four-o’clock club

Brandywine High School, or rather its parent Alfred I. DuPont School District, was rather hoity-toity when I attended.
Alfred I. was one of those tiny northern Delaware school districts challenged by phenomenal growth after the war — incredible suburban expansion along with the baby-boom.
In fact, at first I think it was only one school, the old building on Concord Pike. But when we moved there Faulk Road Elementary was already built, and Springer Junior High was a-building.
I only attended the old school on Concord Pike one day, the last day before Christmas vacation in 1957. Springer was supposed to open with the new year.
Many of the old scions of my class were there, who had been together since kindergarten. This included class Cinderella Janet Cline, and her boyfriend-for-life Bob Johnson (Johnson was an end on the BHS football-team in my senior year — he often caught bombs that won a game). Janet was the only child of esteemed Russell Cline, head of the Alfred I. school-board.
Cline was the main reason the district was hoity-toity. He was particularly thrilled so many DuPont engineers were moving into the district; attracted by the torrent of burgeoning developments (like Oak Lane Manor).
(Brandywine opened in 1959. The first months of my ninth-grade were at Springer. But after that, BHS — so that my grades 9-12 were at BHS. [After us, grade-nine was at Springer.])
-Brandywine used to brag about how many graduates went on to college. 77 percent they trumpeted. No mention that many of those would-be collegians flunked out of the University of Delaware.
At that time any Delaware high-school graduate was guaranteed matriculation at UofD. UofD would then ladle on the college courses, flunking out a large majority of the freshman class after the first semester.
So 77% was an aberration. A better gauge would have been how many actually graduated college. I bet Mount Pleasant would have done better (Mount Pleasant was our rival).
-(BHS also had a huge honor-society. Once they lined all the members on the BHS-stage to induct the newbies. They took up the entire stage — there weren’t many of us “losers” in the auditorium-seats.
Ahem; one wonders about the standards that determined membership in the Honor-society. It was like the school wanted it to be huge, and made it so.)
-BHS also didn’t have “detention.” Actually they did, but it wasn’t called “detention.” (BHS was supposed to be better than that......)
It was called “the four-o’clock club.”
I only got sent to “the four-o’clock club” once. Many were regulars: Buddy Haley and most of the shop-boys. (Buddy Haley [‘61] was a star football-player. He lost his college sports scholarship when he got a BHS cheerleader pregnant.)
The four-o’clock club was run by a tiny Adolf-Hitler wannabee named Frank Ellis. Mr. Ellis had straight blond hair, but was as much a thug as those attending his club.
Ellis particularly enjoyed capricious dictatorial rule, especially belittling those he ruled.
Ellis is probably dead — he was in his 40s then. One wonders about Buddy Haley. He joined the Talleyville Fire Company, primarily to participate in its drinking-binges, and helped torch Smith’s covered bridge.
I wonder if he survived Vietnam?