In any school, the physical education department is usually populated with the most fearsome faculty. At the Metro High School, there was no exception.
There were four gym teachers to handle the three days a week of single-_s_e_x_ gym that the 2200 students of Metro Jr/Sr high were required to take. Three, Mr. Armand, Miss Finch, and Mrs. Andersen, were fairly lax - definitely the ones you wanted to have. The fourth, Mr. Kramer, was the scary one.
Each teacher was free to set up their own rules and curriculum as they wished, provided they were within writted guidelines. For example, you had to teach swimming and you had to issue the President's Physical Fitness Tests. Mr. Kramer's curriculum was the most difficult. He was the only one who required showers every day, come hell or high water, and was the only one to take advantage of the district's corporal punishment policy with a large, fearsome strap, which he kept locked in his desk drawer.
His classes were always the most arduous of any. He often required a mile run at the beginning of class, leaving many students exhausted before warm ups were over. He expected the 30 boys in his classes to be able to perform all the required activities and obey all the rules.
His disclipline policy was the essence of simplicity. There were no warnings, exceptions, or dealing. Most offenses were resolved immediatly with a few cuts to the bare backside with the strap. Other, more serious infractions went to the assistant principal. The boys in his classes soon learned to behave. The first time they saw one of their wayward peer's bare butt in the shower, red as Santa's nose, they soon developed respect for the brutish gym teacher.
Still, spankings were by no means uncommon. Mr. Kramer taught mostly the junior classes: 7th through 9th, with an occasional sophomore class. This age group was given to more frequent misbehavior, hence more frequent butt warmings.
Mr. Kramer's procedure was to excort the naughty boy into the locker room office, pull out the strap, peel the boy's gym shorts and underpants off, bend him over the desk, and issue the spanking. Five was the usual number, but ten was not unheard of. Then the boy, thoroughly sorry, would dress himself up and return to gym in tears, embarassed and with a throbbing backside. In the lockers after class, his naked rump would be the target of expert inspection and evaluation before he was permitted to get dressed.
A spanking in front of the class was unheard of. No one ever expected it, though it did happen a few times over the years.