Rock Field: It's official!

Good news! We just got the word that Rock Field has been chosen as one of the 30 winners in the Frosted Flakes contest for the baseball field renovation! I am more than excited and more than happy for my friends who live in the town where I grew up. It is my understanding that my friend Denese Stevens Mills will be posting an article about the win on the "voices" blog. Hopefully she will keep us updated on the progress of the renovations.

Other than that! Happy summer to all of you, my friends! Hope you are all having a peaceful and safe season.

Last Day of School and it's early dismissal

It has been over a week since that last day of school that we all so eagerly anticipated. I can't help but laugh when my mind wanders, recreating the last hour on my school bus.
The first part of the route was easy, hectic, but easy. It was the elementary school route with 60-64 students on any given day and it took me approximately 10 minutes to deliver them all safely home. Of course, there were moments of tears when I had to say goodbye to the 5th graders. They will all be in middle school next year and I will miss them terribly.

The second part of the early dismissal was not without incident. I turned my back on the bus for just a few minutes to coordinate with another driver and when I returned, a couple of my students had opened the escape hatches on the top of the bus. They were celebrating and pushing the limits. At least they weren't throwning firecrackers at each other. Their behavior didn't concern me too much since I feel that they should all know how to open the hatches in case of an emergency. I felt that the joke was on them! What did concern me was the fact that I couldn't get one of the hatches to close properly after all of the fun was had.

If any of the emergency escape exits are ajar, the alarm on the school bus will continue to beep. So, we sat there for approximately 30 minutes opening window after window, door after door, again and again trying to make the alarm shut off. Finally, after calling for help in the form of a mechanic who could not come to our immediate rescue, I saw a small opening in one of the top hatches which was keeping it from closing properly. Simple procedure...open the hatch, fit the two plastic pieces together again then close the hatch. Alarm is off.

By the time all was said and done, over half of my students ,out of embarrassment, had found another ride home and I was left with 6 students to deliver home. My route was short and even though we didn't leave the school at the anticipated time, I was able to deliver my passengers and still get back to transportation in time to leave work early. Yes, it felt good. School is out for the summer!! YEA! Last day of school and it is early dismissal! Yes!