2075: The Strap Returns to School Discipline (C) by Jill Crokett (C) All persons named in this story are fictitious. Any use of the name of a real person is coincidental. September, 2087 The Booklet The booklet, written specifically for the parents of new students entering the Presdon Christian Academy, unambiguously spells out all of the school's rules and regulations. In careful detail the booklet, given to each parent prior to their child's matriculation into the strict no-nonsense ultra-conservative Christian school in Texas, defines the disciplinary protocols set forth by the academy's administrators. Both parents of each new student at Presdon are required to sign and notarize a document which acknowledges that they have read the booklet and fully understand and agree with the academy's strict disciplinary procedures. The booklet leaves nothing to the imagination. Every parent knows, without question, that their child will receive harsh corporal discipline should they misbehave or break school rules. The booklet is very specific in spelling out the rules of the school, carefully defining a laundry list of infractions and their resulting punishments. Lying to a teacher, cheating on a test, leaving school property during school hours without permission, fighting, cursing, taking the Lord's name in vain, stealing, cigarette use or possession, possession or use of facial cosmetics, immodest attire (e.g., hemline above the knee), failure to wear the school uniform, sassing or inappropriately talking back to a teacher or adult superior - the booklet states that all of these offenses are to be punished with the administration of corporal punishment - to be applied to the bare buttocks by the principal in his or her office. Corporal punishment of a minor by a parent is legal in Texas, but parents of newly enrolling Presdon students, by signing the document, are giving school administrators permission to act on their behalf. A recent Texas Supreme Court case further clarified that severe corporal punishment of a child is legal. The document absolves the school of any liability connected to such punishment. The Presdon Academy's "Disciplinary Procedures Booklet" goes on to explain how the school administers corporal punishment. No student under age 7, or over age 14, is spanked, and girls over age 12 are exempt from spanking. The booklet states that for a first offense a student will receive between 1 and 10 strokes of a wooden paddle "across the bare buttocks." For second offenses students receive at least 5, but not more than 35, strokes of the paddle. If it is a second serious offence, an especially cruel, narrow leather strap is applied "across the buttocks and thighs," or "anywhere between the navel and the knees the principal deems effective." The booklet states "the strap" is used only for "serious or repeated infractions" where such an implement might be appropriate, such as in cases of "lying, cheating, or stealing." All of the children at Presdon fear the paddle, but to hear a teacher mention "the strap" sends a message of terror. Its gluteal effect is blistering but its special smooth leather leaves no permanent marks, only elongated red welts that are gone within a week to ten days. The sound emitted from a child receiving it is characteristically agonizing. Any child's bottom punished with "the strap" reveals a series of characteristic narrow, bandage-shaped red welts. For a third offense, or any offense deemed serious or flagrant by the principal, the corporal punishment may, at the principal's discretion, be administered in the classroom in front of the offending child's classmates. In the most severe cases, the booklet states that punishment may be administered in front of the entire school. The booklet spells out that corporal punishment is administered by the principal, headmaster, or headmistress, but clarifies that he or she may allow a teacher or parent to act as his or her substitute. In most cases punishments are administered in the principal's office, except for serious offenses wherein they are applied in the classroom setting. For all spankings, in addition to the principal, at least two other adult witnesses must be present. These witnesses may include a teacher, parent, or "appropriate" school employee such as the school nurse or receptionist. The booklet states that punishments are carried out with the student placed "in any position deemed effective by the principal," and it goes on to say that the student may be "strapped down to a restraint bench if compliance is an issue." No further description of any specific punishment bench is given, but the school policy has always been that the presiding principal has the prerogative to select any type of restraint device which suits him or her, and prior principals have selected various devices. The current school principal is known to keep a restraint bench of her choosing in her office, as well as a matching portable unit she had specially built on retractable rolling caster wheels in order to facilitate in-classroom punishments when necessary. Presdon Academy has a strong reputation of producing highly motivated, college-bound achievers, and it usually has a waiting list of typically ultra-conservative, often very religious parents eager to enroll their children. Currently the school has 613 students, which included 372 girls and 241 boys. A more recent trend is for nonreligious parents with difficult or problem children to enroll them for corrective measures. Because many of these parents want a strict moral environment for their children to grow up in, Presdon Academy's administrators have never discussed modifying the school's notoriously strict corporal discipline policies. Students at Presdon have the lowest juvenile arrest rate in the state. The School Administration On any given day at Presdon, Principal Margery Wagner administers one or two corporal punishments in her office. She follows a rather formal protocol for the administration of these punishments. The school's policy, as spelled out in the booklet, requires that the principal and two other adults be present at each spanking, and Mrs. Wagner prefers to use the student's own teacher, along with her receptionist Mrs. Larson, as witnesses. One of the offending student's parents always receives a phone call from Principal Wagner her just before the spanking, informing them of their child's offense and informing them that their child is about to be corporally punished. The parent is given an opportunity to speak with their child over the principal's speakerphone or videophone, and then they are offered the opportunity to listen in on the corporal punishment session via speakerphone or watch it live via videophone should they wish to do so. Statistically, the principal spanks 4 or 5 boys for every 1 girl paddled. Only about 1 in every 20 spankings is administered in a classroom in front of other students. In other words, at Presdon, a "public" spanking happens only once or twice a month, but it is very effective in eliciting disciplinary compliance from witnessing students. Mrs. Wagner prefers, whenever possible, to use her receptionist Mrs. Larson as one of the witnesses because Larson is familiar with the operation of the restraint bench. The principal uses it 90% of the time when spanking. As the academy's principal, Mrs. Wagner is given the prerogative of selecting the type of restraining device, if any, she wishes to use. Upon her appointment as headmistress she had the two benches currently in use custom made for her use, that is the one for her office as well as portable classroom model. The prior principal at Presdon, Mr. Sanford, used a standard "horse" type of spanking bench, whereby the student lies face down with his arms and legs strapped to each of the bench's four legs. Mrs. Wagner got rid of that model because she prefers to spank in the face-up "diapering" position. She prefers the diapering position because it gives her access to the student's full bottom and thighs, has less of a chance of injuring the student's back, and also allows her to see the student's facial response. The 47-year-old principal's expansive inner office houses her infamous custom-made Velcro-and-leather-restraint-strap-adorned punishment bench in an intimidatingly conspicuous place. The device appears a bit medical at first glance, with its intended purpose to position the child's buttocks slightly higher than his or her shoulders, with the butt cheeks tilted slightly upward to receive the paddle or strap. The bench has short legs and is very low to the ground. This is so that, with a student positioned on top of it, the 5', 4" Mrs. Wagner's can easily swing her arm directly level with the student's buttocks. There is a short post rising up at one end of the short bench. This post rises up just above the student's head, and is used to affix the student's ankles above their head in the diaper position. Leather belt at either side of the middle of the bench fasten the child's upturned legs around the knees, thus holding the student's knees flexed up to each side of their torso or chest. The students are typically stripped from the waist down for punishment. Any shirts or blouses are tucked up under the arms out of the way, or removed altogether if they are long enough to interfere. The wrists are fastened with straps near the student's head, at each upper corner of the bench, about shoulders-width apart. They can also be restraint-cuffed down together beneath the bench in order to completely get them out of the way. This "cuffed-beneath-the-bench" position has a uniquely intimidating appearance because it spreads the chest and torso out in the appearance of total helplessness and submission, especially when the child's legs and feet are drawn up almost overhead. Mrs. Wagner's punishment bench is low enough for the student to be ordered to first sit on the brown, leather-covered paddling end, thus allowing the principal and her assistant or a witnessing teacher to quickly position the child with their bottom fully off one end, lay them quickly on their backs with their buttocks just off the seat of the table, then quickly restrain their wrists at their shoulders or under the bench, then their legs are pulled up to their chest and their knees are strapped to either side of their chest with the side belts, and, finally but quickly, with their knees bent, their ankles are fixed slightly apart at either side of the head post, just above their head. To see a child strapped down in the diaper position awaiting the strap or paddle is to see a face of total anxiety. Believing in equality and fairness in the administration of corporal punishment, Principal Wagner strips both boys and girls from the waist-down before they receive her notoriously blistering punishments. Girls, however, who have turned 13 years old or who have clearly reached the onset of puberty, get an automatic reprieve and receive non-corporal punishment. Exceptions can be made through age 14 with the preapproval of both parents. Almost every student and teacher walking down the school's main hallway looks up as they pass Mrs. Wagner's office. They're looking up to see if the door to the principal's inner office is closed. If it is, they know they might hear the distant, muffled sound of a student crying. One can tell just what phase the disciplinary procedure is in just by the sound heard. Sharp, high-pitched squealing indicates the first strokes are being applied to a white bottom. Moments of inaudible gasping quickly punctuated by apocalyptically anxious sobbing and pleading indicates that things are well under way. Continuous crying or weeping abbreviated short pauses for air means the strapping or paddling is over and a blistered-bottom child is catching their breath before they obligatorily thank the principal for their punishment. Experienced listeners can even determine the type of implement used, because a student receiving the strap (vs. the paddle) emits a distinctively apocalyptic screeching which is unique to that implement of punishment. Tuesday, November 14th, 2087 Britney Wilson, like other parents of students at Presdon, had carefully read the booklet outlining the school's disciplinary policies when she and her husband enrolled their son Robbie and their daughter Laura at the school. Like other conservative parents of Presdon Academy students, Britney and Mike Wilson had full faith in the school, which had come highly recommended by their pastor. The videophone conference call 34-year-old Britney Wilson received informing her that her 10-year-old son Robbie was about to get ten strokes of the paddle for cheating was quite disturbing to the mother of two. She never thought her son would even consider such an action, and getting the phone call deeply disturbed her. 10-year-old Janet Krieg usually had the top math score in the class. Janet sat in the front row, always raised her hand to answer questions, and she always had her homework done on time. Robbie, on the other hand, hated math and struggled just to get his homework assignments finished. Feeling infallible or invisible, as young boys often do, Robbie sneaked into Janet's book bag while she talked with the other girls on the playground before school that morning. He quickly copied the answers to her math homework from the night before. Janet Krieg saw Robbie rummaging through her book bag and told their teacher, Mrs. Lawrence. "Is anything missing?" The short haired, attractive young blonde teacher inquired of Janet as she looked up through her dark, horn-rimmed glasses as she graded papers at her desk. "Oh, no ma'am" Janet replied, "I think he was just copying some of my notes." Mrs. Lawrence checked both Janet and Robbie's homework papers that morning and noticed that Janet Krieg turned in only one wrong answer on her math homework. By an unbelievably strange coincidence, Robbie Wilson, the only other student in class to do so, also gave the same wrong answer. As much a she liked young Robbie, the young teacher felt compelled to inform Principal Wagner about his cheating, which was viewed as serious violation of the school's honor code. Cheating and stealing were listed as the school's most intolerable offenses. When the students returned to the classroom from lunch, Mrs. Lawrence called Robbie out in the hall and briefly questioned him, asking him if he had copied Janet's math homework. Lying to a teacher was also a serious "Class A" honor code violation. "Have you ever gone into her book bag?" Was the slim young teacher's next question. Robbie assured her he had not. Mrs. Lawrence return to the classroom, gave the class a workbook assignment, and then, turning to Robbie Wilson said "Please come with me Robbie" in a serious voice. Robbie nervously walked with Mrs. Lawrence down the school's main corridor to the principal's office. He detect an unusual seriousness in his usually relaxed and friendly teacher's demeanor. As they walked, he glanced in as they passed other classrooms, catching brief glimpses of teachers and students. He pretended everything was normal. Upon entering Mrs. Wagner's inner office Robbie's eyes fixed on the almost-medical-device-looking punishment bench which took up a conspicuous space in the large office. Robbie had heard rumors of it but had never actually seen it. Once in the principal's office Robbie was nearly in tears as Principal Wagner and Mrs. Lawrence confronted him regarding his cheating. He denied it. Hearing a second denial, Mrs. Wagner quickly pushed a button which turned on a video monitor recording of the playground. The time in the lower corner of the screen was tem minutes before school started. The monitor show Robbie in the distance rummaging through a book bag. It was Janet's. Robbie said nothing and hung his head in shame. Mrs. Wagner told Robbie he was going to be paddled for lying, cheating, and stealing. She then called Robbie's home on the speakerphone. Robbie silently prayed no one would answer. Robbie's mom's face appeared when she answered on the videophone. Robbie's lower lip quivered as his mom stared at him over the videophone as the school principal recanted a litany of his offences. "Mrs. Wilson" the principal then announced, "I'm going to take his pants down in front of his teacher and give him 10 strokes of the paddle on his bare bottom." A tear rolled down Robbie's cheek as he saw his mom smile over the videophone upon hearing his sentence. "Would you like to remain online and observe?" the principal added with a slight smirk. "Indeed I would Mrs. Wagner" Robbie's mom firmly responded, almost with glee. "And I'm going to digitally record it for his father to see when he gets home." Mrs. Wagner and Mrs. Lawrence glanced at one another and smiled. "And if he ever gives you any trouble again Mrs. Wagner" Britney Wilson added in a frustrated voice as her son listened, "Please call me right away and I'll come down there and spank him myself." "Parents are always welcome to both witness and participate" the middle-aged, slightly graying principal responded. Robbie now had tears coming down both cheeks as he stared at his busty, slightly overweight mom through the videophone. Despite her polite smile, he could clearly tell she was angry. As his mother remained on the videophone watching, Mrs. Wagner pushed a button on her intercom and requested that the school's 53-year-old receptionist, Mrs. Larson, come in her office. The mature receptionist said nothing as she entered the inner office and closed the door behind her. Mrs. Larsen glanced at Robbie, saw he was in tears, then looked to Mrs. Wagner for instruction. The principal matter-of-factly informed her that the boy had been caught cheating and was about to be paddled. "Did you copy from Janet's homework, Robbie?" The principal asked one final time. At last receiving an affirmative nod from the boy, she ordered him raise his arms above his head and apologize, first to his mother over the videophone, then to his teacher. Robbie obediently lifted his arms straight up in the air and said, through quivering tears, "I'm sorry mom." When he turned to his right to apologize to Mrs. Lawrence, Mrs. Wagner, standing just slightly to one side of him, bent her knees sharply and crouched down to unsnap his trousers. Having turned from her, Robbie did not see his mother sarcastically smile through the videophone as her son's pants were unbuttoned. Young Mrs. Lawrence, who had only been teaching for two years, cleared her throat as she faced her young student. The principal unzipped Robbie and dropped his pants, exposing his legs and white briefs. She did it an a matter of fact way, as if she had done it a hundred times before. As soon as she did, Mrs. Lawson, who was standing behind him, quickly rolled Robbie's shirt tail up under his arms, fully exposing his abdomen and the waistband of his underpants. As his mom, his young teacher, and the receptionist watched, the principal crouched down further, almost kneeling in a deep squat, then slipped her manicured fingers into the white elastic waistband of the boy's briefs. Hearing him snuffle, as she slipped her fingers into the waistband of his underwear she looked Robbie directly in the eye and said whispered "I'm going to give you something to cry about, young man." With those words Mrs. Wagner pulled his underwear to the floor, revealing Robbie's smooth, hairless white balls and pink circumcised penis to his young teacher. His face flushed red with shame. Remaining in her squat, the principal, with the help of the now crouching Mrs. Lawson, slowly removed Robbie's shoes and socks, lifting his feet one at a time to removed the all of the clothing from around his ankles. She had stripped him bare from the waist down as his teacher, his mom, and the matronly school secretary had watched. His arms were still raised above his head. Raising up from her crouched position Mrs. Wagner took Robbie by the shoulders and turned him to face the bench, saying "Robbie, sit at this end, then lay down on your back." Robbie obediently sat down, then laid face-up on the low, short, narrow leather bench. Without a word Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Larson bent over and each grabbed a wrist and drew it under the narrow bench, handcuffing them together. It looked as if his arms were drawn behind his back under the narrow bench. Each woman then grabbed an ankle and pulled it overhead, forcing his bare legs to bend at the knee. Robbie's bare twin butt cheeks were now protruding completely off the end of the bench. As the women strapped each ankle independently to a short T-shaped post at the head end of the bench, Robbie's buttocks lifted upwards into the air. His ankles were fixed about 18 inches apart. In a final act of humiliation, the two women each took hold of a black leather strap, one from each side of the bench, and passed it around each of Robbie's knees before fastening it back to the side of the bench. These straps held his knees apart at each side of his chest. In less than a minute the two women had fully restrained the 10-year-old boy was on his back with his bare bottom and genitals completely exposed and tilted upward to receive the paddle. His mom watched it all and she recorded it on the videophone. This young teacher Mrs. Lawrence blushed as she watched. The newly married teacher couldn't help but stare at his neatly circumcised penis and smooth hairless balls as Mrs. Wagner and Mrs. Larson strapped his legs up and apart using Velcro-covered leather straps. Robbie's butt was now completely off the end of the short, low bench. Mrs. Larson had seen a hundred or more boys in the same predicament in her years at the school, but to Mrs. Lawrence it was all new. Now, in this extreme position, she not only saw her young student's smooth male sac and pink-tipped penis, but also his tiny dark-pink asshole. Robbie Wilson's face flashed beet red with shame at his nakedness. He looked up to see his teacher blushing back at him. She was embarrassed but also fascinated at the sight of seeing her young student's smooth male organs perched high above his upturned butt. In his three years at Preston Academy Robbie had twice heard crying from behind the closed door of the inner office as he walked past with other students. He knew what was going on, but he tried not to think about it, and he imagined it would never happen to him. Now he was about to receive the paddle in front of three adult females as his mom almost gleefully watched on videophone. He had never felt more ashamed and vulnerable in his life. He suddenly realized that this morning it would be his crying and sobbing that other students would hear as they walked past the principal's office. The paddle snapped loudly as the first stroke marked the white globes of the boy's bare, upward tilting cheeks. After only the first stroke Robbie sobbed "Ahhhh" aloud. Mrs. Wagner strokes were firm and rhythmic, each landing the wooden paddle across both cheeks. Each stroke had a delay of five seconds between them. With the fourth stroke Mrs. Wagner took a longer break to allow Robbie time to get air between his loud sobs before continuing. The fifth stroke of the thin paddle was firmer than the others, and the sound cracked through the room as the smooth, hole-bored wooden paddle instantaneously flattened the boy's twin, now-glowing globes. Robbie cried louder than ever, then gasped for air between sobs. The sixth stroke was the hardest of all, and the young boys leg's kicked and bucked against the restraints as he attempted to pedal his legs against the fire on his buttocks. As he did, his head flailed and he cried out for mercy, his arms pulled behind his chest under the bench. Mrs. Wagner, who had seen the spectacle countless times before, walked to the head of the bench and leaned her face toward Robbie. Tears were streaming down each side of his head, soaking his hair. "Young man" she said, almost whispering, "go ahead and cry; these last four are going to sting the worst." With that she straightened up and delivered the last four strokes in rapid succession as the three other women watched in silence as the boy screamed and sobbed. To Mrs. Lawson, it was just another boy, stripped from the waist down, getting his just due. To Mrs. Lawrence the price on admission was some embarrassment, but she was none the less fascinated at seeing a boy, her own student, stripped and paddled before a private audience. To Robbie's mom, watching over the videophone, the extreme strapped down position of her son reminded of her own positioning when she had given birth to him as she was strapped down screaming in front of strangers. Mrs. Wagner counted the last strokes out loud...seven...eight...nine...ten... as she quickly delivered them with full force. The thin paddle bent slightly as it made contact with Robbie's buttocks. Robbie screamed at the top of his lungs and wailed, pleading "No, No, Please No" as she finished up. Setting the paddle down, Mrs. Wagner and Mrs. Lawson quickly unstrapped the sobbing student. Standing up, the weeping, naked boy instinctively reached to grab his burning bare buttocks. As he did he performed a slight jig, which, to the slight amusement of the women, caused his penis and balls to dangle. Suddenly aware of his own shame, Robbie turned his back to the women. Mrs. Wagner firmly ordered Robbie to turn back around and face her and return his hands to the top of his head. He obeyed, standing like a surrendering prisoner as he continued to cry between slight gasps for breath. He was slightly bent forward at the waist because of the burning sensation on his bare bottom. Then, in the most humiliating act of all, Mrs. Wagner ordered the naked boy to thank her for his punishment. Weeping, with tears streaming down his cheeks, Robbie thanked the principal for paddling him. His mother smiled through the video screen and thanked the principal herself before hanging up. As Robbie Wilson stood there thanking Mrs. Wagner, his arms still raised, Mrs. Lawson exited the inner office and returned to her reception desk. As she opened the door to leave an older girl walking down the hallway caught a brief peek of the naked boy crying. At that moment a Robbie glanced out the door and saw her. They briefly made eye contact, then the shocked young girl then looked away, pretending not to see the crying, naked boy. See had. His humiliation not yet completed, Principal Wagner instructed Mrs. Lawrence to help dress her student and return him to the classroom as soon as possible. She hoped his return would be in time for the other students to witness his tears as an example. Mrs. Wagner leaned against her desk and watched as Robbie's young blonde teacher bent over and held open the waistband of his white briefs so he could step into them. As he lifted one leg at a time, his ball sac and little circumcised penis dangled, and he was aware of Mrs. Lawrence staring at them. Suddenly self-aware of her gazing, she looked up and held eye contact with Robbie as she pulled his briefs snug up around his waist. Mrs. Wagner had no doubt watched the redressing of hundreds of stripped boys over the years, but watched nonetheless. Her message to young Robbie was clear: I am in charge; your body is mine. As they walked back to the classroom, Robbie, still crying, pretended to be elsewhere, still mentally reeling in shock of knowing that his kindly young teacher had just seen him stripped naked and paddled. He had been totally humiliated, which was obviously the intent. As they entered the classroom, every student knew Robbie had been spanked. When Robbie and his seven year old sister were picked up from school by his mother in the family minivan that afternoon, there was an unusual silence during the 20 minute ride home. Britney Wilson said nothing during the entire ride home, but her cold silence spoke volumes to 10-year-old Robbie. The silence was suddenly broken when Robbie sister Laura suddenly said "Mom, some girls told me on the playground that Robbie got paddled in the principal's office today." Mrs. Wilson did not reply to her daughter's statement. When they got home, the moment they walked in the front door, Britney Wilson turned to her son and, squatting down, faced Robbie eye to eye. Without saying a word, and as her daughter Laura watched, Britney a took her son's pants down. He started to cry but did not protest. As her fashionably-manicured fingers slipped under her 10-year-old son's white underpants waistband, the young mom looked him in the eye and said firmly "Robbie Wilson, if I ever get another call like the one I got today, I'm swear I'm coming to school and spanking you myself, do you understand?" "Yes ma'am" Robbie answered through his tears, believing he was about to get another spanking. His sister Laura giggled as she watched her mother pull her brother's underwear down to his ankles. Britney, still kneeling, turned Robbie around and visually inspected his red bottom, exclaiming "That's nothing! I swear, if I get another call from the principal Robbie, there'll be blisters down there! Do you understand me? " "Yes ma'am" Robbie responded through tears. Continued in Chapter Two