Background
Ruminations from a long career in education.
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Troy and Jeff hustled out of the room as soon as the bell rang (I hadn’t learned the art of me dismissing the class, not the bell). As the other students were filing out, Mr. Miles, our principal, walked in with the little notepad he always carried with him already out.
Before I had time to worry about why he might be wanting to talk to me, he said, “Miss Brown, were all your students in class today?”
“Yes, sir.”
“So Jeff Danbridge and Troy Sanders were both in your class today, and on time.”
“Yes, sir, although Troy was not in my class the entire time. He said he had an early dismissal and left.”
“Did he tell you where he was going?”
“No, sir, but the strangest thing happened. He returned to my class with a note from the office about 20 – 25 minutes later. In fact, I have his note paper-clipped to my gradebook so I could turn it in at the end of the day.”
“Uh, hmm. I’ll just take this with me and I’ll give it to the secretary when I get back to the office. Meanwhile, I need to talk to this young man to find out where he thought he was going this morning.”
My second period eighth-grade students were all on or above level and were progressing well in class. Other than not having matured into high school students yet, they rarely posed any problems for me. They were slated to take a test that morning and were quick to tell me that I was late to class. I promised them that if they needed extra time to complete the test, I would give them a few extra minutes the next day. The timing was perfect because I was very pre-occupied with what might be going on with Troy that could or would possibly cause him trouble.
When class ended, some of my students cautioned me not to be tardy to my next class because that would be setting a bad example for them. I assured them I would make it on time – but I didn’t. I was stopped more times than I can remember by different students, all asking the same question, “Is it true? Is it true?”
“Is what true?” I asked, but got no answers. These students just kept walking as if they were in a daze.
I herded my somewhat anxious students into the room and said, “Okay, guys, talk to me. Some rumor has a bunch of you all upset,”
“Logan came in late because he had some kind of appointment. He said he had seen rescue squads and a fire truck go down the road straight across from our school. All he could find out was that a train hit a car and it may have had school kids in it. Of course, he was telling everybody he saw about it until Mr. Miles walked up on him and took him to the office,” said Lucy.
I am sure the blood drained out of my face as I tried to blink back the tears threatening to cascade down my cheeks. It took all I had to close my door and to tell the kids to put their geometry books and notebooks down for a bit.
“I am sure all of you are feeling as dazed as I am right about now. We have to keep in mind that we don’t have that much information to go on just yet. Apparently, there has been an accident involving a train and a car – that’s never a good thing. I have known Mr. Miles most of my life. I don’t believe he will let rumors run wild around the school all day. In fact, I have reason to believe he was checking on something at the end of the first period. If, and when, he thinks there is something we all need to know, he will make the proper announcement. Until then, we just have to wait.”
“Why don’t we just go over your homework now with no penalties if you did not get it done last night as long as you get it into your notebook while we’re going over it? We will not go over any new material today. Once we’re done with the homework, maybe we will know more about this situation.”
