Not that any of the frozen precipitation we've received in the past week shows an inclination to melt into little puddles and run down the storm drains, but the snowman pictured above pretty much jibes with the way I've been feeling of late.
Our local post office has an art gallery, of sorts, on one wall. Something for the customers to stare at while waiting in interminable lines. This week's offering is a collection done by preschoolers, entitled "Melting Snowmen."
And I've been turning into a little puddle myself the past week, on account of being so steamed, and all.
Here's the deal. Teachers and students around these parts are stuck between Mother Nature and a hard place. DC straddles the Mid-Atlantic's rain/snow line. Forecasters have a damnable time getting their predictions right, and our district's incredibly moronic and overpaid central office staff has the most ridiculous habit of shutting down the schools at all the wrong times and, conversely, forcing us to make the trek in the worst of weather.
Case-in-point: Last Wednesday, I woke up at my customary Oh, Dark Thirty, and got my decaf green tea percolating. As luck would have it, I logged onto the computer to check my e-mail. First thing in the queue? A notice that schools were closed that day for "inclement weather."
I looked out the window. No rain. No snow. No sleet. No hail. No nothing but the darkness that only 5:30 a.m. can bring.
Turns out that Wednesday was what we call in the business a "freebie." The weather was relatively delightful all day long. Go figure.
The angry Snow Gods did call upon us Wednesday night, wreaking all kinds of havoc with people's commutes (12 hours to drive 10 miles, in some cases) and power lines (almost a week later, some still haven't had the juice turned back on). So that meant Thursday was another day for watching movies and grading papers.
We thought for sure that Friday would dawn, brisk but sunny (it did) and we'd be back in school.
We weren't. Something about power outages at some locations. But what about the rest of us?
Yesterday and today are what's known as "Teacher Workdays." Monday, for getting our first-quarter grades done. Today for mind-numbing inservices. I think Principal Man has planned a fun seminar on teaching to the lowest common denominator, so that everyone on God's Green Earth can pass the ridiculously easy and quite insulting statewide standardized tests. Four or five hours of fun, folks! I think I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a wooden spoon.
Ice is forecast for this morning. But I'm betting that because the cherubs are not required to go to school today, and the buses won't be rolling, our "professional development" will commence on time, at 8 a.m. sharp.
Who cares if dozens of teachers slip and slide and break their necks on their way to school? Not our administration, I'm sure. They're too busy trying to make each other look good to care about those of us who "deliver instruction," as they are wont to say.
And they call themselves "educators." Right.
