“Mrs Jamieson?

Come in, please.

I’m Sheila Ames.

How do you do?

Would you like a cup of coffee?”

“Please. What did you need to see me about?”

“Michael is a very intelligent young boy,

but he’s become somewhat of a problem.

His school work is excellent, but he’s become a bully toward the other children.

He terrorizes the younger ones, and when he can’t scare them, he fights with them.

If something isn’t done soon,

I’m afraid I don’t have a choice except to suspend or expel him.”

“I didn’t know he was like that at school,” his mother said.

“I thought he was just aggressive at me because I’m at work a lot when he gets home, and work takes up some of my time at home.

I’ve been ignoring it or trying to compensate for my work,

but I can see I need to take a stronger hand to stop this.

His father would always handle him when he got out of line.

Maybe I should deal with this the same way.

You can be sure he will be taken care of.”

“I wish I could have taken care of this myself,” Ms Ames said.

“I don’t like to call parents in, except as a last resort.