Venomous Agenda Memoirs

Chapter 3: The birth of the Venomous Agendas

Two weeks after the team naming contest was announced, the principal makes a new announcement on Monday morning:

"The voting period of the contest will not open until the end of the first period, especially since the cellphones must be handed over at the front of the classroom at the beginning of a period. However, the voting period of the contest will start as soon as the bell of the first period ends. The voting period ends at the end of the week" Glen announces over the PA system. "And I'm amazed by the quality of what has been submitted as well as the sheer number of submissions received"

He then turns to his secretary's desk, waiting for the moment where she processes all the tardy students (there's always one or two on Monday morning) for tallying their violations. Once his secretary is done with the tardy students, he checks on the webpage to ensure that all entries are anonymous and don't have the names of their submitters. After all, some potential voters could be influenced by the identity of the submitters.

"A lot of these entries make me laugh. However, some of these are so outlandish they make me want to scream" Glen then laughs with the submissions, sorted in alphabetical order on the webpage created by the secretary.

"Speaking of the team naming contest... there's someone who interrupted the teacher in class because of it" the secretary then hands over the accused student to the principal.

The principal could tell the student sent to his office was a little too excited about the contest voting period opening. So many good options, such as the Fighting Servers and the Venomous Agendas... and a few dark horses from others.

"Mr. principal, I caught this student interrupting my class. He kept jabbering about who to support and who not to support in the team-naming contest, as if this team-naming contest is a game of thrones" a language arts teacher explains what happened to the freshman that teacher brought to the office for disciplinary action.

"I understand you're passionate about this contest, and it's your first offense for the year, but the rules are the rules" Glen sternly stares down the soon-to-be-punished student. "You're going to detention after school!"

That teacher talking about the team-naming contest as a game of thrones among students reminds me of the decisions my predecessor made that were forced by the pandemic. Disbanding of after-school clubs, and removal of class rank. The former because life in after-school clubs started feeling more like a game of thrones, the latter because the pandemic's stresses were already bad enough as they were without class rank getting in the way. My predecessor might have prioritized athletics more than I did, but removing class rank made him not completely bad to my eyes, Glen muses while the student is getting a letter informing him of his detention, the reason, time and place. He also proceeds to call the student's parent listed on the emergency contact list as it relates to that student.

"I regret to inform you that your son is in detention after school today" Glen informs the parent of the freshman being punished.

"What did my son do?" the puzzled parent asks him.

"He repeatedly interrupted the social studies class over this team-naming contest, and he kept discussing the merits of those entries he knew, including but not limited to his own"

"I could never have believed... my son could do such a thing for the naming contest!" the parent is taken aback by what the kid did to get in detention.

"Your son is an entrant, so he deserves to remain in the contest just like everyone else who played by the contest's rules. "But the contest's stakes don't excuse his behavior, nor his passion for it, and he broke school rules. Pick up your child once his detention ends"