Mifflin Elementary School Children

..... aka “Those Pearl Street Kids”

(Truth and Consequences re-visited)

Mifflin Elementary School on Pearl Street

Second grade was uneventful.  Third grade was memorable only because I could not believe a teacher could be so grumpy and take all the fun out of learning.  I just kept my head down and eventually got to fourth grade and Miss Valudes.  She was the kind of teacher we all dream about.  She made everything fun and made you feel your efforts were the best she had ever seen.  It was that way with all of her students.  She was also Greek, so it was exciting to meet someone who was different from everyone I knew.  I loved hearing about her life.

In fourth grade, I received the honor of becoming a member of the safety patrol.  We wore white belts with a sash and a badge!  The only thing better would have been a cape and a horse!  We were in charge of seeing children safely across the busy intersection when they came to school and when they left.  A special unit of the safety patrol was also put in charge of the intersection at noon when the morning Kindergarteners left and the afternoon Kindergarteners arrived.  We actually walked many blocks to school by ourselves back then, even the five year olds!  I became a member of this special unit and was I proud! 

One day one of my classmates asked if he could take my shift that day at noon, as he would not be there the next day when he was scheduled.  I switched days with him and went about my school day.  At approximately one o’clock I was called into the hall by the principal.  She asked me why I had abandoned my duty as safety patrol a noon.  There was only one student each day so that meant the intersection was not covered.  I explained that Jimmy had traded days with me and that he should have been there.  She said, “We’ll see about that” and left to get Jimmy. 

When she returned with him, I was not worried at all.  I believed he would clear everything up.   However, to my surprise he said we had not changed days; that I was lying.  I was shocked.  I reminded him of our discussion but he insisted it had never happened.  It became clear that the principal believed Jimmy and not me.  I could not understand why she thought I was lying.  Didn’t she know I could not lie?  I was stripped of my belt and my badge on the spot.  I was in shock.  I returned to class and Miss V asked me what had happened.  I told her and she left the room to talk to the principal.  She returned with a sad, and somehow angry look on her face.  She said there was nothing she could do.  I did not care, though, because the next thing she said took the sting out of the incident.  She said, “I believe you.  You would not lie about a thing like this.”  I also figured that Jimmy must have had a good reason for lying.  Maybe there was more than one “Mrs. Crazy.” 

Later that week I overheard my parents talking about the incident.  I could not hear exactly what they were saying, but I did hear the phrase “Pearl Street kids” a couple of times.  I had no idea what this meant until I entered fifth grade at a new school.

Me in 2nd Grade

3rd Grade (I think this is the only time the teacher smiled all year)

Fourth Grade

The house where I grew up on Ruby Street

My First Grade Teacher was a Genius!

I don’t even remember my first grade teacher’s name but I do remember that she was brilliant!  I had not gone to Kindergarten, as there was no Kindergarten class where we had lived.  Looking back, I believe I didn’t go because my mom couldn’t let me go.  However, that’s OK.  I had Miss Francis, Zorro, and Lucille Ball to teach me about life.

Anyway, when I got to first grade I was absolutely thrilled.  School was so great.  There were books, other kids, art supplies, and a water fountain!  I read my report card from first grade the other day.  The teacher comments went from “Karen is really enjoying school and participates in all subject areas” to “Karen needs to talk less” and finally to “I am wondering if Karen wants to go to second grade.”  I must have driven her nuts!  However, half way through the year she discovered my great imagination and put my non-stop talking to good use.  I was put in charge of a daily puppet show for the Kindergarten classes.  I played all the parts, wrote the script, and performed my original stories with glee.  I didn’t really write a script, I did what I now know is “improvisation.”  I let the kids’ reactions dictate where the story went.  I was a future storyteller in the making!

School then became a joy for both of us.  I looked forward to school every day.  Every part of it was an adventure.  I did not, however, look forward to lunchtime.  The food they served in the lunchroom was a little too adventurous for me.  I was the quintessential picky eater.  I found a way around this by leaving school, walking home and making myself a couple of pieces of molasses bread with white Wonder Bread and King Syrup. 

I did this every day until one day my mom came home unexpectedly from work and found me standing on the counter reaching for the can of King Syrup. She asked me why I was at home.  “I don’t know” had, as I said, become unacceptable so I said I had come home to get my jump rope.  As soon as I said it, I realized the flaw in this story; we did not keep jump ropes in the food cabinet with the King Syrup.  

She sat me down and asked me to explain.  I told her I did not like the food in the lunchroom so I came home every day.  She asked me what I had done with the quarter she had given me every day for lunch.  I told her I gave it to someone else each day before I left.  So, she marched me back to school and paid in advance for my lunches and ordered me to never leave school again and for goodness sake at least try the food.  It turned out that some of the food was pretty good, but some of it was really gross.  Remember, “Spiced apple rings?”  Apples formed into perfectly round segments with a hole in the middle that were dyed bright red.  I don’t think anyone ever ate them.  All of them are probably still intact in a landfill somewhere. 

I made it through first grade and did move on to second grade due to the efforts of that great teacher.  However, with second grade came a move to a different town.  Just when I had the whole school thing figured out everything changed.  But that’s what makes life exciting and teaches us the things we need to learn.  :-)