Theresa's teacher should not assume that the kids are starting with a full blank slate. Teachers and administrations really, really want to do this but in a case with bullying that has persisted for two school years so far, that's a really bad idea. Theresa's teacher will probably need a list of the kids who Theresa has targeted, ranked from worst to least-worst, and should make up the seating chart so that Theresa is not seated near kids who she has a history of bullying. If it's unavoidable, that's what the badness ranking is for. Second grade probably won't be doing formal Group Projects, but Theresa should not be working closely with kids she's bullied for any length of time.

Weirdly, the hitting thing is the one that I think has the potential to be actually autism related, because if even one sense is in a state of overwhelm and someone who doesn't know how to regulate is being crowded, sometimes they will make space for themselves in whatever way they can. Theresa honestly may need an aide monitoring the situation and defusing things before she has a meltdown, and helping her learn how to regulate before things get too bad. But this letter has nowhere near the level of detail for a bystander to figure out the further circumstances around the hitting. And in any event that sort of thing is beyond this parent's realm of authority or need to know.

My little nephew came home from school (first grade or kindergarten) one day with a fantastic bruise on one leg. I asked how he'd got it. He said, cheerfully, that a specific kid (one of his friends) had kicked him. I was furious and wanted to march right down to school to bend the teacher's ear about the situation, but he was too cheerful for me to think it was an act of meanness. So I asked him what was happening before his friend kicked him. Turns out it was a missed kick in a recess game of some soccer-adjacent sport. At that point I calmed back down.