In Sarah’s day, punishments included staying after school, detention, smacks with a ruler and, if merited, a call to the child’s mother. Originally, teachers could dispense ruler smacks, and when Mr. Humphrey told her to come to the front of the class for five ruler smacks for disrupting class, she told him to go ahead, since he didn’t look very tough to her anyway. She got in more trouble when she told him that he hit like a girl. As time went on, only Mrs. Perkins could administer ruler smacks. However, while Beryl got more ruler smacks than any other girl at school, Mrs. Perkins refused to smack Sarah.

“Her mother’s such a dear!” she told Mrs. Larkin once. “Whatever would Ellen think were I to smack Sarah? She’s just high-spirited, that’s all!”

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Normally, Sarah and Beryl would arrive at Mrs. Perkins’ office together. Beryl usually left crying with faint ruler smack marks. At other times, Rose called Beryl’s mother to tell her that her daughter was a “no goodnik” and a “troublemaker.” Then she usually called Ellen to tell her that Sarah had been scrapping with Beryl again…and to ask for her cherry cobbler recipe.

Rose Marie Perkins- First School's Counselor

The office of School's Counselor is one of the most important at Westbridge High. In Mrs. Perkin's day, the School's Counselor reported directly to the School Authority Board's Committee for the Maintenance of Morals and Community Standards. This arrangement was somewhat strange, seeing how Mrs. Perkins was also Chief Selectwoman of the Committee's Board of Direction, meaning essentially that she reported directly to herself. Later, the School's Counselor reported directly to the Deputy Assistant to the 1st Vice Principal. Among the multitude of responsibilities of the School's Counselor, she handles all disciplinary issues that arise with the kids of Westbridge High.

Rose Marie Perkins is the the first School's Counselor. She lived in the town at the time when the old school, a converted military base, is transformed into the current school. As head of the Citizen's Panel of Representatives for School Grounds,  Facilities, and Appurtenances, she approves the layout of the new school complex, one that results in a campus comprised of numerous, separate buildings spread far and wide across the school's property. The result is students having to move around and throughout the school grounds between classes, making it very difficult for Inter-Class Monitors of Appropriate Behavior to properly supervise the students. By the time David is attending high school, this layout leads to a dramatic breakdown of the appropriate supervision of students as they move from one class to another, in particular, enforcement of the "Prohibitions against Possession of Contraband Relative to Mood-Altering, Stimulatory, and Potentially Intoxicatory Substances" policy of the school, written by Mrs. Perkins, of course. But these problems won't appear until after Mrs. Perkins retires. Rose attends the same church as Carl and Ellen Larimore, and both ladies are members of the Eastern Star. During the ongoing feud between Sarah and Beryl Ricks, Mrs. Perkins identifies Beryl as the real source of the problem and so she deals very differently with Sarah than she does with Beryl...whom she repeatedly refers to as a "no good-nick," a "rebellious rascal," and a "student who behaves in a manner unbecoming of a proper young lady." Eventually, Mrs. Perkins deals with Beryl by administering "ruler smacks," a form of corporal punishment that the School's Counselor has the authority to dish out. When it comes to Sarah, Mrs. Perkins contents herself with simply calling Ellen about whatever "ruckus" has occurred between Beryl and Sarah.