Ups and downs

It has been an up and down day. It started with a doubtful opinion about whether the current excavation around the outside of the classrooms will make any difference to the water in the crawlspace. This was just plain demoralizing. I found out at the end of the day that water is indeed going down because of the pumping out process, and that drying is happening right now.

The work going on the inside and outside of the school right now is just amazing. Workers all over the place. By the afternoon I could see guys on the roof over room 7, I assume mounting and sealing the exhaust fan for the east end of the wing. Excavation around the four classrooms is complete, and drainage pipes are being laid, and then (by now, I assume) covered with fill. They will probably repave the torn up asphalt areas tomorrow. There will be workers there through the weekend.

I went in to try and get some work done in my classroom. It's the first time I've been able to do anything there. Normally, I'd have put in three full days to this point. Today I was able to put in 2 hours. It was incredibly demoralizing, especially looking at our schedule next week, with 75% of our three day work period devoted to meetings. I have asked to have those meetings cancelled or postponed, but that will not happen.

That's the bad news. But on a positive (I hope) note, there is a chance we can have the building open in the early evening, longer than the usual 3:30 "out of the building" routine next week. I've called teachers to find out if this is something they'd like ("YES!"), and have a request in.... feeling good about the possibility of making something positive happen for my colleagues.

The air will indeed be cleaner. The rooms will indeed be warmer. Here's to hoping us teachers will be given a fair chance to do our thing.