the elementary school in my hometown was refered to as south ward,at the time there were 4 elementary schools the others being east,north and west.the person the school was named for was fanny finch and was sometimes refered to as this.
it was an old red brick school with hardwood floors,with the auditorium doubling as lunch room also,and if you rode the bus to school you had to wait in the auditorium for school to start so the powers at be put a television on the stage and had it tuned to a station that had the 3 stooges on in the morning.there was a lot of jockeying for postion to get the best seats and fights would sometimes break out trying to be first off the bus and into the auditorium.
this year was the fourth grade,a time i don't remember worrying about to much,my teachers name was mrs.bourland,she must have been in her 50's or 60's i don't really remember,but she was a squat woman who wore those inch to two inch heels on her shoes,and when she walked down the halls on those hardwood floors it sounded like a flamenco dancer tuning up for a performance,and we could always tell when she was coming back into the the room,so if we were goofing off or talking we would stop at the sound.
mrs.bourland lived in a small community outside of mckinney called blue ridge,she would always come to school telling us stories about how her dog had run a coon or got sprayed by a skunk,and we were her captive audience.
if you got in trouble in her class she would grab your arm and smack you on the back with the flat of her hand real fast about three or for times,i don't know why but i would always laugh when she did it to someone else but not me.
two people stood out in my mind this particular school year,one was donald barlow,he was a short kid,and he was poor like a lot of kids in my area of town,i believe he was raised by a single mom and he and his brothers ran wild,they lived closer to downtown in a older house not to far from a city park that had a creek and a nice sized thicket of trees and there was a florist shop with a small pond and a few greenhouses outback,so some wildlife would creep into town along that creek.
i believe it was around christmas time,and kids were getting new clothes,i remember donald was coming to school with new jeans,and shirts,i know he probably felt pretty good.
one day,donald must have worn the same new jeans tho school a couple of days in a row,mrs.bourland was at the head of the class,and stuck her nose in the air sniffing like she thought she had stepped in some dog poop,and said what's that smell.she then proceded to go around the class and sniff every student till she got to donald.she said donald what's that smell,have you been sprayed by a skunk,to which he replied yes.she said how could you come to school like this,and went to the principals office got a can of glade and sprayed him with it,then after that they sent him home.i could see the humiliation in his eyes and the hurt also,he didn't know much better,he had knew clothes,and was proud of them,and his mother probably just didn't pay attention.
i saw donald a couple of times after elementary school,he went with the times and dressed the dress of the sixties,he smoked like the rest of us,and i think he eventually quit school,he was just one of those people who pass you by.
the second of person of the two was a fellow student that went to school maybe a month in two years,that's right a month in two years in the fourth and fifth grade.his name was tyler byford,i met him in a unusual way,it was in mrs.bourland's class,remember the hardwood floors and flamenco tuneup,well when tyler came on the scene it was a full fledged performance.
while sitting in class about a month into the school year,there was a commotion in the hallway with people hollering and pleadind and the sound of hard leather heels slamming and banging on the floor,when into the doorway appeared the principal with his arms around tyler's chest from behind with tyler kicking and screaming no and his mother there also with a look of frustration on her face.
tyler wore black framed glasses,and was a pretty good sized kid,when he finally got sat down he calmed,although his eyes would dart around to see if anyone was looking at him,they sat him right next to me.i carried on a few conversations with tyler those couple of weeks but didn't get much out of him,but the one thing i learned about tyler was that he made straight a's.
tyler did all his school work with ease,as a matter of fact he looked bored like this was kiddie stuff to him,and just as quickly as he appeared,he left after a couple of weeks.the next year the same scenario played out and went by,just the same as the previous year.never knew where tyler lived in town,i just knew he was above us in book smarts and that he probably shouldn't have been there with us,i always wondered what he went on to become,i guess he was just one of those people who pass us by.
it was an old red brick school with hardwood floors,with the auditorium doubling as lunch room also,and if you rode the bus to school you had to wait in the auditorium for school to start so the powers at be put a television on the stage and had it tuned to a station that had the 3 stooges on in the morning.there was a lot of jockeying for postion to get the best seats and fights would sometimes break out trying to be first off the bus and into the auditorium.
this year was the fourth grade,a time i don't remember worrying about to much,my teachers name was mrs.bourland,she must have been in her 50's or 60's i don't really remember,but she was a squat woman who wore those inch to two inch heels on her shoes,and when she walked down the halls on those hardwood floors it sounded like a flamenco dancer tuning up for a performance,and we could always tell when she was coming back into the the room,so if we were goofing off or talking we would stop at the sound.
mrs.bourland lived in a small community outside of mckinney called blue ridge,she would always come to school telling us stories about how her dog had run a coon or got sprayed by a skunk,and we were her captive audience.
if you got in trouble in her class she would grab your arm and smack you on the back with the flat of her hand real fast about three or for times,i don't know why but i would always laugh when she did it to someone else but not me.
two people stood out in my mind this particular school year,one was donald barlow,he was a short kid,and he was poor like a lot of kids in my area of town,i believe he was raised by a single mom and he and his brothers ran wild,they lived closer to downtown in a older house not to far from a city park that had a creek and a nice sized thicket of trees and there was a florist shop with a small pond and a few greenhouses outback,so some wildlife would creep into town along that creek.
i believe it was around christmas time,and kids were getting new clothes,i remember donald was coming to school with new jeans,and shirts,i know he probably felt pretty good.
one day,donald must have worn the same new jeans tho school a couple of days in a row,mrs.bourland was at the head of the class,and stuck her nose in the air sniffing like she thought she had stepped in some dog poop,and said what's that smell.she then proceded to go around the class and sniff every student till she got to donald.she said donald what's that smell,have you been sprayed by a skunk,to which he replied yes.she said how could you come to school like this,and went to the principals office got a can of glade and sprayed him with it,then after that they sent him home.i could see the humiliation in his eyes and the hurt also,he didn't know much better,he had knew clothes,and was proud of them,and his mother probably just didn't pay attention.
i saw donald a couple of times after elementary school,he went with the times and dressed the dress of the sixties,he smoked like the rest of us,and i think he eventually quit school,he was just one of those people who pass you by.
the second of person of the two was a fellow student that went to school maybe a month in two years,that's right a month in two years in the fourth and fifth grade.his name was tyler byford,i met him in a unusual way,it was in mrs.bourland's class,remember the hardwood floors and flamenco tuneup,well when tyler came on the scene it was a full fledged performance.
while sitting in class about a month into the school year,there was a commotion in the hallway with people hollering and pleadind and the sound of hard leather heels slamming and banging on the floor,when into the doorway appeared the principal with his arms around tyler's chest from behind with tyler kicking and screaming no and his mother there also with a look of frustration on her face.
tyler wore black framed glasses,and was a pretty good sized kid,when he finally got sat down he calmed,although his eyes would dart around to see if anyone was looking at him,they sat him right next to me.i carried on a few conversations with tyler those couple of weeks but didn't get much out of him,but the one thing i learned about tyler was that he made straight a's.
tyler did all his school work with ease,as a matter of fact he looked bored like this was kiddie stuff to him,and just as quickly as he appeared,he left after a couple of weeks.the next year the same scenario played out and went by,just the same as the previous year.never knew where tyler lived in town,i just knew he was above us in book smarts and that he probably shouldn't have been there with us,i always wondered what he went on to become,i guess he was just one of those people who pass us by.
