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This is an amazing story for I attended Roser Park elementary school (no longer extant) in St. Pete FL in the early 60's. We had to line up in the cafeteria and march back to our classroom. The route led outside and through the playground, past the tetherball pole. I was near the end of the line with my friends, and to a man, we all grabbed that pole and swung around it, lifting our bodies parallel to the ground and making a few circuits around the mast. This seemingly innocent behavior was observed by one of the Goody-Two-Shoes near the front of the line who informed the teacher that we had deviated from proper 'Returning to Class' procedure. Five of us miscreant boys were remanded to the custody of the principal where, in turn, we were ushered into her office and throttled with her 1/2" thick Board of Discipline. Our butts were indeed glowing red from the experience, but the real fear was that our parents would find out. No cops, no lawyers, no hand wringing, just instant discipline.
This story just jogged a memory with me. St Petersburg, elementary school, discipline, tetherball...

Why didnt they call the ACLU? Surely they would have arrived quickly to subdue in a legal fashion, that sweet little girl who, by virtue of losing a ball game, was the victim of a terrible educational system?

One does hope, however, that you fellows discovered the power of self-reliance when you meted out a rough sort of justice to the stool-pigeon in your midst (or did you sell out to the man)?

I got my only in-school paddling because Lucy Link, the fifth grade teacher, said said I was running down the stairs. Didn't matter if I was or not, Miss Link said I was and that was that. I had to decide if I wanted to appeal the case to the supreme court (my parents) and run the risk of a another paddling or just make it a point not to give even the appearance of running on the stairs. I decided to save the appeal for another day. Miss Link, and her husband, died later that year in a head-on collision with a dump truck. Believe it or not, my sixth-grade reasoning actually had me believing for while that her fate was a pay back for the injustice she had dealt to me. As I matured I realized just how faulty that reasoning was, and that, in fact, it was pay back for all the little kids she had unjustly accused. Gosh it's great to grow up and have the benefit of mature reasoning.