Jay Francis:  

"WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11,1964 WILL BE TARDY DAY". I passed out about 50 mimeographed notices on Monday to strangers ("We hope to have 500 people after school on Wednesday, please be tardy to an unimportant class, such as homeroom, by a few minutes"), and within a few minutes an art teacher collected one from a student passing it around class. The administration announced at homeroom Tuesday that if there was any unusual tardiness on Wednesday, "all extracurricular activities will be curtailed". I had objected to the recent new policy on tardiness. Before, teachers were responsible for their own discipline, and if they wanted to discourage tardiness, could simply reduce grades as a deterrent. But the administration had made it mandatory to report tardiness to them, and offenders were to report to detention after school, till 3:30pm. No exceptions were allowed; if a student was in a sports group taking a bus to an event right after school at 3pm, it was tough luck for the student and his teammates. But the administration threat to cancel all activities was an escalation of the issue that was so extreme that no one was prepared to execute "tardy day". So a brilliant plan came to nought.========================================================= But the aftermath was fascinating. An unnamed friend, one of the few to whom I had divulged my scheme, blabbered in a student council meeting,"I heard a teacher helped print up the announcement." And I couldn't refrain from bragging in Tranchina's class, to a girl I wanted to impress, that I was Mr.Tardy Day. I thought the teacher wouldn't hear me, but I guess I whispered too loudly. So Tranchina told his buddy Bignami and I got caught. I was called into Mr.Bignami's office, and Bignami asked me if I had anything to do with "this", referring to one of the tardy day notices clutched protectively in his hands. Thinking that he didn't have to be so careful of his copy, since I still had 450 more in my locker, I confessed, and was told to return to class while Mr.Bignami talked to Dr.Bliss.(an ironic name-I never detected bliss in his demeanor). At least Mr.Bignami had to go to the trouble of interviewing all the culprits of the previous year's prank, Library Day, before he got around to me.====================================================== While I was back in class, Bignami heard about the "teacher did it" comment, and 20 minutes later, when I was called back to his office, was visibly disturbed, actually coming out of the office into the exterior walkway to meet me coming from class, Of course, I had no idea that my friend had been unable to contain his knowledge during the student council meeting. "Jay, how well do you know Mr.Mattal?""Not especially well, why?" I said. (Mattal was uninvolved, and I, not knowing about the comment, said I wouldn't identify any co-conspirators when Bignami sai...Expand for more