How to Draw Wayside School Characters

The Wayside School books and cartoon feature a large number of different characters. This is a list of all the characters seen in both series.

1 Books
- 1.1 Mrs. Jewls's class
- 1.2 Faculty staff
  - 1.2.1 Substitute teachers
- 1.3 Recurring characters
- 1.4 Minor and one-off characters
2 Cartoon
- 2.1 Main characters
- 2.2 Major faculty
- 2.3 Mrs. Jewls's class
- 2.4 Recurring characters
- 2.5 Minor and one-off characters

Books

Mrs. Jewls's class

While Wayside School has no set main cast, Mrs. Jewls and the students in her class make up for most of the major characters in the series. The main twenty-eight students are listed by the order of their debut.

Name	Image	Description
Mrs. Jewls		The teacher of the thirtieth story of Wayside School. She joined the class after Mrs. Gorf was transformed into an apple and eaten. She is usually a nice teacher, but occasionally has abnormal styles of teaching.
Joe		A student with curly hair who is best friends with John. He is seen to have many talents he is unaware of, and is especially a good mathematician, though often his methods of completing math are unusual.
John		John is a smart kid with a round head, though he could only read words written upside-down before getting his brain flipped. He is friends with Joe, but enjoys teasing Dana.
Todd		Todd is a kid who while well-behaved, usually gets in trouble, as he was the first kid to accidentally speak out loud in class. Despite often getting in trouble, he loves his class and his school, and generally has an optimistic personality.
Stephen		Stephen is a student who often enjoys being perceived as important by his classmates. He often shows up to class wearing strange outfits, much to the amusement of his classmates.
Kathy		Kathy was originally a mean and self-absorbed student, who adopted a pessimistic attitude to always be "right." However, after a visit with Dr. Pickell, her personality radically changed, making her extremely kind.
Paul		An inattentive kid who never focuses on anything other than Leslie's pigtails. He enjoys pulling Leslie's pigtails frequently, even though he knows it is wrong.
Mac		While he originally was shy due to his embarassing name, he ended up trading it away, and afterwards, became an energetic and excitable student who always tells long stories, usually unrelated to the subject in class.
Terrence		Described as a "good athlete, but a bad sport," Terrence is a schoolyard bully who often punts balls over the fence and insults others in rhyme.
Maurecia		An honest and sweet girl with a strong love for ice cream. She is well-liked by her classmates for her agreeable personality, but she is best friends with the often rude Joy.
Eric Fry		A tall, fat, and extremely athletic student who rarely gets acknowledged for his skill due to the fact he shares a name with two inathletic students. As a result, he is usually grouchy and mean.
Eric Bacon		A short, skinny student who is often thought to be fat because his name is shared with two other fat students. As a result, he is usually mean, and often seems to enjoy goofing off.
Eric Ovens		A short, fat student who is usually kind and treats everyone else equally, but is never acknowledged for that since he shares his name with two mean students.
Jenny		An extroverted and fairly athletic student who often shows up late to class. She seems to often work for the wellbeing of her classmates, though often is insistent on doing things her own way.
Calvin		A friendly student who often works to help out others in his class. He often takes things at face values, assuming drawing more pictures makes more art, and getting a potato tattoo simply because he likes potatoes.
Allison		One of the most rational students in Mrs. Jewls's class who often struggles with the oddities of her school. While often kind and helpful, she is quick to judge anyone who is annoying her.
Jason		A student with a big mouth, both figuratively and literally, he often is quick to speak his mind, regardless of how others feel. As a result, he usually winds up getting himself in trouble.
Joy		Although she is a kleptomaniac troublemaker, she is able to keep herself out of trouble, as she regularly knows how to appear well-behaved. She is best friends with the sweet and honest Maurecia.
Sharie		A girl who wears a large coat and spends most of her time asleep in class. While she is rarely seen awake, she is shown to have a surprising amount of energy when she is.
Leslie		A clever girl with long pigtails that are regularly pulled by Paul. Although she is often good at solving a number of problems, she also endures a lot, and easily gets fed up with it.
Dameon		A boy who often is sent to run up and down the many stairs of Wayside School. He is usually friendly and helpful, but enjoys helping Mrs. Jewls the most because he has a crush on her.
Bebe Gunn		A skilled artist who is able to draw a lot of art very quickly, and whose creative mind is often able to get herself out of the trouble she regularly causes.
Myron		A kind, intelligent, and honest student who was elected class president, but knocked down after spending too long helping out Dana. He traded his safety for freedom, but still rarely gets in trouble since he is well-behaved.
Dana		A student who has difficulty controlling her emotions, something that leads to her being teased by John. She often has trouble recognizing her own feelings.
Deedee		An athletic and energetic student who is often competitive, but also serves as a skilled problem-solver that is able to help out the class when she needs to.
Ron		A kid who enjoys playing kickball, but isn't particularly good at it. Although he isn't particularly athletic, he doesn't mind, as long as he has fun, though this means he's rarely picked on teams.
D.J.		A student with a large smile that often cheers up his many classmates as well. He is wise, and usually doesn't need anything to feel happy, though occasionally can be saddened by small things.
Rondi		A girl who often worries what others think about her, especially due to the fact that she most often gets acknowledged for what she doesn't have. She is often easily pushed around to be more agreeable.
Benjamin Nushmutt		A new student who joins the class in Wayside School Is Falling Down, he is mistakenly referred to as "Mark Miller" by his classmates, but he is too timid to correct them for a long time, worrying others won't like him anymore if he does.
Sue		A kid exclusive to the Sideways Arithmetic series who joined the class, only to be confronted with the difficulty of Wayside School's work. She acts as the audience surrogate in the spin-off series.
Sammy		A rude new kid who snuck into Mrs. Jewls's class one day wearing far too many smelly raincoats. When all the coats are removed, he turns out to actually be a dead rat.

Faculty staff

Most of the other major characters in Wayside School are members of the school's faculty staff.

Name	Image	Description
Louis		The school's "Yard Teacher," who supervises the students during recess and makes sure they don't kill each other during lunch. He often helps the students with their problems, while also playing with them while he can. He is based on the author, Louis Sachar, and wrote the books in-universe.
Mr. Kidswatter		The school's principal, who heavily dislikes the students and wants nothing to do with them. He is easily frustrated and irrational, often making spur-of-the-moment decisions with heavy logical holes in them.
Mrs. Gorf		The original teacher of the thirtieth story, who was mean, bitter, and hated children. She has the ability to turn kids into apples, but eventually was turned into an apple herself, and eaten by Louis. However, she still haunts her former students as well as their new teacher, Mrs. Jewls, after her death.
Miss Zarves		The teacher of the nineteenth story. There is no nineteenth story. There is no Miss Zarves. Sorry.
Miss Mush		The school's lunch lady. While her meals range from strange to disgusting, she is genuinely nice, knowing the names of all the students and helping them when she can.
Mr. Pepperadder		Miss Mush's assistant, who is no better a cook than she is. He is seen periodically helping her with her meals and other chores around the kitchen.
Dr. Pickell		The school's counselor, who was formerly a psychiatrist until he got caught pulling weird tricks on his patients. He uses hypnosis to effectively cure patients, while also sometimes making them start other ridiculous behaviors.
Mrs. Surlaw		The school's librarian, who is said to be severe on the outside, but genuinely soft, much like the walrus plush in her room. She sorts the books in the library only by their number of pages.
Mrs. Waloosh		The school's eccentric and energetic dance teacher, who speaks with a thick German accent and holds painful, yet exciting classes.
Miss Worm		The teacher of Wayside School's twenty-ninth story, who doesn't understand Mrs. Jewls's sideways arithmetic and is annoyed by how noisy and excited her class gets.
Mrs. Day	N/A	The school's secretary, who appears to be a more rational and level-headed foil to Mr. Kidswatter.

Substitute teachers

Characters that have substituted for Mrs. Jewls's class at some point or another.

Name	Image	Description
Mrs. Franklin		A friendly teacher who teaches the class in "The Substitute." The rest of the class tries to prank her, by stating that their names are all Benjamin, but ultimately it doesn't bother her, and she ends up teaching the students a surprising amount.
Mr. Gorf		The son of Mrs. Gorf, he swears revenge on Mrs. Jewls's class after learning what happened to his mother, and does so by stealing their voices through his third nostril.
Mrs. Drazil		A substitute who takes over after Mr. Gorf, and appears to be kind, but turns out to hold intense grudges towards old, misbehaved students, which includes Louis.
Miss Wendy Nogard		A substitute teacher with a third ear that hears thoughts. While initially kind, her heart was broken by Xavier Dalton, causing her to become bitter, using her ability to turn people against each other.

Recurring characters

Other characters that appear in multiple chapters with major roles, including students in other classrooms and other adult figures.

Name	Image	Description
The men with the attaché case		Three mysterious men who show up once in every main Wayside School book. They appear to be all-powerful and even omnipotent, knowing minor details of the lives of the people they encounter.
Nancy		A girl who initially had an embarassing name before trading it with Mac. She attends class on the twenty-third story of Wayside School, and is currently Mac's girlfriend.
Mr. Jewls	N/A	Mrs. Jewls's husband, and Mavis Jewls's father. He has never been seen in any of the books, but is mentioned in a few chapters, such as "Science, Geography, Etc.," "Bebe's Baby Brother," and "Love and a Dead Rat."
Ray Gunn		A character who originates as Bebe Gunn's seemingly imaginary, troublesome brother, he returns later on as a student in Miss Zarves's classroom.
Oddly		A bird befriended by Myron in "Freedom," that inspires him to search for freedom himself. He eventually finds D.J.'s watch in "Kathy and D.J.."
Virginia		A woman who has been in Miss Zarves's class for thirty-two years. She seems blissful about the whole event, stating that she's never too old to learn.
Nick		A student in Miss Zarves's class who has been in it for at least nine years. According to Allison, he looks old enough to be in high school.
Mark Miller	N/A	A student in Miss Zarves's class who everyone believes is named Benjamin Nushmutt. He is the only student left in the class who appears to be rational, and helps Allison in her escape. Eventually, it appears he escaped himself.
Cows		Due to Mrs. Jewls's cowbell carrying soundwaves throughout the air, she ends up attracting several cows, which lead to Wayside School being closed for 243 days. Louis is left to get rid of the cows while the school is closed.
Dr. Jane Payne		Jason's dentist, and a long-time enemy of Mrs. Drazil. She is a rude and greedy woman, who cares more about the money she makes than the wellbeing of her patients, but is never heard from again after being tracked down by Mrs. Drazil.

Minor and one-off characters

These characters only appear in one chapter, or are otherwise minor enough to be placed in this section, albeit major enough to get their own page. Characters less significant than these are placed in the list of minor Wayside School characters.

Name	Image	Description
Robbers		Two robbers that walk into Mrs. Jewls's class, threatening to steal their money with guns. They are unaware they are in a school, and not a bank, and give up their life of crime when Todd hands them Joy's workbook.
Jenny's father		Jenny's unnamed father who periodically has to carry her to school on the back of his motorcycle.
Mrs. Gunn		Bebe Gunn's mother. She is contacted by Mrs. Jewls at the end of "Bebe's Baby Brother" about Ray Gunn. She seems to be aware that her daughter is a troublemaker, but doesn't know who Ray is at all.
Hobo Bob		A hobo that Sharie brings in for show-and-tell. He is kind towards children, and tells Mrs. Jewls's class about his life as a hobo, but holds an intense superstition regarding socks.
Mr. Finch		A kind old man whose life savings are rediscovered by Maurecia. He used to create pencils for a living, but decided to open an ice cream parlor after making enough money.
Ralphie		Todd's baby brother, who he brings in in "Pet Day." Mrs. Jewls tries telling him that a baby isn't a pet, but Todd simply assures he doesn't bite.
David		Mr. Kidswatter's chauffeur. For unknown reasons, Mr. Kidswatter believes his name is James.
Patient		A patient of Dr. Pickell before he stopped working as a psychiatrist. She used to have a smoking addiction, but gave it up when Dr. Pickell convinced her that every cigarette she tries to smoke is a worm. Now, instead, she slaps her husband, Fred, in the face whenever he says "potato."
Paul's father	N/A	Paul's unnamed father who works at a museum, guarding the famous Mona Lisa. He isn't allowed to touch the painting, but has trouble resisting his urges to.
Scottish gentleman	N/A	A man whose voice was stolen by Mr. Gorf twenty years ago to make him sound more presentable. After getting his voice back, he greets his wife for the first time in a long time.
Miss Zarves's cow		A cow that unexpectedly joins Miss Zarves's class starting in "Time Out." It regularly interrupts class, and nearly causes Miss Zarves to quit. It has possibly been removed by The men with the attaché case.
Sham Payne	N/A	Dr. Jane Payne's husband, who loves money more than he loves his own wife, something he and Jane fortunately have in common. He ends up letting in Mrs. Drazil, who chases Jane into the woods, never to be seen again.
Xavier Dalton		Miss Wendy Nogard's ex-boyfriend, who ditched her after learning about her third ear. While he has tried to hook up with many women since, he has failed, since he still, unbeknownst to himself, loves Wendy more.
Justin	N/A	Jason's more successful, older brother in high school. Jason is regularly annoyed by how popular Justin is, and Miss Nogard torments Jason by referring to him as "Justin" instead.
Howard Speed		A fictional character created by Mac to explain the origin of the shoelace. He was apparently the fastest runner who ever lived, but regularly ran out of his shoes because he lived before the invention of the shoelace, and couldn't get Velcro, since Velcro is native to Australia, and he is African.
Mavis Jewls		Mrs. Jewls's baby daughter, brought into the class a few days after she was born. Since she doesn't think in words, only pure thoughts and love and trust, she ultimately ends up breaking away all the hatred and bitterness that clogged Miss Wendy Nogard's heart.

Cartoon

Main characters

In the cartoon, four students in Mrs. Jewls's class make up the main cast, listed below.

Name	Image	Description
Todd		As the new kid at Wayside School, he struggles a lot in understanding the strangeness of the world around him and his abnormal classmates. His unfamiliarity leads to him frequently getting in trouble, and getting him sent home on the kindergarten bus.
Maurecia		A tomboyish, athletic girl in roller skates who holds a fierce crush on Todd, but only ever expresses it by punching him. She is often competitive, and likes to live an action-packed life.
Myron		An overzealous, unintelligent, and dishonest student whose main goal in life is to become the class president of Mrs. Jewls's class. He regularly hatches schemes in an attempt to get more power.
Dana		A studious and organized, albeit easily amused student who knows all the rules and ropes of Wayside School. She helps Todd adapt to his surroundings, and serves as Myron's campaign manager.

Major faculty

In addition, four members of the school's faculty staff often serve as major characters in this show. They are listed below.

Name	Image	Description
Mrs. Jewls		A long-time teacher of her class on the thirtieth story, Mrs. Jewls is a teacher almost as strange as the school itself, and her baffling teaching styles usually end up confusing Todd.
Mr. Kidswatter		The school's paranoid and perplexing principal, who dislikes the students but cares about his popularity among them a lot. He is often irrational, and quick to jump to conclusions.
Miss Mush		A strange woman from the distant Mamaland, whose cultures and meals are oftentime disgusting, even if she generally gets along with all of the students.
Louis		The school's part-time playground supervisor, janitor, and cow caretaker, Louis is a laid-back and agreeable figure who often acts as a foil to Mr. Kidswatter.

Mrs. Jewls's class

Unlike the books, where most of the members of Mrs. Jewls's class are treated as major characters, most of the class in the cartoon acts as secondary or minor characters. The students that fulfill this role are listed below.

Name	Image	Description
Jenny		A fierce daredevil and the best friend of Maurecia, who often spends her time riding her bike in the halls and living life to the extreme.
Stephen		A quirky boy with a love of Wayside School, Halloween, and all things spooky. He shows up to class every day in his elf Halloween costume.
Eric Fry		A tall, athletic student who is best friends with the other two Erics. He is occasionally shown to be a bit dishonest, however.
Eric Bacon		A small, skinny student who is best friends with the other two Erics. Since he is so small, he occasionally worries that no one notices him.
Eric Ovens		A fat student who is best friends with the other two Erics. He generally has a friendly and agreeable personality, but is especially close to his friends.
John		A kid who is almost always seen standing on his head. While smart, he worries he can not achieve much due to his upside-down position.
Shari		A girl wearing a hoodie who spends most of her time in the class asleep. When she is awake, she is shown to live an exciting life.
Bebe		An extremely artistic student who can create masterpieces in a matter of seconds. She usually remains silent and stoic.
Joe		A boy with a large, curly afro and a strong afinity for nature. He is stern and often deflects criticisms aimed at him.
Leslie		A girl with long pigtails who is usually seen with a grumpy expression on her face.
Rondi		A reckless girl with large teeth and an even larger smile.
Elizabeth		A girl who is part of the class, but doesn't have any defining character traits.

Recurring characters

Name	Image	Description
Fluffy		Maurecia's pet porcupine, who holds undying affection towards his owner, but a fierce hatred towards her crush, Todd.
Cows		Animals that roam the halls of Wayside School. Occasionally they block the path of students, and they can even be destructive from time to time, but they at least provide milk for the cafeteria.
Sammy		A dead rat, and companion to Miss Mush. The students seem to like and celebrate Sammy, even though he can't do anything, because he's dead.
Geography teacher		The teacher of the fourteenth story at Wayside School. He has traveled the world, and often holds long, winding conversations about the many safaris and expeditions he has been on.
English teacher		The teacher of the seventeenth story's classroom, which is unfortunately built much too short. As a result, students in his class often end up hurting their hands when they try to raise them.
Roger		The teacher of the science department on the sixteenth story of Wayside School. After eating the Mushroom Surprise, he fell in love with a cactus, which hurts him whenever he kisses it.
Kindergarten teacher		The teacher of the kindergarten class at Wayside School. While little about her is known, she is seen assigning the kindergarteners to finger paint with applesauce in "Mrs. Gorf."
Kindergarteners		The kindergarten class of Wayside School. They are small, weird, and frankly slightly terrifying, holding an undying loyalty to their stuffed animals and whoever protects them.
Gym teacher		The gym teacher of Wayside School. He seems to frequently teach many unconventional sports, such as "fruitball."
Oi Oi Oi Dumbells		Mamaland's premiere tetherball and dance team, and the main rivals of Wayside School as seen in "Mascot Madness" and "Mad Hot."
Dimitri		The mascot for the Oi Oi Oi Dumbells in "Mascot Madness," and later their dance team captain in "Mad Hot." In "Mascot Madness," he has a giant head.
Wildlife		The wildlife that lives around Wayside School, consisting of rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, and gophers. When their habitat is destroyed in "Joe n' Fro," they take residence inside Joe's afro.
Le Chef		A rude French chef who used to cook for the school's teachers' lounge. While his cooking is divine, he isn't very nice, making him the opposite of Miss Mush.
Le Chef's duck		Le Chef's pet duck who assists him with delivering food, as well as delivering letters to Mr. Kidswatter after he was fired.
Nick		A student who appears in many stories told by the students at Wayside School. Todd doesn't believe he exists, but eventually he is proved to actually be Louis, going by his middle name.

Minor and one-off characters

Name	Image	Description
Poobinski		An octopus that Miss Mush frequently chases around that ate the entire sixteenth century of her family archives, and according to Miss Mush, belongs in a stew pot.
Mrs. Bellamy		A cow that wandered into Mrs. Jewls's class and was mistaken for a substitute teacher. Despite being just a cow, she inspired the students to live better lives, at least until Mrs. Jewls returned.
King Arthur		Todd's old pet fish, who unfortunately died fairly quickly causing Todd to believe he's an irresponsible pet owner. Despite this, his ghost informs Todd that he is just fine, as pet fish rarely last long anyway.
King Arthur II		An ugly fish owned by Miss Mush that eventually served as Todd's new pet fish.
Glow Guppies		Cute fish with a devastating electrical shock that are accidentally let into Mrs. Jewls's class during her aquarium field trip.
Ivil Kisseau		A dance teacher from Mamaland who coaches the Oi Oi Oi Dumbells in "Mad Hot." She apparently dated Mr. Kidswatter at some point, but after dumping him for a samba-loving Swede in Budapest, the two hold a fierce rivalry.
Papa Jewls		Mrs. Jewls's father, as revealed in "Teacher's Parent Conference." He works in a circus, and frequently throws performances for whoever is nearby, but when Todd gives Mrs. Jewls a bad grade on her report card, threatens to take Mrs. Jewls out of Wayside and have her teach at a private school. He bears a resemblance to Popeye.
La Boca Loca		The one bull Mr. Kidswatter couldn't ever defeat during his days as a bullfighter. La Boca Loca's defeat of Mr. Kidswatter eventually became a holiday, which causes Mr. Kidswatter to fall into an annual depression when it happens.
Mr. Osteo		Louis's old teacher, who taught "survival" at Wayside School. He is brought back for Louis's final exam, which consists of Louis running a tough obstacle course while answering trivia questions.
Principals		A number of principals wearing identical wigs that Mr. Kidswatter hopes to impress in "My Fluffy Hair" and "The Final Stretch."
Miss Zarves		The non-existent teacher of Wayside School's non-existent nineteenth story. While she doesn't exist, she was able to sign Nick's cast after he left the room.
Lion		A lion that Mr. Kidswatter tries to tame in "Safety Monitor" that eventually wanders into Mrs. Jewls's class. He is eventually revealed to be sophisticated and doesn't like being tamed by an amateur like Kidswatter.
School district supervisor		The supervisor of the district Wayside School is in, and Mr. Kidswatter's boss. He keeps money in a pot of gold, which Kidswatter tries to steal, but often messes with Kidswatter in response.
Stewart Palanski		Usually just shortened to Stewy, he is an octopus exchange student from Mamaland who works with Miss Mush to learn cooking. The students try to free him when they think Miss Mush wants to cook him.
Goon		Dana's older brother, who is wanted by Mrs. Jewls for a homework assignment he forgot long ago. Myron thinks he's a cool rebel, but he's actually a calm, soft-spoken man who loves croquet and missed the assignment due to a croquet tournament at the same time.
Mr. Invisible		Stephen's invisible friend, who solves mysteries with him when he's not occupied with schoolwork.