You wonder just how many others she might have done that to.

Who knows? I don't remember, but my mother said that it was Mrs. G's first year teaching first grade and that she'd previously taught seventh grade in Kentucky, and maybe she didn't know how to deal with younger kids who weren't perfectly behaved or a kid that deviated from her idea of how a kid should be. I hope she straightened up after that.

And what was the point of even asking your mother's permission if she was just going to do what she wanted anyway?

My mother had gone along with everything the teacher said because she figured that the teacher was the one with me all day and knew better and I was a hyper kid, and I think Mrs. G assumed my mother would go along with retaining me but my mother thought making me repeat the grade was going a bit far, especially since she had put me in therapy as suggested and I was doing better, and like I said, my grades were good. I think by then, Mrs. G had her heart set on making me repeat so she grabbed the principal and school counselor and went to the school board.

My mother ultimately decided she wanted me out of that school so she ended up moving us to a different neighborhood.