Manic Monday

I never liked Monday's and I am not a morning person. But this Monday was especially sucky (if that's even a word).

I stayed up really late last night reading and I only got 4 hours of sleep. Traffic was a little hectic because of the ice storm we had over the weekend. There really wasn't any ice left on the ground but people drive like lunatics in Atlanta anyway. JW says that I have become an aggressive and impatient driver since I have increased my daily commute from 10 minutes to 50 minutes.

Anyway, I get to school and I enter through the back door by the cafe (we don't call it a cafeteria, we're to cool for that) as I always do. I walk in with KW (my co-worker) and we hear lots of people in the cafe. We both thought, "Oh shit, there is a faculty meeting and we are late!" There was no meeting. There was actually a gas leak. The fire department was about to arrive 5 minutes before the buses.

The administration got everyone a job to do: directing traffic, holding kids in the cafe or the gym, talking to parents, etc... Well the fire department came. Not just one of those little fire cars but a big fire truck with the lights on. The principal requested that they park on the grass so the buses could get in. But instead the fire truck parked in the middle of the bus lane.

My Special Education co-workers and I were talking about how this was about to be a great start to our day. Anyone in special ed knows that change, much less a major emergency, can really through our kids for a loop......I mean a HUGE loop!

In the end the gas leak was cleared up after opening all of the windows in the lower grades classrooms. Oh, and the fire department brought in two HUGE fans to push the contaminated air out of the building. Those poor kindergarten and first graders had to hear all that noise and they were probably really cold....it was only 30-something degrees this morning. In our department we only had one student have a total melt down. The school as a whole did a terrific job. The kids were all really good. We only had one kid throw up and just a few criers (they were mostly little ones who spoke hardly any English).

I however had a whole other problem to face. It's nothing I can write about hear but it's really unbelievable...the lives that some of my kids have to live. No one should have to live like that. It's hard to go on about my daily life and sleep at night when I know what's happening to some kids and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.