Mrs. Drazil

— "The New Teacher"

* Heitz
* McCauley
* Schick

**Mrs. Drazil** is a character in the *Wayside School* books. She does not appear in the cartoon. She was Louis's mean old teacher, and briefly substituted for Mrs. Jewls's class in *Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger*. While it appears she has grown kinder over the years, she still holds harsh grudges towards her old students, which leads to her hunting down old students who had misbehaved.

## Appearance

Mrs. Drazil is a sixty-six year old woman with white, formerly brown, hair. She wears glasses, and weighs one-hundred and twenty four pounds. She carries a large blue notebook with information on students that had misbehaved in the past.

## Personality

When Mrs. Drazil takes over as the substitute for Mrs. Jewls's class in "The New Teacher," she appears to be a kind and interesting teacher, often prioritizing the well-being of her students over herself, allowing them to criticize her if she gets too boring, ask her any questions they want to know, no matter how personal they may be, and actively blaming herself for any of her shortcomings. In "Why the Children Decided They Had to Get Rid of Mrs. Drazil," many admirable qualities are noted, including that she is nice, interesting, patient, fair, and a good chef. She admits that she had changed since the days she taught full-time, but admitted that she also believes kids might've been worse in the past. She appears to go sour a couple times when thinking about her old students, as seen when she observes the notebook in "The New Teacher," and when Sharie attempts taking her notebook in "A Light Bulb, a Pencil Sharpener, a Coffeepot, and a Sack of Potatoes."

Mrs. Drazil in the past, however, was a much more strict and bitter teacher, regularly paying close attention to the behavior of her students and punishing them if they stepped out of line. She would often check how clean the fingernails of her students are, and announce it to the class if they were dirty. If a student spoke out loud, the wastepaper basket would be placed over their head, and it would be left there for the entire day. Mrs. Drazil recounts misbehaved students in her notebook, including lists of their misdeeds and various assignments they could not finish. Louis recounts when Mrs. Drazil was like this in "She's Back!" and is still scared by her when meeting her again in "An Elephant in Wayside School."

As revealed in "An Elephant in Wayside School," Mrs. Drazil is not able to let go of old grudges, and quickly shifts back to her old personality when confronted with a bad student from her past. In "Mr. Poop," it is revealed that she forced Louis to shave his mustache, and clean up his act, becoming a much more strict playground supervisor under the alias "Mr. Louis." Mrs. Drazil appreciates the new Louis, thinking that he's making a good effort at bettering himself, though none of the students seem to agree. It is shown in "Jane Smith" that Mrs. Drazil is willing to go to extreme measures to track down her old students, following her old student, Dr. Jane Payne home, breaking into her house, and chasing her into the woods, never to be seen again.

## Relationships

### Louis

When Louis first speaks of Mrs. Drazil in "She's Back!," he is seen to dislike and fear her, recounting that she was a strict teacher, regularly berating and humiliating him when he misbehaved in class. According to Louis, she would place the wastepaper basket over his head whenever he talked in class, openly tell other students when he had dirty fingernails, and make him put gum on his nose whenever he chewed it in class.

When the two meet again in "An Elephant in Wayside School", it is revealed that Mrs. Drazil has held a grudge on Louis for fifteen years, quickly demanding he finishes a homework assignment he failed to finish years ago, criticizing the hygiene of his fingernails, and placing the wastepaper basket over his head again for making a snide comment. She makes Louis shave his mustache, and become the much more strict and less fun Mr. Louis. She compliments Louis's attempts to improve in "Mr. Poop," but this brings her the ire of Mrs. Jewls's class. In "The Blue Notebook," however, it is revealed that Louis was frequently mean to Mrs. Drazil when he was in her class, something Louis appeared to hide from the students when he told them about her. When they found this out, they had to admit that they couldn't blame her too much for being upset with him. When Mrs. Drazil leaves Wayside School, Louis calms down and becomes more nice.

### Dr. Jane Payne

    One student Mrs. Drazil had that was worse than Louis was Dr. Jane Payne, known at the time as Jane Smith. In "The Blue Notebook," Deedee rediscovers an old letter written by Dr. Payne from twenty-six years ago before moving away, frequently insulting Mrs. Drazil. As well as this, it is revealed that Dr. Payne failed to complete her previous twelve homework assignments. When Jason and Deedee reveal Dr. Payne's current location to Mrs. Drazil in "Jane Smith," Mrs. Drazil immediately follows her to her house, using a ladder to break in above the surrounding wall and tell her that she has homework to do. Jane, prepared for precisely that situation, tries to make a quick escape, while lambasting her husband and butler for letting her in. As the two disappear into the wilderness, Dr. Payne tells Mrs. Drazil to "rub a monkey's tummy with her head." The two are never heard from again.

### Mrs. Jewls's class

When Mrs. Drazil first takes over for Mrs. Jewls's class, the students seem to hold a positive opinion of her, though Deedee, recognizing her name, is suspicious of her. Between the time she taught Louis and the present day, it is revealed she loosened up as a teacher, and when substituting, she tries to make class fun for the students, performing science fun science experiments to break up a boring lesson in "A Light Bulb, a Pencil Sharpener, a Coffeepot, and a Sack of Potatoes," and actively letting the students tell her when she isn't teaching well. In "Why the Children Decided They Had to Get Rid of Mrs. Drazil," it is revealed she has many memorable qualities to the class, including being kind, patient, and a good chef. However, the students of Mrs. Jewls's class hold spite towards Mrs. Drazil, since she made Louis shave his mustache and become strict, so they instead plot to get rid of her, something they successfully achieve in "Jane Smith." While Mrs. Drazil is usually kind to Mrs. Jewls's class, she briefly snaps at Sharie in "A Light Bulb, a Pencil Sharpener, a Coffeepot, and a Sack of Potatoes" when she tries to steal her notebook.

## Appearances

Mrs. Drazil appears in nine chapters. Major appearances are listed in **bold**.

* "**She's Back!**" (mentioned)
* "**The New Teacher**"
* "**A Light Bulb, a Pencil Sharpener, a Coffeepot, and a Sack of Potatoes**"
* "**An Elephant in Wayside School**"
* "Mr. Poop"
* "**Why the Children Decided They Had to Get Rid of Mrs. Drazil**"
* "**The Blue Notebook**"
* "Elevators"
* "**Jane Smith**"

## Trivia

* Mrs. Drazil is not from Brazil. She was actually born "not too far" from Wayside School.
* As of "Jane Smith," Mrs. Drazil has "never seen again." Whether she is alive or not is unknown.
* As a substitute teacher, Mrs. Drazil makes fifty-one dollars and eighteen cents a day when she teaches.
* She has kissed thirty-one men in her life.
* Mrs. Drazil has never been to jail, and the police are not after her, as of "The New Teacher."
* Strangely, while she never appears in the cartoon, her role in the books seems to be frequently referenced, with Mr. Osteo appearing as Louis's old teacher in "Louis Gets Some Class," and "Oh, Brother" featuring a similar plot of teachers hunting down old, misbehaved students.
* Her name is "Lizard" spelled backwards. This parallels Mrs. Gorf and later Mr. Gorf, whose last names spell out "frog" backwards, and is later paralleled by Miss Wendy Nogard, whose last name spells out "dragon" backwards.
* Mrs. Drazil is only substitute teacher in *Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger* that Mrs. Jewls was never confirmed to have met.

### Other designs

Peter Allen design (British edition, 2004)Unknown illustrator (Simplified Chinese edition, 2012)
## References

1. ↑ "The New Teacher"