My Lucky Day!

Today at school around 12:30 there came an announcement over the PA....."This is not a drill. Gather all of your belongings and go to your Home rooms. Once there evacuate the building immediately." Followed by an hour and a half of standing on slushy snow covered grass while we waited for each parent to show up and sign out their students.

All the while rumors were flying. "There was a water leak in the server room that started a fire." "There is a deadly virus going around the school - that's why half the students are absent today." " Did you hear that the PE teacher caught the virus and had to go home early?" "There is an alarm going off that tells us there is a methane gas leak." And so on and so forth.
I have received an email from the principal stating the following:

"The evacuation this afternoon was due to a suspicious odor in the building. We felt it was important to contact the fire department and gas company to have this odor identified. The Alpine Fire District Fire Chief made the determination to evacuate in order to safely conduct tests. After several agencies performed tests in the building it was confirmed that the odor was neither natural gas nor a CO2 leak. It is now believed the odor was caused by a large amount of stagnant standing water that had seeped into the building during this last storm. We have been reassured there is no immediate threat from today's situation."

One thing I find hilarious is that our school is a No Technology school meaning no cameras, cell phones, ipods, etc. Within minutes of the evacuation cell phones materialized out of thin air. I'd say there were over 20. People were texting and calling parents. And I saw four different kids with ipods. One of them had her ipod in her pocket, a small hole in her pocket allowed the headphones through her pocket,up her pants and shirt, down her shirt sleeve putting the little speaker just inside her cuff and she said she puts her elbow on the table and rests her head on her hand and listens to music during her classes. Unbelievable. No - I take it back - I believe.

While it was a bit cold and uncomfortable it was some excitement that has started our Christmas break a day and a half early. That's right, school is closed tomorrow!