Do you remember high school?

In my experience (ahem) parents get called not for minor things like assigments not done, but more likely in the case of High School for behavior/social issues.

Bullying
PDA
Bad behavior on the bus
Rumors over *somthing big that happened out of school but everyone is talking about and maybe the parents need to know kind of thing*. (Like daughter going on a joy ride in a stolen/borrowed car)

Ahh...high school... so glad it's behind me and my kids, Lol

Even though I graduated in 1986, I remember high school pretty well, especially the bad parts. I don't think this is the kind of bad you were talking about, though. I had a "problem" with a teacher. He caused the same "problem" for other girls. None of us went to the police in time, and the teacher is still there. I don't know if he is still causing a "problem" now, although he was still at it in 1999.

But that was many years ago and despite my ongoing obsession over what happened to me, I have technically moved on. Now, I have a son in high school and a daughter in junior high, and I know that parents do get called into the school for various reasons, usually if the school is concerned that there is a serious issue that must be addressed.

My son wrote a creative writing assignment that included a "terrorist bomber" and I was called in to meet with the school nurse and Vice Principal to discuss whether or not my son was a threat to himself or others. He'd modeled the "bomber" after a certain puppet used by a well-known ventriloquist comedian. The school has a zero tolerance policy for terroristic threats. My son was trying to impress his friends by cracking an offensive joke. He served a week in detention.

The schools also call if there is a homework or grade problem, although now the schools are connected to the internet through a Powerschool program that allows parents to track their kids' assignments and grades. I admit, I haven't taken the time to use the Powerschool program. My kids bring home all As (with the occasional B) and I am not too worried about their daily assignments.

I would say that most of my "stunts" in high school involved smoking cigarettes in the bathroom without getting caught, or doing drugs on the bus and in school. I am still friends with one person who rode the school bus with me over 20 years ago, and we still get a few laughs over the horrible things we did back then, especially the open drug use. I would guess that plenty of Catholic school kids who smoked pot used a bible page as a rolling paper at least once during high school.

YOu can construct your school policy to meet your story needs. In other words, if teachers are allowed to conference with parents - do it. If they need to conference with the principal in attendance then 'require' it. Your call. I've seen schools handle it both ways.

JPN said:

Thanks, ladies. That's a big help so far. Pink Lily, I hadn't imagined that sort of "problem," though it would bring a whole other dimension into my MC's acting out. How terrible to hear that things like that do still go on.

The story of your son's assignment was great; that really helps me to get in line with the type of things that schools see as an issue these days. And I love the bible-cigarettes. Oh my...

Okay, one follow-up question, then. If a parent is called in, are they called by someone like the principal or a counselor or by the teacher who has the issue? Pink Lily mentioned the principle and school nurse. My MC is currently being chewed out by her science teacher and he is threatening to contact her mother, but would he actually? Or would he need to go to the principle/other higher up?

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Thank you for the kind words.

In our school district, the Vice Principal is in charge of discipline, and the school nurse acts as the first line of counseling before the pros are called in. Your story's school could have its own disciplinarian who is not the Principal or Vice. A small town or private/parochial school might not have as many staffers, leaving the discipline up to the Principal him/herself.

When you are writing, keep in mind, the Principal is your pal, because he has principles.

JPN said:

- Speaking of which, any interesting tales of pranks or other bad things you or "someone you knew" (wink, wink) got up to?

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This didn't happen at my high school, but at the one down the road. As a senior prank, several students released 3 pigs in the halls of their high school. They numbered the pigs 1, 2, and 4. The authorities shut down the school and spent all day looking for pig number 3.

In my high school, a student released several hundred crickets in the student center. That was not nearly as funny as the pig prank, especially for those of us who can't stand bugs. I don't think I went into the student center for the rest of the year.

Yes, parents still get called in.

Damnit.

One of the problems of having intelligent, creative children is the stupid, creative crap they get up to when they're supposed to be studying. I'm still amazed at how much trouble my daughter got into her senior year--and this is coming from a women who was suspended from her own graduation. And I was the valedictorian.

But where I used chemistry class to make a stink bomb that caused the evacuation of the entire school when it was put into the air-conditioning ducts or let a cow loose in the commons area of the cross-town rivals over the weekend before we played them in football, my kid got in trouble for texting test answers to her friend across the room in Spanish class.

*sigh*

Kids these days...no imagination...

Fascinating! I'm from across the pond and went to an old fashioned Grammar School. Trouble came in battalions when Maria (not her real name) threw a lighted cigarette out of our common room window when out head of year made an unexpected visit. Sadly the ciggie landed on the head teacher who just happened to be standing under the window! On April Fools Day we tied all the teachers cars up - the rope when through handles and round wheels. We did not get into any trouble for that as I think we used it as a fund raiser for a school charity.

The daftest thing - the whole cast of 1066 And All That walked across the main road, in full costume, to the local burger bar. Two buses nearly crashed. We were in trouble not because of the mayhem we caused but because it was raining and the costumes got wet!

Wired said:

This didn't happen at my high school, but at the one down the road. As a senior prank, several students released 3 pigs in the halls of their high school. They numbered the pigs 1, 2, and 4. The authorities shut down the school and spent all day looking for pig number 3.

In my high school, a student released several hundred crickets in the student center. That was not nearly as funny as the pig prank, especially for those of us who can't stand bugs. I don't think I went into the student center for the rest of the year.

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That's too funny-- we had three kids get arrested because they set chickens loose in the lobby of our rival school (which is in a town where Tyson Foods is headquartered). I believe they were charged with animal cruelty. We wore KFC buckets on our heads at games for years until someone decided it was too mean.

Another year, a boy put on a mask, a cape and a Speedo and went on a streaking mission during the rival school's band performance at the big football game. That prank ended several arrests, including our vice principal b/c there was some kind of scuffle. The cops chased another kid through the stands and tackled him right in front of me-- I think they broke his nose.

Legend has it that one year, some kids rented a helicopter and sprinkled purple confetti on the other school while blasting "Purple Haze" (obviously my HS colors were purple and white). But I've never seen proof of that one.

Speaking of which, any interesting tales of pranks or other bad things you or "someone you knew" (wink, wink) got up to?

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I remember that at school dances, people would perform pranks, such as marriage ceremonies for unsuspecting Freshmen, or handcuffing them to pipes on the wall. One year, someone put Nair in a girl's hair, resulting in the victim dropping out and the culprit being expelled. After that, most of the hair damage pranks used eggs.

At the less rowdy dances, guys on the football team would lead out the eldest teachers and nuns (and sometimes priests) onto the dance floor for some dirty dancing.

JPN said:

I guess I wasn't adventurous (read: trouble-maker) enough in high school to be able to answer my own questions. So if you remember high school or have kids in high school or any other insight:

- Do parents still get called into school? If so, how big of a problem does it have to be? On the scale of "not turning in assignments" to "burning down the school"?

- Speaking of which, any interesting tales of pranks or other bad things you or "someone you knew" (wink, wink) got up to?

God, I feel that my high school career was so painfully dull...

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I both remember high school quite well (even though I graduated in 1979) and also work (sub) at a high school.

Yes, parents still get called in for everything from minor little offenses like too many tardies to more major issues like have a knife (even a little pocketknife) or fighting or flunking....the possibilities are endless.

pink lily said:

My son wrote a creative writing assignment that included a "terrorist bomber" and I was called in to meet with the school nurse and Vice Principal to discuss whether or not my son was a threat to himself or others. He'd modeled the "bomber" after a certain puppet used by a well-known ventriloquist comedian. The school has a zero tolerance policy for terroristic threats. My son was trying to impress his friends by cracking an offensive joke. He served a week in detention.

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Sorry, I'm just imagining what a public school principal would've said about the creative writing I did in middle school. My two favorite subjects were murdering child abusers and overthrowing the American government. I don't think I've written anything quite as twisted since (and what I write now is hardly flowers and sunshine).

Note: I was homeschooled, so no-one but my mom saw my writing. I also to date have never killed or maimed anyone in real life.

/derail

I graduated a year and a half ago, so it's still pretty fresh in my mind. As for pranks, my school was pretty low-key, but someone definitely let some mice loose in the halls towards the end of my senior year. There's always the classic "bad" kids, too. Once, when I was a sophomore I think, some kid poured chemicals from one of the science rooms into some teacher's fish tank and killed all the fish. I think, after a long history of bad behavior, that did it for the school and they expelled him. Kids of course came into school stoned or drunk. I vaguely remember a kid sitting on the curb in front of the school in handcuffs. These were not regular occurrences, though, since I went to a pretty nice suburban high school. Hope I've helped a bit. If there are any more specific questions you have, feel free to ask!

I'm sad to hear all those instances were cops were called in to deal with obvious pranks. Really, a school streaker could've easily been dealt with with a whole lot of detention. Especially since he wasn't actually streaking.

While we don't have high schools on this side of the pond, I do remember an instance when I was glad the school didn't call in my parents. I was minding my own business in a lesson when the teacher got a phone call. She sent me to the principal. I was fearing the worst: what if a relative died. Once I was in his office, he quizzed me about a rumour. I was one of the smallest students in the class, and according to the rumour someone hung me on a hook in the locker rooms using the handle of my backpack. It turned into a half-hour interrogation about bullying. The one bully that actually existed never came up. Of course, the entire rumour was false; I never found out where it came from...

JPN said:

And some of the usual: vaselining car door handles

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I still have the same car I drove in HS, and the door handles STILL leak Vaseline when it's hot!

Naughty behaviors in high school: getting drunk on the bus with the pep band, seniors streaking in the springtime with "Class of 2000" written on their butts in purple magic marker...i know a kid who waited til his friend's family went out of town, broke into that family's house, threw a huge party, and trashed the place.

This is a good one. We had a chemistry teacher who was really super uptight about the lab equipment. She had a very expensive microbalance (super accurate scale) that the freshman weren't even permitted to touch. The scale part was enclosed in glass, and you had to open a little door to put in the stuff to be weighed. So the upperclassmen took photos of the balance, and then took a photo of a big juicy double cheeseburger, and photoshopped them together (this was a while ago, like 1997). They carefully stuck the picture of the cheeseburger in the front glass panel of the balance. No harm done, but it looked just like there was a huge messy cheeseburger on her precious expensive microbalance, and she had a total freak-out.

I went to one of the worst high schools on the island so I have to chime in.

Normally when kids went too over the top at my school (pulling fire alarms, starting riots, Nair-filled water balloons, releasing animals) the administration called the cops. If it involved illegal activity like drinking in class or fighting, they usually bypassed calling the parents and dialed 911.

Hope this helps somewhat!

I was a goody-goody in high school. I thankfully changed my ways in college. When my daughter was in high school, they still called the parents in to discuss problems. (God knows, I had to go there a few too many times.) I can't help you with parents being called. I imagine they would be. I teach post-secondary, so I can't speak for secondary school teachers. As for pranks....I've got a few.

I remember bringing vodka in a 7-Up bottle to school and getting sloshed at lunchtime.

I was in an auxiliary cheer to the band. Many naughty things went on in the band room locker room. You thought the jocks were up to no good, those band members were pure soap opera. We also all changed clothes together in the school buses to away games and parades because there was no place to separate us.

Pranks: Every year at the high school my husband works at the seniors somehow hoist a 400-pound pumpkin to the roof above the main entrance and let it fall. Pumpkin guts splattered for a hundred feet in every direction and the kids tracking it in the building.

Wow, our band was the same way as the two mentioned above. Drinking and whatnot. I think it's because we were supposed to be the "good" and "smart" kids and because of that we just had so much more freedom than other kids. We were practically allowed to drink on the bus as long as no one got drunk and things didn't get out of control. I'm talking about "wine with dinner" sort of drinking. Adults turned a blind eye to certain things because with us they almost never did get out of control. And yeah, the away games were what did it.

I honestly can't remember any intentional pranks, though. Well, we played Purple Haze during a DARE (anti-drug) assembly once, but the band teacher was in on that and got called out on it, too. Heh.