Snow? Not Really.
Snow Day that Didn’t Come
2-6-09
Today is the day that we are supposed to have snow. I wake up early to look outside but my bleary eyes are met with soggy, rain drenched streets and lawns. How deflating! To wake up to perfectly ordinary rain when the promise of uncommon snow has been looming in the weather forecasters’ radar maps for days.
Snow is all that we can talk about: even the merest trace of snow.
Ancient wisdom tells us that we hear and see what we want to hear and see. Perhaps that is what has taken place. We heard that there could be snow and in our mind, it was a done deal. We fixated on that snow day and we were not going to let it go.
We had visions of snuggling in warm beds for extended slumber. We had notions that a book might finally get read, a project worked on, a correspondence completed. We pictured rosy cheeked children frolicking in drifts on the front lawn and aromatic mugs of hot chocolate awaiting their return inside. We had all of that hinged upon a few degrees of temperature and it just did not happen. Like the chance that the Cardinals could come up with enough skill, enough moxy to beat the powerful Steelers, the window of opportunity for our delightful day had evaporated.
We tell ourselves that it will be alright. In our school day we can find exciting and meaningful work to do. An ordinary school day is a blessing sometimes when lessons can efficiently get executed, grades can be gathered and the pearls of wisdom will be waiting right there in the classroom to be passed to another generation. After all, with a little more than a month to go before DSTP, every minute counts!
Snow will not deter us today. We shall march into those classrooms and teach those children a thing or two. Who knows? Maybe it will nudge the test scores up a few points. Maybe it will make a difference in the rating of our school. Or even better, maybe today will be a breakthrough moment in the life of just one child who is finally able to understand a quadratic equation or the structure of a perfectly organized paragraph and demonstrate these skills flawlessly on the DSTP that is less than 24 teaching days away! (Or did I already mention that testing is just on the horizon?) Just think.
We will look toward the sky and study the weather maps again. Maybe, there is a cold front moving in with a chance of precipitation. Now if we can only get the thermometer to cooperate.
CHEF
The Cape Henlopen Education Foundation Dance last Friday night at the Baycenter was a blast! So many people showed up to support our schools and to have some fun on a very windy winter night. Teachers from every school in the district, some retired teachers, administrators, support staff, and many community members all came together and it was quite a lovely party. There is so much talent in our district, so many caring, competent and dedicated people that is seems we must on the threshold of a new and improved Cape.
