Snow Days

The two snows days here at the end of the week, combined with Monday's holiday, makes for a really nice, unexpected break. I was going to have a five day weekend anyway. My sub requests for Thursday and Friday were in the system well before the district announced the closing.

It's not that I needed the time off, or that I'm lazy and unmotivated. It's that I don't drive in snow and ice. I've done it-more than once. Last winter, my normal 50 minute drive home took over three hours one icy evening. No more. I would probably (have to say "probably" because it's never happened) throw my body between a student and a crazed gunman, and I would probably stay inside a burning building in order to get the kids to safety. (I did once stand between my sixth graders and a 5'11," 250 lb angry 16 year old who cocked back his fist to punch me when I wouldn't let him go after any of the kids. He didn't hit me because his little brother latched onto his arm and hung from it until help arrived. )But I'm not dying on an icy road just to try get to the children and impart my wisdom. Mainly because if I'm dead, I can't impart any more wisdom.

I actually had a conversation along these lines with a colleague recently. We were discussing the fact that if one of us died, a sub would be at the empty desk in short order, and a replacement would be hired in a week or less. I then commented that someone would also have to clear off my desk.

My colleague replied, "Oh yeah. First I would call Half-Price Books to bring over a truck. Then I would drag a dumpster over to that door and fill it."

I'm a little concerned. She said all of this quickly, as though she had given it some thought. If anything happens to me, someone needs to check into the alibi of the teacher two doors down!