Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Why Field Day Was the Pits.

I usually enjoy Field Day. I like getting outside. I like watching the kids play kickball and volleyball and do tug-of-war and all that. It's fun. It's somewhat relaxing. And the kids have a ball.

This year it was awful.

That morning as I drove to school I stopped to get some sunblock since I'd lost mine on the camping trip. It was a beautiful morning, with a few clouds in the sky, a lovely sun rising in the east - a perfect day for Field Day.

Except, of course, by the time we took the kids outside a brisk wind was blowing, dark clouds covered the sky and it looked like the heavens were going to open up on us. They didn't, thank goodness, but that was the only positive point of the whole day.

Due to the cold weather the kids, who are usually baking in the sun and whining about the heat and slowing down somewhat (due to the sun and heat), were wild. Absolutely wild. My mom once said that her horses played more and ran faster in cold weather, and the kids were no exception. Instead of spending field day enjoying the sports and the kids, we spent it on discipline issues and crises management.

We started off with about eight of our special ed kids who were passing around condoms, which had apparently been shoplifted earlier that week. Mrs. Language, Mr. Social Studies and I spent thirty minutes trying to sort that one out. Especially since we weren't really all that sure they even knew what the condoms were supposed to be used for. Let's just say these were the last kids we would have suspected in a condom-passing incident. Amusing moment was watching Mrs. Language interrogate the boy who finally admitted bringing them to school and asking him, "Do you know what these are used for?" and having him hem and haw and stammer and finally squeak out a "Yes, ma'am." Her response? "You certainly weren't planning to do that here at school were you?" I thought he was going to faint from embarrassment.

Then we had some of boys huffing and puffing and talking trash and trying to get involved in a fight.

Then Faraway Girl complained that a boy from Mrs. Eagle's team was touching her inappropriately. Mr. Social Studies got a hold of him and not only did he admit to the touching, but he admitted that he was touching two other girls as well. (He got seven days suspension.)

Then one of our kids got smacked by a kickball in the jaw so I had to walk her up to the nurse, and discovered three other kids trailing us so they could get in the building and get their coats.

Then the workers at the city pool, which sits next to the school, decided to work on the pool which caused the field between the kickball field and the school to FLOOD with up to 4" of quickly moving water. One minute there's a dry field...the next minute we're trying to figure how to move 450 kids through it without getting them soaked.

Then we realized that we had no way to get Scooter Girl through the field as the path she motored down on was flooded and her scooter can't get wet. Thank goodness two PTO moms were there (selling concessions) and were able to take her back to the building in a van, with her scooter (which is amazingly heavy) in a trailer behind another car. We got her in for lunch, but due to the flood and the cold, she decided (unhappily) that it would be better if she stayed in the building for the rest of the day. I felt awful for her, but she's a computer nut and was able to go play to her heart's content on a computer in the library.

And we lost, for the first time that I can remember, Field Day. Out of 30 possible points, we scored...are you ready....three.

That's three.

For coming in third place in Volleyball.

Out of three teams.

It was awful.

4 comments:

HappyChyck said...

OMG! What a nightmare! Hope the rest of the week is peaceful.

Hop like A Bunny said...

Alright Bluebird, You're slipping. I did not notice the mention of Icy Hot!

EHT said...

OMG....your situations sound like mine except your students are older than mine.

We had a touching incident a couple of years ago. Believe it or not adm. waited three days to notify the girl's parents. Guess what happened to the young man? Nothing. Not until he did it to another girl did he finally go to tribunal.

Glad to hear you will be here in God's country this weekend. I'm not sure if he will be there, but look up my blog friend from Another History Blog. Prof. Parker is at Kennesaw.

Anonymous said...

I shouldn't laugh but I can't help it...

I never liked field days with the exception of last year. I suppose because we had such a small school we had every grade from 1st through 12th on each team but discipline was never issue out there.