First and Again Read Online Free PDF

she’d learned about Principal Stewart in their short acquaintance, it was that she was very creative when handing out punishments. The first time Rebecca had been caught smoking in the girls’ bathroom, she had been sentenced to cleaning the toilets and watching a graphic video depicting the ravages of cancer on longtime smokers. According to Rebecca the video was gross. Unfortunately her disgust hadn’t translated into an abhorrence of smoking. She’d been caught smoking a second time, which resulted in three more days of toilet cleaning duty. It was as if she was deliberately seeking negative attention.
    A moment later the principal entered the office and shut the door. “I called you because I’m concerned about Rebecca.”
    “In what way are you concerned?”
    “She’s having a hard time fitting in with her peers. As you know, she’s been caught smoking in the girls’ bathroom twice, and lately she’s become somewhat...disruptive in class.”
    Bridget swallowed, struggling to keep her features composed though she felt like crying in frustration. “How has she been disruptive?”
    “Yesterday after chemistry class, she set off a stink bomb.”
    “Perhaps it was a mistake. Maybe she just mixed the wrong chemicals together?”
    “I might be inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt if she hadn’t set off the stink bomb in the ventilation system.”
    She could only stare at the principal. “The ventilation system?”
    “We had to evacuate the school and call in our heating expert. There wasn’t much he could do except to turn off the air-conditioning and recommend we open all the windows.”
    “How do you know Rebecca is responsible? It could have been some other kid.” Even as she said the words she knew she was grasping at straws.
    Ms. Stewart surprised her by smiling. “Because she admitted the whole thing. She even seemed quite proud of it. She told the chemistry teacher how she helped herself to a couple of chemicals and smuggled them out of class.”
    “Are you going to expel her?” She held her breath, afraid of the answer.
    “No. I believe Rebecca needs to be in school.” Ms. Stewart opened a drawer and pulled out a file. “Her file from St. Agnes Academy paints a picture of a high-achieving student who never had any kind of discipline problems. She’s obviously a very talented and smart girl. Despite the disruption to the school, I had to admire the fact she knew which chemicals together would produce the worst smell.” The principal smiled briefly. “Not that I condone that kind of thing.”
    “Of course not.”
    “I also looked at her records from her next school, Thomson Public School. Her grades slipped alarmingly while she was there, and the notes in her file indicate several infractions—smoking, talking back to teachers and so on. I believe we have to nip this problem in the bud before it gets out of hand.”
    “What do you suggest?” she asked warily.
    “I understand your family has gone through some painful adjustments lately. Perhaps Rebecca needs someone to talk to, some safe place to vent her anger. I’m proposing that we arrange counseling for her.”
    Bridget’s heart fell. “We tried that at her last school. She refused to cooperate and eventually we had to abandon the idea.”
    Ms. Stewart flipped through the papers. “Yes, I read that in her file, but I think counseling is important for her.”
    “Yes, so do I, but I don’t know how we can convince her of that. Her old school took away some of her privileges and she still wouldn’t budge. I can’t see her going along with counseling now.”
    The principal steepled her fingers together. “It’s been my experience as an educator that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “I’ve always found that kids respond to positive reinforcement far more strongly than the negative kind. Punishment usually just makes a student hate school even more, but if you can show them the