Yesterday (Wednesday--which was actually Day 70) I received a call from my friend J. J called to tell me that she could have been killed on her commute into work that morning.
Here's the situation. J lives in an area that has been pounded by snow over the past few weeks. She set off yesterday morning to go to her job as a second-grade teacher in a nearby district. Her normally 20- to 25-minute commute turned into a one-and-a-half hour drive. See, on her way to school, a snowstorm began. Not just flurries or little swirls of snow, but full white-out conditions from time to time. J explained to me that she drove slower, took her time, and still suffered from the usual bane of the snowstorm: icy roads. Even while using all of the precautions of traveling in the snow, she still slipped, slid, and swerved on her way to work.
While reading this, you may be asking why she didn't just turn around or go home. Well, the storm didn't begin until J was more than halfway to work. Second, she was due at school to teach; there was no delay or snow day called for the district she teaches in. So she did what any good teacher does: she went to work! Yes, she was late (along with several other colleagues), but she was there.
As she was talking to me, she asked me what makes educators risk life and limb to get into the classroom? You know what I mean. It doesn't matter if it's snowing snowflakes the size of quarters, pouring rain, or blowing hurricane-force gusts. We go to work!
I was reminded of a time where I should have probably gone back home and called off but I didn't. I was on my way to work when I was rear-ended while stopped at a red light. It was a little bump on my bumper. I wasn't hurt. I exchanged insurance information, checked my bumper for damage (none that I could see), and went on to work. I got there late.
When I arrived, I told my principal what happened. She promptly sent me home for the day to have myself checked over because I was four months pregnant at the time. She told me not to worry; someone would cover my class. So I went home and told my husband what happened. He called off and went with me to the obstetrician and everything else. It wasn't until I was lying on the exam table that I realized I hadn't thought of myself or my unborn child. I was too concerned with getting to work!
On a separate occasion, I woke up to a snowy day. The ticker on the bottom of the television screen said my district (which was about a 30-minute commute from my home) was on a one-hour delay. I decided to leave my house a the normal time to be assured that I had time to drop my children off at daycare and take my time getting to work. I went through my normal routine and dropped off my children. At the daycare provider's home, the news broke in to say that the district I actually lived in changed their delay to a snow day. The district I worked in had not. So off to work I went.
I traveled down the highway, took my exit into the city, and arrived at my school to find no one around. Dark building. No cars. No movement whatsoever. So I waited a few minutes, thinking someone would be on their way soon. Not so. Ten minutes later I decided to go back home. When I arrived at my daycare provider's home, I found out that my district changed the delay to a snow day somewhere between the time I left my provider's home the first time and the time I arrived at my school. WHAT? Again, I was simply going in to work.
What makes us think that we HAVE to get to our schools no matter what the conditions are? Why don't we sometimes take that day to keep our own selves safe? Why do we sometimes risk harm to get to our job? Some of us might say (if we dare to admit) that we are afraid our class will fall apart without us. Or that we are embarrassed about the plans that are on our desk--if they are there at all. Or that no one can teach our students like we can. Or that secretly we are all a little OCD and just don't deal with change very well! Whatever your reason, especially in dangerous weather, please take precautions...AND a vacation day if you need to do so!
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