The Discipline Office is one of the most feared places for students to go in the vast halls of Hononegah, even though most students’ knowledge of it is through its reputation. However, spending time there is actually kind of fun, as long as you don’t do anything to make it bad.

The clientele of the Discipline Office, however, is not often the most optimistic crowd. Many individuals, such as the student who had three ISS demerits and needed an out of school suspension, have been in there repeatedly and have a negative outlook making the whole experience worse on themselves.

However, there is at least one student who has a very different opinion of those who work there. Nick Nesmith, a senior here at Hononegah, has been coming in every day for the past month to the Discipline Office at the end of sixth hour to talk to the secretaries there, Kim Fell, Sharon Freeman, and Diane Eymann, and give them something, usually Snickers or Rice Crispy treats. “It’s a relief from the lunchroom,” said Nesmith, “and people really treat these ladies pretty badly.”

Nesmith, who hasn’t been in any big trouble before, does not know some of the other people in the office as well. The administrators who work there, Mr. Schad, Dr. Morris, and Mrs. Heitkamp, all have roughly the same duties: trying to correct discipline problems and stop repeat offenders. According to Morris, Associate Principal, the job of the administration there deals mainly with taking care of referrals from teachers, reports from students about a problem, fights, and severe attendance and truancy issues.

The job also deals with pranks and similar practical jokes. During Homecoming week this year, according to Morris and Freeman, the amount of such incidents this year and in the past two years has significantly decreased. Morris attributed the lesser amount to the many new activities Hononegah has during Homecoming week. Her and Freeman agreed, though, that the number of fights in Hononegah throughout the year has definitely increased.

Still, the number of fights is significantly less than the amount of other, smaller problems that occur on a daily basis. Those include giving out temporary ID’s, taking care of tardies, dealing with single class cuts, misbehaviors during lunch, ISS slips, parking lot issues, and giving out the green slips students receive for any variety of issues.

While the Discipline Office has a busy day, it certainly could be made easier by students if they would come in with a positive attitude and know that the fault is theirs, not those who work in the office, the secretaries all agreed. “I hate them,” said sophomore Andrew Leden, showing that some students feel the fault isn’t always theirs.