Here’s a fine little back-to-school tale from the Minneapolis Star. Normally I’d hold onto a story like this until I’ve tracked down the main character for an interview. But a name like Kimberly Erickson makes that a difficult task. Send me an e-mail if you happen to know her whereabouts; I’d love to talk with her.

WHILE MOM SLEEPS

Tot Gets to School
(Wrong One) Alone

A 5-year-old Coon Rapids girl has resigned herself to the routine of kindergarten after a brief but successful attempt to crash the wrong grade at the wrong school.

Kimberly Erickson, blond and independent daughter of Mr. And Mrs. Gerald Erickson, 11451 Heather St., didn’t want to disappoint her sleeping mother Wednesday morning when she supposedly was to start kindergarten at Mississippi public school, Coon Rapids.

She actually wasn’t supposed to arrive at school until noon, but she forgot about that in her excitement at starting school.

So, she explained later, Kimberly dressed herself, polished off a breakfast of cereal and milk, and walked to a street corner to await a school bus.

Her 3-year-old brother, Kevin, walked with her to the corner, then returned home.

That’s how Mrs. Erickson first learned her daughter was gone.

Kevin tearfully awoke his mother and complained that Kimberly wouldn’t let him on the bus.

The distraught Mrs. Erickson hurried to Mississippi School to watch the unloading of buses.

Not seeing Kimberly, she returned home and learned from a neighbor that Kimberly might have boarded the bus to St. Stephen’s parochial school, Anoka.

The tip was accurate.

Mrs. Erickson called the school and learned that Kimberly had entered Sister Kathleen’s first-grade class, where she attentively listened to the morning’s religious instruction.

“She enjoyed it so much she wanted to stay,” Sister Kathleen reported.

But Mrs. Erickson, a Lutheran, had Kimberly back home by 9:30 a.m., awaiting the public school bus due to arrive at 1 p.m.

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