Lee Academy

Welcome to Lee Academy

The school sat on a large block of land, one large building in the middle, surrounded by two separate wings. It was a private school, not for high school students, but for younger students, grades 7 to 9. It was a popular school, at least with the parents of the pupils who attended the school. It was, at least some of the time, not so popular with the students themselves.

Unlike other private schools in the area, it was mandatory that all students live at the school. This was even true of students whose parents lived in the local area as no exceptions were allowed, and visits were limited to vacation weeks, at which time, students were allowed to go home. While co-educational, mingling between the girls and boys, outside of the classroom, and cafeteria, was only allowed under close supervision. One unusual aspect of the school was its matriarchal outlook. All the employees of the school, including both teachers and administrators, were female.

The two wings of the school housed the school's students, with the boys occupying one wing and the girls, the other one. The building between them consisted of classrooms, offices, the gym and the cafeteria. Each of the two wings were setup identically. Each floor was devoted to a separate grade in order, with the seventh grade occupying the first floor. The rooms were laid out on the border of the building with an open space in the middle from the second floor up. For the second and third floors, there was a wide balcony around the entire area. On the first floor, the middle area contained a mini-library, an audio-visual area, and a study area, as well as a desk for a supervisory person on duty at the time.

The students of each grade were divided into four sections for housing assignments, each section consisting of eight students. The rooms were large, with two students sharing each room. Besides the two beds, the two dressers and two closets that it contained, there was also enough room for two desks and a computer table. Another staple of each room was a stool, placed in an otherwise empty corner of the room. In addition to the students' rooms, there were room at each corner of the floor. The live-in housemothers, who each had 8 students assigned to them, occupied these corner rooms. They were, of course, like all the other employees of the school, female.

Elizabeth, or Beth, as she preferred to be called, was one such housemother, and she was assigned a section consisting of seventh graders. It was her second year as a housemother, and this year, she planned to have a much better beginning to the school year than she did a year ago. The previous year was almost her only year as early problems almost caused her dismissal. Each housemother was given plenty of discretion, as long as the end product was satisfactory. In Beth's case, it almost wasn't. What nearly caused Beth's dismissal was her leniency in discipline matters. At the start of the year, in her own orientation, it was suggested to her that it might be a good idea to let her students know right away who was boss. Beth, however, didn't want to be the "bad guy" from the start and attempted to be her sections 'friend' instead of being the substitute mother that perhaps her students required. The end result was to be predicted, with Beth being taken advantage of, until she had to take drastic and severe measures to straighten out the problem and save her job. This year, Beth promised herself, it would be different.

It was late Sunday afternoon. It was "Arrival Day" and students were arriving throughout the afternoon, accompanied by their parent or parents, together with suitcases, etc. For those students in grades 8 & 9, it wasn't such a big deal, having experienced it already. For the seventh graders, it was time of anxiety and nervousness, as they faced a new and different situation. There was also another aspect that was in the back of there minds, an aspect that they never had to deal with while attending a public school.

As Beth walked out of her own room, the activity was dying down. Supper was still a few hours away yet, and with what she had in mind, she wanted to accomplish it before accompanying her section to the cafeteria. She decided to start with the room next to her own. Knocking once, she went inside. The two 13 year old boys, lay on their beds, each playing with a videogame. Stopping their game playing, they both looked up at Beth, perhaps wondering who this young woman was.