Elemental

I swear I think the elements are out to get me. Remember how, at the end of the summer, I had a series of appliance breakdowns that shared a common theme of the four elements? Our washing machine died (water) followed shortly by the dryer (air) and then our lawnmower caught on fire (earth and fire). Well, the same thing seems to be happening again, but at the school where I work!

The first Friday after the kids came back a main city water line in front of the school broke, and we had no water for four hours. This meant that the cafeteria had no water, the fountains didn't work, and worst of all, we couldn't flush the toilets! You can imagine what a mess that quickly became. One kid misunderstood when the teacher said they could only go if it was an absolute emergency, and he thought he couldn't go to the restroom at all, and he ended up wetting his pants. (I'm surprised his parents didn't show up at the school the next day, raising hell). One kid got sick and vomited all over his desk and the floor of his classroom, and the nurses had to clean him up with bottled water. The adults were embarrassed to have to "go" in toilets they couldn't flush, and the whole school was in a bit of an uproar. The only reason the superintendent didn't just let us dismiss early and go home was the fact that the city was out working on the break immediately, and the logistics of getting the word out to parents and then rearranging the bus routes (over half the kids ride buses) is no small task. Our school alone has almost 1000 students out of the 16,000 total in the district. It threw the whole day off, and by the time the water was fixed we only had about an hour and half left. Everyone was relieved when it was finally time to just go home!

The next Friday, all of a sudden the fire alarms went off during second lunch. We hadn't planned a fire drill (we would never have a drill during lunch anyway, that's a recipe (ha!) for utter chaos) so the whole school had to be immediately evacuated. It was crazy...the kids were laughing, shouting, and running while their harried teachers herded them out of the building while trying to maintain some control. The administrators (principal and three assistant principals) were running around the building with bullhorns and walkies trying to confirm that all classes were together and everyone was accounted for. Then the fire engines arrived, all blaring horns and flashing lights. The kids were overexcited and having a field day (literally). And when the firefighters finally determined that it was a faulty wire in one of the smoke alarms had triggered the whole incident, and nothing was actually on fire, well, the fun didn't end there! Because by that time half the parents were frantically calling the school, thanks to their little darlings texting them during all the excitement. The story had grown and grown until parents were telling me that they had heard that not only was the school on fire, but that there were ambulances lined up out front and several fire engines battling the blaze. I got to spend the next hour answering the phone and explaining that it was merely a defective smoke alarm, and yes, we were all fine, and no, they didn't need to come pick up their child. It was a hell of a day!

You see where I'm going with this? One week, we had a water incident. The next, we had a fire fiasco. So what's going on this week? What might be the next elemental occurrence that will disrupt our school? Hmmmm......



It's even got our city's name on it. Florence.

As the storm moves over the warm Atlantic, it's almost certain to strengthen and become a hurricane. If a hurricane comes this way, we're going to have to look out for strong winds (air). I can't help but believe that we're probably in for it.

What do you think?