Suspension's Reward

Matt Thompson takes a phone call from Nora Horton, principal of his son’s elementary school, reporting that his son, Jeremy, is suspended for fighting. Jeremy asserts to Matt that he was protecting his friend Tim from a bully, an older and bigger kid. Upset with Nora Horton and the stupidity of zero-tolerance policies, he believes Jeremy, but feels as though his hands are tied.

He fields a second call from Horton the next day, asking him to come and meet with her after hours, and reluctantly agrees, still furious with Horton. She reports to him that she was reliably told by an array of students and at least two teachers that Jeremy was telling the truth, indeed protecting his friend Tim, who has a prosthetic leg, from being mugged by the other boy. Matt isn’t entirely mollified, but Horton sends her secretary home, then tells him she will make amends, giving her surrender.