Taken aback but not mute
Mrs. Poindexter was shocked with an earring incident. This little and - frankly speaking – not really important problem could ruin the fund-raising campaign . Although it was unfair to blame Liza so much , she could not help herself. The headmistress couldn’t even put her disappointment into wo rds. She said, “ Words fail me!” The irony of it is that after these words, she “ somehow managed to continue ” her endless lecture on responsibility and proved that words couldn’t really fail her even in a critical situation. Liza, who would probably be happy if her headmistress lost her ability to scold, found the situation strangely funny.
A TV court
Indeed, a school hearing could be a serious and important event , but one hardly would insist on turning a simple meeting into a TV court. As soon as Liza enters a room where the council meeting is usually held, she sees the absurdity of the situation. Looking at the surrounding, Sally says “ it’s like a TV court ”. The irony of her words is that this hearing is really like a TV court. Everyone understands the stupidity of the problem, but stick to their roles and behave as if this incident is a major crime nonetheless
A math brain
Although Mary Lou helped Mrs. Poindexter a lot, the latter didn’t trust her enough to take care of financial record or might never consider her capable to take care of council’s financial record . She “ kept the little money council had locked up in her office safe ”. According to Liza, the irony of this situation was that "Mary Lou was a math brain", and could do better than Mrs. Poindexter.