Disciplinary Action/Disciplinary Office/First Week/Suzy
“Miss Suzy Marlow is here to see you,” came the voice of the secretary over the intercom.
“Send her in,” you instructed, taking a deep breath.
Suzy entered with her face down, holding her teacher’s complaint in her hands. It was clear she was quite nervous, as she silently greeted you and offered the paper.
“You are Suzy Marlow, right?” you asked, trying to break the ice, “What grade are you in?”
“I’m in fifth grade, Sir.” she answered politely. You remembered how they lectured you to always address adults as miss or sir, a practice that apparently still survived.
“How old are you, Suzy?”
“I turned 11 last July, Sir.” she answered.
“It says here that you were playing instead of paying attention to class. It also says you disrupted the class, what happened?”
Suzy stayed quiet before softly answering, “I fell off my desk, Sir.”
“So you were swinging your chair?”
Suzy just nodded, lowering her eyes. You took the opportunity to examine the girl. The uniform gave little clue on whether or not she had already started developing, but her face was beginning to gain the angles of a teenager, framed by a lovely brunette hair that flowed down to her shoulders. She was really cute, and you really hoped you could see more of her.
“You do know it’s wrong to play in class, right?”
“Yes, Sir. I’m sorry, I was just trying to get comfortable, I wasn’t trying to interrupt the class, Sir.”
“Suzy, lying will not help you,” you said with severity, “I know those desks don’t fall over just from moving. Care to tell me the truth?”
Suzy hunched over herself before continuing, “I know it was wrong, Sir. But I’m really sorry, I promise I won’t do it again.”
“I believe you’re sorry, Suzy; but I cannot let you out without some punishment,” you made a pause to let her process this, “you do know the punishments are going to be different from now on, right?”
“Mom mention something, but I wasn’t really paying attention,” answered Suzy, quite unsure of herself.
“Well, unfortunately you will be one of the first to suffer one of the new punishments,” you said, standing up and guiding the girl to the changing table, “and while you may feel bad about it, I assure you, you will be a better person after it’s over.”
Now, according to the guidelines, Suzy’s fault was a minor one, so you should choose a light punishment for her.