The craziest day ever!!!

Today was probably the craziest day that I have had since I have been a teacher.

Let me give some background information....
Since today was SuperTuesday and our school is a polling place, we were pretty much locked in our classroom all day! Registered sex offenders still have the right to vote and some are assigned to vote at our school. Therefore, recess is inside, lunch is in the classroom, and even PE teachers came to the room to teach. So it was a really funky day from the start....

Flash to 10:15 am....
I am teaching writing and some of my kids are presenting about different persuasive articles that they read. Suddenly, the lights flicker, my SmartBoard shuts off, and everything goes black. I don't have a window in my room so obviously, it is very dark. The kids all freak out, get really excited, and VERY loud! We sit in the darkness for a few moments and our principal comes over the intercom. She tells us to stay in our rooms and wait for the lights to come back. Meanwhile, I see classes moving through the hall toward the exit doors.

A moment later, the principal is back with a more urgent and frightened messaged saying, "Everyone, please evacuate the building this minute." Of course, it is POURING out. Not drizzling, not sprinkling, but POURING. I have....1. No Umbrella 2. No hood and 3. Only my Northface fleece. For the next 25 minutes, my class and 400 other students and staff stand up on the muddy hill getting soaked! It was freezing...but honestly, a hilarious sight. I wish that my camera had batteries because I have never seen anything like it!!!

After the fire squad went though the school and decided that it was safe, we were allowed to return inside. Seriously, we looked like we had all just gotten out of the shower. Soaking wet and SO COLD! When we got back inside, the power was still out. We sat in the dark until 11:30 when AmerenUE finally got the power back on.

Apparently, a power cord fell by the school and caused a power outage. That caused the generator to click on which created a lot of heat. The cold air and rain caused steam which looked like smoke. So a teacher called the office and said that there was smoke outside her room and that caused the evacuation. Now here is my favorite part which brings us back to the beginning.

The police had to come because the polling supervisors would not evacuate the building. Apparently, they are legally bound to the poll machines and they would NOT leave. The news channels showed up too!

WHAT A DAY! By the time the kids left, I felt like this whole fiasco had been 2 days ago! Wow....that was a long post. Mike goes to Colorado tomorrow for until Monday. Lucky!!! I am going to go spend sometime with him before I go to sleep. Night night!!!