Not Fun in the Summertime

 The last couple of days have been really hot.  We spent most of the summer with pretty mild days, and now that we are in school, we are pushing 90!  Now that we go back to school in the middle of August, I guess we should expect this, but it doesn't help those schools without air conditioning.  Fortunately for the staff at North Side, the renovation brought with it a much improved venelation system that included air conditioning.

I was at Jefferson Middle School for five years as principal.  Air conditioning existed in the office area and the media center.  Days like these were miserable, especially on the second floor.  I would go there on purpose because I felt so guilty that I was comfortable in my office.  Most of the buildings in FWCS are like Jefferson, so my thoughts go out to all of the staff and students who are suffering through these very hot days.

I did pay my dues many years ago though.  When there were really hot days like these, the gym was a blast furnace.  It had no windows, and I never detected any air flow.  The kids would come in, and I would do my best to get something done.  There was one day when a first grader came to me and patted me on the side.  With deep caring in her eyes she tried to console me, "Why don't we all just take a nap?"  That probably would have been a better lesson plan.

But the most memorable day that I had in that gym was on a very hot day like the last few we have been experiencing.  When the custodian and I were cleaning up the cafeteria/gym after the last lunch of the day, we decided to open the double doors to the outside to help dry the floor.  We both noticed a great breeze, so I decided to leave them open for the classes that afternoon.

The first group to come into the gym were kindergartners.  This was my second year of teaching, so I wasn't as naive as I had been the year before.  I knew how to get them into squads, listen when they asked me important questions, and actually had great lessons, if I do say so myself.  /

There is always the unknown though.  In this case is was the dead, hollowed out tree outside those double doors.  I had never even noticed that it was there.  The way that it got my attention was when the first kindergartner got up and started running around screaming.  Then there were a couple of more of them up and running, screaming at the top of their lungs!  I had no idea what was going on, but I knew that I had lost control.  In my best teacher's voice I commanded them to sit down and be quiet.  How I had missed seeing all the bees in the gym, I will never know.

Eventually, I was able to comprehend that I needed to do something quick.  I ran for the doors to shut them, but I stopped and changed my focus realizing that trapping the bees in the gym with the children was not wise.  A cooler head prevailed; thankfully it was mine.  I gathered up clusters of children, checked them for bees who may have attached to them.  When I saw no lingering bees, I sequestered them in the hallway outside the gym.  Gradually, I left the gym to the bees, got the kindergartners out to the playground, and spent the rest of the day glad to be out in the heat.  No children or bees were hurt at the time.

FWCS came that weekend and cut down the tree.  The evening after the event they fumigated the gym, and I never opened the double doors again, no matter how hot it was in the gym.