Life at Lafayette Elementary

The World according to Mrs. W

I entered fifth grade at Lafayette Elementary School as Mifflin only went to fourth grade.  There were many more students, a bigger, school and many attitudes that were a mystery to me.  My fifth grade teacher seemed to take an immediate dislike to me.  I was not worried though.  Mrs. V had convinced me I was a great student and a great person.  Mrs. W would realize this eventually.

After a few months, though, I got worried.  Mrs. W regularly seemed to intentionally embarrass me.  I dismissed this idea immediately.  I believed no teacher would do such a thing.  I was probably being too sensitive.  I sat beside a little girl who never talked and struggled with everything.  I now realize that I was seated on the “stupid” side of the classroom.  It turns out that Miss V thought I was quite smart so she had insisted that I be placed in Mrs. W’s classroom.  Mrs. W did not agree for reasons you will hear later. 

I discovered that this girl loved to read too.  She and I would talk about books and stories we liked, including our favorite parts.  Pippi Longstocking was a definite favorite.  When it came time to do book reports, my friend panicked.  It seems that she knew what she wanted to say, but she could not get it down onto paper.  I immediately thought of a solution.  She would tell me what to write and I would write it for her.  It was a great plan!  I now know that my friend probably had a learning disability.  It would be my first experience with a person with a disability and it definitely would not be my last.

A few days later, Mrs. W came down our row of desks.  I was happy to see her as she spent very little time on our side of the room.  She stopped between our desks and asked my friend, “Who wrote this!?”  As she asked this question she waved the girl’s book report in her face.  My friend was obviously terrified so I piped up and said, “I did.” 

I was about to explain what had happened when Mrs. W picked up a textbook that was on my desk and hit me on the side of the head with it.  Textbooks are heavy!  It hurt and the pain was not just physical.  I looked up at her and saw such anger that I decided it was futile to explain.  Then another emotion took over.  I was quite sure that she was not allowed to hit kids in the head with textbooks so I became angry.  I calmly rose from my desk and headed for the cloakroom to get my jacket and my lunchbox, intending to leave school and go home.  She shrieked at me to get back to my seat but I kept going.  I arrived home shaken, angry and confused.  A small part of me still believed all she had to do was get to know me and everything would be fine.

When I told my mom, she got that look on her face and said she would take care of it. I stayed home the next day while she met with the Principal and Mrs. W.  When she came home she told me it was all worked out and that Mrs. W would never again hit or humiliate me.  I thought, “Wow, how did you do that?” but I just said thanks.

Mrs. W was never again rude to me, but it as clear she still did not like me.  However, I still had the confidence that Miss V had given me and I did not care.  I even thought about what she was missing by not getting to know me.  Ah, to return to the innocence of youth!

Years later I learned what had transpired in that meeting.  It turns out that most of the kids from Mifflin were from a less affluent part of town than most of the students.  We were known as the “Pearl Street kids.”  It was not a compliment. 

My mother told her that if she, or anyone else, referred to my friends or me as the Pearl Street kids again there would be more trouble than they ever dreamed of.  It was also stipulated that if Mrs. W ever again humiliated me or laid a hand on me she would be back and it would not be pleasant. 

My beautiful mom :-)

Way to go mom!  Zorro couldn’t have done it better himself!

And, by the way, it seems that the boy from the fourth grade Safety Patrol incident was a “Pearl Street kid” geographically speaking, but his family was full of sports stars that the high schools loved, so he was exempt.