Homeless

The storm has been rough on everyone, but Newark was hit hard. Most of our students still don't have power, and neither does our school. Fortunately, North Star is willing to make sacrifices to educate our children, and today we made it work even though Newark Public Schools is still closed. It was frustrated to get started, but it was a good thing.

Over the weekend, the ops staff worked 24-hour days to move our school to another building. One of the North Star schools was only using half the building, so they cleaned the other half and moved in tables and chairs for our students. They also moved carts, projectors, doc cams, and office supplies. We arrived this morning to a school ready to go.

The schedule was modified so that all classes were an hour long (normal for me, but unusual for all other subjects) and there were no specials or after school activities. It was busy, but it worked. The school day also included a 90-minute study hall at the end of the day to allow students to do their homework in a warm, well-lit environment...and they were really excited about that. Crazy kids.

And it all worked out. Everything ran smoothly, which was a little surprising to all of us. I took a little while to get into my groove, but by my third class I was flying along. I even got cc'd on a a very nice email from a colleague to the principal and IL, saying how well I was doing. Not bad.

We'll be at our new home through the week, which will be rough, but I think we can handle it. The kids are happy to have something to do, and believe it or not, they love learning. The biggest problem was that they had all finished their books last week and had no independent reading books left.

The novelty will wear off, though, and tomorrow we get an added bonus: election. In a school that normally holds 280 students, and today managed to hold 800 students, will also be acting as a polling place tomorrow. It will certainly be interesting.

All in all, I was amazed at how well everyone came together and worked to teach our kids today, despite difficulties. It took the cooperation of the kids, teachers, and school leaders. I think our principal expressed it best this morning at our staff meeting when, right before the kids started arriving, she looked around the room with pride and burst into tears. We're pretty awesome.