“People, this morning we will have Community Sing. Please file quietly through the halls. Kindergarten and first grade classrooms will now begin.”

And so we did. Quietly.

Principal Ruth Skeeles’ loudspeaker voice was law. Next, second and third graders, then fourth and fifth, and finally, sixth, seventh and eighth graders — back row, standing by the steps, pretending to look bored. After all, this was old stuff for the big kids.

Teachers directed traffic. Chatty rule breakers got "the look." Miss Skeeles was tall, hefty and imposing. In her dreaded office, the paddle hung in plain site, often warm from bigger boys’ bottoms.

In those early school years, she was scary. Later in elementary, we figured out that a soft heartbeat underneath that ample bosom.

The littlest kids stood in front

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