New School Year Day 1

Monday, August 20th 2007. I lumber groggily back into the lives of St. Louis's youth.

I got a call late last week to ensure my presence at The Gateway Institute of Technology bright and early Monday morning. Sunday night I packed my book bag with reading materials, a water bottle and change for the snack machine. I was in bed snoozing before the end of the late local news.

In the St. Louis Public Schools summer vacation lasts for at least two weeks after the first tardy bell is rung. The first week is spent trying to get students into a school building, then out of the hallways, then into a classroom by any means necessary. The second week is spent checking to see if any of the students happened to land in the building and classroom where they actually belong.

Having already learned this pertinent info about the start of the school year, I know not to be too ambitious about academics on the first few days of school. My goal for the first week is to try to get comfortable being awake between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and noon.