Miss Viola Swamp.

Anybody remember her?

I bet the school librarians do.

The name just sounds ugly. It&8217;s a name capable of instilling fear in children at its mention. And I&8217;m sure that&8217;s precisely why Harry Allard and James Marshall created the name for their children&8217;s book &8220;Miss Nelson is Missing!&8221;

I remember this book from my Pizza Hut Reading Club days, and with the quick mind of the children&8217;s librarian at the Armstrong Library (I remembered the storyline, not the name or the author), I found it a few weeks ago.

Miss Viola Swamp is a substitute teacher, and a very strict one at that. She raps the desk with rulers, assigns lots of homework, eliminates story time and demands that children sit perfectly quite and still.

She&8217;s used for dire situations, to replace very nice teachers when children are misbehaving.

And she succeeds.

At McLaurin Elementary, Miss Viola Swamp is Ms. Dorothy Vaughn &8212; at least in the kids&8217; minds anyway.

I got my first glimpse of Ms. Vaughn&8217;s reputation a few months ago. Ms. Bell was out sick, and Mrs. Tuccio&8217;s homeroom group was about to switch and head to Ms. Bell&8217;s room.

I was getting up to leave the school for the day, and one of the kids came and asked me if she could come along.

I smiled, didn&8217;t really understand, and shook my head.

Pretty soon I noticed kids were asking Mrs. Tuccio if they could stay with her. Others were dragging their feet and pouting about the class change.

Mrs. Tuccio laughingly informed me that they were really scared of the substitute across the hall.

The Thursday before Thanksgiving break, Ms. Bell got sick in the middle of the day and had to leave school.

Another teacher, Ms. Phipps, came and stayed with the class. As I think I&8217;ve mentioned, this group can be a little on the rowdy side. Add in the pre-holiday excitement, and they were on their best completely rambunctious behavior.

As punishment, recess got cut short, and the group headed back to the room.

But on the way, they crossed paths with Ms. Vaughn.

Next thing I know, two or three of them are hanging onto me, hiding behind my back. Like any enterprising young teacher, Ms. Phipps keys in on the substitute fear and uses it as a threat.

For the rest of the afternoon, whenever things got to loud or too many children got out of their seats, Ms. Phipps casually reminded the kids that she could just go get Ms. Vaughn.

Smiles disappeared, lower lips protruded and silence prevailed.

At the end of the day I set out to find this legendary Ms. Vaughn myself. She was subbing in a third-grade classroom at the back of the school. And sure enough, I entered a room screaming with silence. The children were waiting for dismissal, so books were packed, heads were down and they made not a peep.

Her secret?

&8220;I love discipline,&8221; she said. &8220;I let them know I will follow up with consequences, and there&8217;s not a second chance. If I follow that they don&8217;t have any more problems.&8221;

Break a rule, your name goes on the board and you lose recess or special activity time, she said; it works.

&8220;It&8217;s taking away something they are looking forward to.&8221;

A substitute teacher for 15 years, Ms. Vaughn said it&8217;s not all rough and tough, and with respect comes love from the children and hugs in the hallway.

As for Miss. Viola Swamp, there&8217;s a major twist in that story, but I guess you&8217;ll just have to read the book to find out.

I&8217;m returning it to the library today.

Julie Finley is news editor and education reporter for The Natchez Democrat. She writes a weekly column based on experiences with Marty Tuccio&8217;s homeroom class at McLaurin Elementary. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or

julie.finley@natchezdemocrat.com

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