Monday, February 3, 2014

So, about that time we spent the night at school...

Okay, it's been about a week since I had quite possibly the most interesting day in my entire teaching career.


Last week, we were expected to get a little winter weather. No biggie.  Usually when that happens, we either stay out of school or we leave school early. (We're in the South.  Yes, that's how it goes here.)

Well, the snow started coming down that morning around 9:30. As expected, my otherwise "cool" teenagers turned into little kids with big, sparkly eyes.  (Again, we're in the South. Snow gives us all sparkly eyes.)

But then the snow kept coming.  And it got colder.  And somewhere somehow it dawned on someone that MAYBE we should be heading home.

So student drivers were released. Bus riders would wait until the buses got there.  Easy.


Or not.

Because the buses never really made it.  The roads were AWFUL. Ice City.  Cars were slipping and sliding into each other.  The lane that leads out of our school?  Well, some folks never made it off of it. They had to abandon their cars.  Some folks waited it out.  For hours.

And as the day crept by, we -- the teachers who were still with their 3rd period students, and the students who were being patient as they waited for their names to be called over the intercom -- started realizing that we could be there.  All night.  Crazy.

And then the official announcements started coming.  We WERE, in fact, going to be there for the night, and there was absolutely nothing we could do about it.

And what do you when you can't control something?  You be sure your attitude is RIGHT. I never got discouraged or frustrated with the situation itself.  What exactly would that have solved?  The only thing that worried me slightly was the fact that my daughter, who was just a mile down the road, would have to spend the night at her preschool.

I had never been so happy that she is enrolled at a top notch school. Nevermind how much they teach them -- the love and care they've shown my baby girl over the years comforted me in those very moments when I realized they would be tucking her in that night.

I called her to check on her.  Though they told me she wasn't thrilled initially, she quickly started liking the idea of a "slumber party." Whew.  

They did give us this note the next day -- something she wrote when they told her she'd be staying at school.


Bless them for not telling me about this note until the next day. :)  Thankfully she had a great time at the "slumber party."

So back to my school.  The students were calm, patient, and...OKAY.  They knew there was nothing they or their parents could do, so they were OKAY.  Our awesome lunchroom ladies made dinner (we're talking 400 students and plenty of teachers).  The students were then separated by gender and assigned to teachers' rooms -- no more than 10 per teacher (I had six).

We got back up to my classroom, made popcorn, and watched Netflix until lights out at 11:00.  The girls put my computer chairs together and made beds, and I pulled an extra chair up to my desk and made a half-bed. Some chose the floor.

And we slept.  At least as much as we could.  Our heating system wasn't working, so it got a little chilly.  But we weren't freezing.

I got maybe two hours of sleep.  Much more than I thought I would, actually.

Breakfast was served the next morning at 7:00, and the day went from there.  Not much change in the weather early in the day, so...well...we stuck around.

Eventually the sun came out.  The temps didn't change much (ice was still everywhere), but there was enough change that more parents were able to get in.  My husband (who teaches at a school across town) was able to come get my daughter and me.  Luckily a colleague was there with me and the girls in my room, so she was able to stay the last couple of hours as parents came.

It was certainly an interesting day, but doesn't come close to being this huge unfortunate event folks thought I endured. My family and I were warm and safe in buildings. WE WERE LUCKY.

There were motorists stranded for hours.  Who were in ice-induced fender benders. Who had to abandon their cars and walk for miles (I had a colleague who had to walk MILES and MILES to her daughter's school to give her meds). Folks slept on store floors. In their cars on icy highways.  Some gave out of gas and slept in COLD cars. I just cannot imagine.

So that night was quite interesting.  To sum it all up, I actually was QUITE HAPPY that I spent the night at school. Never in a million years did I think that sentence would come out of my mouth.



I'm happy to be back in school this week. And I have to say that I'm not a bit worried that this will ever happen again! :-)
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