This past week, the Polar Vortex hit everyone in the United States. And I mean everyone. Even if your temperatures weren't subzero, I know you felt the chill in your spine when you read the -40 or so wind chills in the midwest.
When you know such terribly cold temperatures are coming, usually you prepare your home/building for such weather. Maybe you stock up on supplies in anticipation of power outages. Maybe you pull out those extra thick wool sweaters that Grandma knitted you that have crazy designs on them. Maybe you put anti-freeze chemicals in your heating system to ensure that pipes don't freeze.
Maybe you don't.
Well, on Monday DCPS had a Professional Development Day for the first day back after Winter Break. Great idea on their part, to ease adults back into working. Rather sensitive of them. The plan worked well, in my opinion. I ran professional development for half of my team in the morning, and then our school met as a staff in the afternoon. I was amped and ready to go on Tuesday morning. I left a few things unfinished in my classroom, but I was going to come in early on Tuesday so it was fine to leave them out.
I had a nightmares all through break about various things. People getting shot, getting lost in mazes, people dying - usual nightmare situations. Monday night was no different, and I woke up unsettled on Tuesday morning. It took an unusual amount of self-coaching to get out of bed, shower, and get ready for school. However, I walked out the door at 6:40am with coffee, packed lunch, and backpack in tow and left for school. At 6:53am I received a text from Ms. C, one of the teachers in my cohort:
Ms. C: The 3rd floor is flooded!!
I rolled my eyes and immediately assumed that the pipe that has been leaking for the last 3 years was leaking again. While several people have come to fix it, they never quite seem to solve the problem. 30 seconds later I receive another text from Ms. C:
[video of entire hallway floor flooded]
Hmm... well that is significantly worse than usual.
As I'm watching this video at a stop light, I get an email from our principal that the school will be closed today. Blah blah blah.... insufficient heating... blah blah blah....
By the time I get to the flooded floor, the ceiling has fallen in at one end of the hallway. There is an inch of water on the floor and my cute flats are getting terribly wet. As I came up the stairs, someone mentioned something about my room being the worst... I assumed they meant my room from the year before which was on this flooded floor. I didn't think anything of it.
Ms. C suggested that we go look at my room now, just in case.
When I walked in, I didn't want to believe what I saw. My room was 1.5+ inches deep in water. It was raining inside my room. Pouring, as a matter of fact.
I had binders of documentation on the floor under my desk. The student laptop was rained on. My hand-written Algebra II curriculum binder was looking pretty soggy on a countertop. My bulletin boards on the back wall were crying; bleeding objectives, student work, and positive posters ran down my wall. My Promethean board was drenched, and the ceiling in part of my room was on the floor. My printer was partially submerged in Lake Walker. My Flag Football jerseys were in a storage case that was looking flooded. Donated binders, materials, and clothing were sitting soggily in bins on the floor.
That's when I lost it.
I started yelling. Lots of yelling. Not at anyone in particular. No really distinguishable words. This was the 3rd year in a row this had happened to me. I was in a new room - this wasn't supposed to happen. It was ok to have things on the floor in this room, one that hadn't leaked previously. I didn't have enough shelf space for all of my materials - where else was I supposed to put my things? Was nothing safe in this God forsaken building??
Ms. C just stared at me, shocked. I never yell like that, or lose it, or even curse loudly in the school building. I am a loud person, but I keep it appropriate. Honestly? She looked a bit scared, and I don't blame her.
I. Was. Pissed.
Then, I smiled. I took off my shoes, rolled up my slacks, and waded through the water to save what I could. I moved it all to Ms. B's room. My team all helped me with moving my things to the opposite end of the hallway, where it was dry. As I passed security guards, teachers arriving at work (they hadn't gotten the email yet), and various other staff, they saw my room and gasped. They then saw me, barefoot, wading around in the mouse poop and plaster-filled water, salvaging my belongings and giggled. "Oh Ms. Walker, you're so crazy." "Ms. Walker, you'd do anything for your stuff, wouldn't you?!" "Ms. Walker... make sure you shower when you get home." I smiled, and shrugged it off, saying my usual "Shit could be worse" and kept it moving. No one likes a Negative Nancy, especially as a leader. So shower I did, and smile I must.
I gave myself 4 hours to be mad about this incident. I got in my car to go back home and cried a little bit for the lost materials that I had worked so hard to collect/make. I cried for the frustration of having to redo bulletin boards that took me hours to put together. I cried for the fact that this was 100% preventable if someone had put anti-freeze in the pipes. I cried for the 4 other classrooms that were damaged and thus have to be moved until they fix the problem and clean the area. I cried for the fact that this of course happened to our school, as it always does. I cried because the transition back to school was going to be difficult in the first place, and this was going to make it that much harder.
I cried because this was upsetting, I am human, and I get to be upset when bad things happen. People in my school building often forget that, and are disappointed when I am human, and get upset.
I am now teaching my two classes in two other teachers' rooms. 4 of my teachers had to move to classrooms that aren't frequently used and were dirty and do not have the technology in them that every other room in the building has. I have made the best of it, and I've tried very hard not to be angry, since it's long past my 4 hour time limit.
But, like I said, I'm human. Materials that took me hours, days, months, years to make/collect/design were destroyed. I get to be upset.
But don't worry, everyone was grateful to have an extra day off. I told them, "oh, you're welcome." And smiled. Always smile. Like I said, no one likes a Negative Nancy.
When you know such terribly cold temperatures are coming, usually you prepare your home/building for such weather. Maybe you stock up on supplies in anticipation of power outages. Maybe you pull out those extra thick wool sweaters that Grandma knitted you that have crazy designs on them. Maybe you put anti-freeze chemicals in your heating system to ensure that pipes don't freeze.
Maybe you don't.
Well, on Monday DCPS had a Professional Development Day for the first day back after Winter Break. Great idea on their part, to ease adults back into working. Rather sensitive of them. The plan worked well, in my opinion. I ran professional development for half of my team in the morning, and then our school met as a staff in the afternoon. I was amped and ready to go on Tuesday morning. I left a few things unfinished in my classroom, but I was going to come in early on Tuesday so it was fine to leave them out.
I had a nightmares all through break about various things. People getting shot, getting lost in mazes, people dying - usual nightmare situations. Monday night was no different, and I woke up unsettled on Tuesday morning. It took an unusual amount of self-coaching to get out of bed, shower, and get ready for school. However, I walked out the door at 6:40am with coffee, packed lunch, and backpack in tow and left for school. At 6:53am I received a text from Ms. C, one of the teachers in my cohort:
Ms. C: The 3rd floor is flooded!!
I rolled my eyes and immediately assumed that the pipe that has been leaking for the last 3 years was leaking again. While several people have come to fix it, they never quite seem to solve the problem. 30 seconds later I receive another text from Ms. C:
[video of entire hallway floor flooded]
Hmm... well that is significantly worse than usual.
As I'm watching this video at a stop light, I get an email from our principal that the school will be closed today. Blah blah blah.... insufficient heating... blah blah blah....
By the time I get to the flooded floor, the ceiling has fallen in at one end of the hallway. There is an inch of water on the floor and my cute flats are getting terribly wet. As I came up the stairs, someone mentioned something about my room being the worst... I assumed they meant my room from the year before which was on this flooded floor. I didn't think anything of it.
Ms. C suggested that we go look at my room now, just in case.
When I walked in, I didn't want to believe what I saw. My room was 1.5+ inches deep in water. It was raining inside my room. Pouring, as a matter of fact.
I had binders of documentation on the floor under my desk. The student laptop was rained on. My hand-written Algebra II curriculum binder was looking pretty soggy on a countertop. My bulletin boards on the back wall were crying; bleeding objectives, student work, and positive posters ran down my wall. My Promethean board was drenched, and the ceiling in part of my room was on the floor. My printer was partially submerged in Lake Walker. My Flag Football jerseys were in a storage case that was looking flooded. Donated binders, materials, and clothing were sitting soggily in bins on the floor.
That's when I lost it.
I started yelling. Lots of yelling. Not at anyone in particular. No really distinguishable words. This was the 3rd year in a row this had happened to me. I was in a new room - this wasn't supposed to happen. It was ok to have things on the floor in this room, one that hadn't leaked previously. I didn't have enough shelf space for all of my materials - where else was I supposed to put my things? Was nothing safe in this God forsaken building??
Ms. C just stared at me, shocked. I never yell like that, or lose it, or even curse loudly in the school building. I am a loud person, but I keep it appropriate. Honestly? She looked a bit scared, and I don't blame her.
I. Was. Pissed.
Then, I smiled. I took off my shoes, rolled up my slacks, and waded through the water to save what I could. I moved it all to Ms. B's room. My team all helped me with moving my things to the opposite end of the hallway, where it was dry. As I passed security guards, teachers arriving at work (they hadn't gotten the email yet), and various other staff, they saw my room and gasped. They then saw me, barefoot, wading around in the mouse poop and plaster-filled water, salvaging my belongings and giggled. "Oh Ms. Walker, you're so crazy." "Ms. Walker, you'd do anything for your stuff, wouldn't you?!" "Ms. Walker... make sure you shower when you get home." I smiled, and shrugged it off, saying my usual "Shit could be worse" and kept it moving. No one likes a Negative Nancy, especially as a leader. So shower I did, and smile I must.
I gave myself 4 hours to be mad about this incident. I got in my car to go back home and cried a little bit for the lost materials that I had worked so hard to collect/make. I cried for the frustration of having to redo bulletin boards that took me hours to put together. I cried for the fact that this was 100% preventable if someone had put anti-freeze in the pipes. I cried for the 4 other classrooms that were damaged and thus have to be moved until they fix the problem and clean the area. I cried for the fact that this of course happened to our school, as it always does. I cried because the transition back to school was going to be difficult in the first place, and this was going to make it that much harder.
I cried because this was upsetting, I am human, and I get to be upset when bad things happen. People in my school building often forget that, and are disappointed when I am human, and get upset.
I am now teaching my two classes in two other teachers' rooms. 4 of my teachers had to move to classrooms that aren't frequently used and were dirty and do not have the technology in them that every other room in the building has. I have made the best of it, and I've tried very hard not to be angry, since it's long past my 4 hour time limit.
But, like I said, I'm human. Materials that took me hours, days, months, years to make/collect/design were destroyed. I get to be upset.
But don't worry, everyone was grateful to have an extra day off. I told them, "oh, you're welcome." And smiled. Always smile. Like I said, no one likes a Negative Nancy.
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