60 years ago in 1962 I was in 5th grade at Scotts Valley Elementary School. They had just completed a new school at the north end of the Valley to accommodate the growing population. The students that lived in the north valley were transferred to the brand spanking new Vine Hill Elementary School, including me. They actually moved us over mid-year to complete 5th and do 6th before we went back to Scotts Valley for middle school.

Our new teacher was named Mrs. Jacobson. Imagine Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of OZ and you will have a pretty good image of her appearance. Even to my tender, young 10-year-old brain something seemed off about her from day one. It escalated quickly from there. Nodding off at her desk, going around slapping the back of your head with a ruler, picking up part of your lunch as she was walking by and eating it, losing her temper and screaming out of the blue, etc.

I remember telling my parents all this and them ignoring me and telling me I was exaggerating. I think all my fellow students were in the same boat. It was a different time in our culture. Then one day Mrs. Jacobson vanished, and we got a new and vastly improved teacher named Mrs. White for the remainder of the year. I was literally just looking at my report card from that period and noticed there were no grades for the quarter Mrs. Jacobson had been our teacher. I don't recall any official explanation of her disappearance or my parents ever bringing it up. She just disappeared like in Stalin's Russia.

Ironically, it did teach me to be a little leery of any adult authority from there on out. Sometimes I get the feeling we are all in a 5th grade class with a mentally malfunctioning teacher sitting at the big desk in front.