Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for June 02, 2014

Well, congrats to Bernice…but, what about Gunther? ;)

Fitting that Bern gets to deliver “the Last Word”! – Between her and Les, it was the best of climes, it was the worst of climes… – If she gets “Pomp And Circumstance”, then Les gets “Pompous And Circumspect”…

If Phelps saw the physical assault, Leslie can get jail time for that…

I guess Leslie finally realized there weren’t security cameras after all …

Miss Phelps, you just witnessed an act of bullying. What are you going to do about it?

“The Last Word”“One Les Bell To Answer”“The Hard Knox Life”“Over And Under”

“You’re No Hamburger, Halper!”or “Head Of The Class, Dread Of The Class”

If Leslie is the lowest, does that mean Knute is the place right above him (second to the last)?

Gunther may be in for a bad time… Knute, too.

Leslie Knox may have the surliest attitude, but surely the “lowest achiever” is Knute. He’s barely achieved consciousness.

I’ve heard of some schools letting the student body choose, some vote amongst the admin. staff, some will do an overall criteria, with grades only being one criterion. – Some are revamping altogether, to avoid the potential sore loserdom and accusations, though some places aren’t like that….

Looks like Gunther may get one more chance to kick Leslie’s ass in front of Rosa before the year ends. Or possibly, Bernice will be bragging about Valedictorian. I suppose we can predict good old Levi shall be jumping for joy and dancing in the streets.

Weird technical question alert:

Do people still refer to unmarried women as “Miss”? I thought “Ms” was the word since around 1980.

Interesting (if ultimately useless) bit ’o family trivia…

When my sister graduated high school, she finished with the second highest GPA in the class. The guy who was valedictorian ended up going to MIT, but Ginny beat out the guy who finished in third—who ended up with a Nobel Prize in Physics.

Congrats to your son! You must be very proud of him! ;)

Continued Congrats!!!

Since when is a student “chosen” to be valedictorian? Is it based upon a popularity contest like Homecoming Queen?

I would have thought Delta would have been selected as valedictorian. And since Evans didn’t mine the Prom Night arc for all that it was worth (really, a month of Fo-getty?), I’m still wondering who the prom King and Queen were.

I have an Irish Setter (IS) girl who keeps pawing me to put her to bed! Not such a bad idea, that! ’Nite all!-——————————————————————————————————————-

“When green buds hang in the elm like dust and sprinkle the lime like rain, Forth I wander, forth I must, And drink of life again.” (A. E. Housman, 1859-1936)

“Brought to you” by… – Valley Dictators, Inc…. “Professional data recorders, stenographers and documenters”… " I promise you’re gonna like their work… Cos we said so!" – and by…Plotz’ Devices…

Highest or lowest makes no difference. You’re still going to work at a job you hate for most of the rest of your life.

Congratulations on your valedictorian, and perfect attendance to boot, wow!

Assault and Battery… a criminal charge good for at least 30 to 90 days for the first offense.

Also, “Leslie” may be upper 17 to 18 years old. That is an adult assault on a minor. That is a felony. It is up to 90 to 180 days on the 1st offense and two to five years probation.

There are witnesses to the minor being assaulted. Both the school and accused should be sued.

Well, at schools in Colorado at any rate, valedictorians generally have to have GPAs well over 4.0. Typically close to 4.5 or even better, I believe. This is achieved via a lot of Honors classes (which are worth 5.0 for an A). As such, to get valedictorian, the students also have to manage their schedules to take as few classes as possible that “only” give 4.0s.

I think the “fix” was in…. :-) Bernice worked for Ms. Phelps in the counselor’s office. I bet she (Phelps) wants Bern back there to help her so she can look forward to retirement.

FIX! FIX!! FIX!!! ;-PPPP

chosen?…NOT!…she earned it with her grades.

Congratulations to Bernice Halper! Assuming any class larger than being from a one-room school house, there are likely to be several students who judged by grades alone would be tied for highest honors. The principal and/or faculty would then have to choose a valedictorian taking into account other factors, such as participation in extra-curricular or co-curricular activities, attendance record, etc. —Or, just who was teachers’ pet….I am, however, disturbed by the reappearance of Leslie Knox. Does this foreshadow some coming trouble? O, Oxford!

Perhaps it foreshadows an opposites attract romance.

(intercom) Calling Ox!!! Please report to Ms. Phelps office to solve a hall problem.

My son, like Bern, is valedictorian. 4.8GPA. :)-

Cool! My daughter is valedictorian too, 5.0. : ). Just like Bernice.

And, I’d list all her awards, but that would be bragging. Wait, here comes the POTUS to personally drive her to Harvard. : )))

I’m so happy for you Bernice!!! Perhaps Gunter will be Salutatorian!

Lowest achiever may mean a bit more than grades… who knows, maybe Pitts has an enlightened policy for Valedictorian too — not just highest grades :-D

Hey, That’s ASSAULT!!

HOW Come the “Adult” Teaching Units Haven’t DONE Anything about it???

Howtheduck: it was the same at my high school. Nobody was chosen, it was based on grades.

I agree with everyone who writes that today’s offering makes NO SENSE!

In real life Leslie would at the most be graduating from continuation classes to nowhere but jail, prison, etc. How many remember those who spent part of the next three years in jail for drinking alcohol? In small town America, the first time an 18 or 19 year old was found drinking alcohol, they got three months in jail. The second time they got a full year. After that they would be seen hanging around the main street hangout area looking lost, wondering where their friends have gone. Then they would seem to disappear. Forty years later they are dead or mentally disabled. That is Leslie’s fate.~Congratulations, Berniece.

Leslie Knox should be banned from the school forever for being a bully.

The seated child will go home with at least a red mark on his face. The parents will see the mark and ask what took place. When the student says he was assaulted and this was watched by at least a school staff person and another student then the answer is simple: SUE!

Don’t you folks know that if the parents or legal guardians didn’t do at least that then child welfare could take the child from their care?

“Capp & Gowan Clothing Stores — Come in and “graduate” to a higher fashion sense…With our fashions, you’ll “go to the head of the class”!”^Actually, they’re not scheduled, until next week!

A good example of this writing device is the song “Answering Machine” by Rupert Holmes"…..^Did that song crack the Billboard Top 40?^Just barely, 32 U.S….. but #12 on the Adult Contemporary, though! Problem may have been it was on the same album with the “Pina Collada” song and “Him”. – His chart info can be found, oh… about… here..

I’m not so sure Phelps saw the assault. The way she is seated at her desk inside the office she may not see the other kid. Maybe she just heard Knox say “Outta my way”. It is hard to tell exactly where the two boys are outside of her office. They may both be out of her view or partially in her view.

To be honest, there’s already a lot of nerves and anxiety flowing around… I say recognize people, but less speeches, LOL! – As Bob Schieffer (of CBS News) said, kids aren’t going to be remembering the words, so much (probably a point against speeches for the sake of perfunctory processes) but the feelings of that day will stay with them!

Would you have expected the valedictorian to be someone in the school who’s never been in the strip before?

Not necessarily, but I think there were a few of the “regulars” that might have been successful candidates as well (Rosa, Gunther, etc.) although Gunth might need a little “public speaking” coaching and some “stage fright” mitigation training.

It just seemed way too convenient that Ms. Phelps was the communicator and Bern, the recipient. Maybe there was a committee election and all, but we didn’t see that, or no mention was made of it. Ms. Phelps could have easily said something like “Congratulations… you were chosen by these many people by this procedure…” etc. etc. And I’m not saying Bern doesn’t deserve it, either… Just that it was awfully convenient that Ms. Phelps delivered the good news, without any explanation of the selection process.

It may not be a conflict of interest, if it was decided upon by a multi-administrative panel. Phelps may have had a vote, but others would have to agree, as per their process (either unanimously or majority vote). One would surmise that if there were an admin vote, then Principal “Bunsen Burner” (Hightower) would have to be in on it…… So it most likely was a recognition from others.. we are only viewing it from “our side of the panel”, so we just go on the fact that we were seeing Bern assisting Phelps, but don’t forget that others would also have to have an input apart from Phelps… - Also, the process for choosing would need to have already been approved by the Pitts School Board…. -Furthermore, as someone mentioned, Bern has extracurriculars, and, apart from Delta, is known as having the ability to give speaking parts (Gunther sweats just looking in the mirror, LOL!) and Rosa, though also academically successful, may not have as many extracurriculars and may be less inclined to speak.. and as we know, Bern has not been afraid to share her thoughts! – But most of all , as far as Pitts students go, she has appeared in the strip the second longest behind Luann, herself. So, I guess the most important process for selection and approval comes from Mr. Evans, himself!

Valedictorian is the student CHOSEN TO deliver the farewell speech, not necessarily the “best grades”, Rosa, Gunther, Delta and Bern could have ended all 4.0(or higher if they got extra curricular )……………. in some schools I have heard, they chose someone “out of the traditional box”, like the highest grade person involved in sports……. just like the Salutatorian is not always the traditional “second highest grade”, technically it is simply one chosen to do the beginning of the program where once it was a kid who during the holidays got shot while protecting someone else, and survived, and was able to come back to school about 2 or 3 months later

-From Wikipedia: -“Ms.” began to be used as early as the 17th Century, along with “Miss” and “Mrs.”, as a title derived from the then formal title “Mistress”, which, like “Mister” did not originally indicate marital status.- Sources cited by Wikipedia: Dale Spender, Man Made Language 1981 and Una Stannard, Mrs. Man 1977.

-Congrats to your son, and to your whole family. The son must have had a very good model to follow!

Not Delta?

PuzzleWhz- Just read your rhubarb rhubarb from yesterday— LOL!!! *And here I think Ms. Phelps is now considering Bern a “colleague in counseling”, so she does not feel that discussing students is improper.

About the bullying – it seems to me the assault was out of sight. Miss Phelps and Bernice just heard his voice.

Lowest achiever, not lowest passing grade point average.

Another way of saying Leslie is not the best human on the planet..And, yes, she SHOULD respond to his bullying, but that happens on panels 4 through 57. We only see bits and pieces.

Several years ago I noticed how excited and proud some parents were at Honors Night when their children were being recognized for all their achievements and how quiet others were whose children had achieved so little that was noteworthy..It occurred to me it might benefit next year’s freshmen to see a recording of the parents’ responses to motivate them to have parents with someone worthy of cheering..For some it would answer the question, “Why do I have to learn this?” with, “To make your family proud of you.”

Oh did you miss the strip where Ox was appointed hall monitor? I think it was because he detested bullies. And to “solve” a hall problem would be (in this case) to let Les know that he was being watched by Ox. Generally that’s enough to cow a bully. So don’t have a cow, RB.

Maybe Knute can be Pitts’ “Hysterian”?

And we need to not inflict the worse people on the better people.Bullies, thugs, criminals should not be in class with the other students. The safety of the non-probmem child should not be sacrificed to the idea that children should remain in school no matter the cost to others..The source of this “thinking” is tied to the fact that the unemployed and criminal high school dropouts are so common. Using false logic, legislators, at least one attorney general and at least one president believed dropping out of school created the antisocial and criminal behavior.It could logically just as well be that antisocial attitudes led to crime, antisocial behavior and dropping out of school..They could not understand why crime in schools rose with drop-out prevention programs..Legislators need better teachers or to listen to the ones they have.

Yes, “jail time is absolutely NOT the answer.”.Since jails are completely useless, we should open them all and release all the killers, rapists, thieves, vandals. .Yeah, right..If that response seems a.wee bit foolish, then while jails may not be THE answer to the problem, they are part of the answer until you can show the rest of us THE answer which does not include occassional physical restraint.

I see you think the rules anywhere are the rules everywhere.

Since we agree today, at least on the fact we don’t know what will happen next, I just thought I would mention it.Good job.We don’t know what we don’t know

For those interested, Greg gave a speech during the Reubens… and introduced Karen. bonus: He showed some pics and drawings, some background history of his life and growing up. Some pics, etc. (including early strips) never seen before! here it is!! Note: 35 min….

Didn’t Crystal convince Leslie the school had installed surveillance cameras?

To all my friends on Earth— My awareness indicates that Gunther will be the Salutatorian. I AM sure that he received excellent grades in all of his science & mathematics courses, but might have had a B+ in English or Social Studies… As far as the Leslie Knox character, he would be the most likely to receive his diploma about two hours before getting killed in a teenage drunken driving accident! Then again, most of my predictions never occur…

Oh, how I long for Graduation Night! I am as anxious to get it over as I was (in “reality”) upon May 28, 1970! I hope Quill & Luann get around to examining each other’s “private parts!”

Gawd, what a comic… It is very difficult to relate to this stuff anymore— my present “personality” is more suited to dwell in the universe of “Get Fuzzy” or “Piranha Club.” When I begin commenting upon “Pajama Diaries” and “Stone Soup,” I hope the men in white coats will take me away to a special residence where I will be wearing a snug-fitting jacket and living in a room with a lot of cushioning on the floor and walls!

Creativity… the “rivers of life”!

Not all lawsuits are won.Someone is always outraged.This doesn’t change the meaning of a word.By convention, the valedictorian has the highest GPA, usually by rules as well.But even GPA is flexible. The idea of a weighted GPA was once unheard of, the idea that an A in one class was worth more than 4.0 but only 4.0 in another. That changed for most. The unfairness of treating general math the same as calculus was just too obvious..What is more, quite often the qualities which earned a student highest GPA often made that student very uncomfortable with public speaking. I have suspected a few students of taking a dive on some tests to avoid being valedictorian so they would NOT have to speak to the public..A few years back the valedictorian’s address consisted mainly of saying, " I did TOO deserve to be valedictorian because I had the grades so the rest of you can just SHUT UP !!".I felt sorry for her, being valedictorian had meant everything to her and she was finding no joy in it..The salutorian also spoke. She had been slighty under the other but didn’t have a word of bitterness. She thanked the teachers for the four most wonderful years of her life, for their care, concern, love for the students, for the knowledge they had imparted. She spoke of the wonderful extracurricular activities which had enriched her life. She said, “goodbye, I love you.”.She wasn’t the valedictorian, but she actually gave the valedictory.

By the way, congratulationsYOU DONE GOOD

Left you a message (relating to today’s theme) from Sundiey…

“Chosen”? The valedictorian is the top-ranked student (by whatever exact system the school has defined)

They do not have a Val. here. They have a writing contest. The person with the elected best speech gets to read it on graduation day. They also do not rank kids.They keep it on the down low as there is too much pressure and competition already.

Yes, this. Valedictorian is the student with the highest GPA, end of story.

One can never brag too much when a son achieves such high accolade from so many people and organizations!!! My sincere congratulations to your son for all of his hard work and best wishes for his future! ;)

@brdshtt & @ IJBEI wanted to thank you two for your support in Saturday’s comments. Wish you could talk to my husband. I know he doesn’t really mean to be insensitive, but he often is. Still, I know he loves me and would be devastated if he lost me. I know this because I’ve had two close brushes with death and he was strong and supported me through it all, and when it was determined I was going to survive both the breast cancer and the uterine cancer, he cried like a baby in relief and admitted how scared he was of losing me. He is what he is, and I love him anyway. Just didn’t want you to think I was living with a bully, and I appreciate you two.

I agree!

Feds should book Phelps on her FERPA violation – “…Leslie Knox – the lowest…”

G’job