLEASE let me be in the debate!"

"You'd honestly rather get your bottom paddled than miss the debate?"

Kelly knew that she was getting herself in really deep, but she just couldn't face her classmates if she got suspended from the team for a week. "Yes," she replied with a sigh.

There was a long, tense silence as the principal stared at the girl. Finally he said, "Very well. Instead of suspending you from school activities, I'm going to send you to Mr. Powers." Mr. Caldwell began writing a note on a pad of paper and handed it to Kelly.

"Give this to Mr. Powers. Its instructions that he's to administer four swats of the paddle over your panties for tardiness. I hope you understood that he's going to be requiring you to lower you pants."

"I..., its just that...," Kelly stammered with a scarlet blush.

"Its your choice, young lady. Four swats or suspension. Which is it going to be?"

There was no turning back now. Kelly wiped a tear from her eye and committed herself to her fate. "I guess I'll take the swats, Mr. Caldwell."