The War Zone

Construction, or rather destruction, was supposed to start back in March.  Our music classes were moved into double-portables last spring so that our music building,(two classrooms) could be torn down and replaced with a new performing arts auditorium with classrooms.  It'll be great when it's completed, but since work wasn't started until June, the project is already 3 months behind schedule and it's barely begun.

It wasn't just our music classrooms, though.  A full half of our student parking lots has either been torn up or commandeered for the project--that's a big deal at an upper-middle-class school in which the student parking lot usually contains a high percentage of Lexi, Mercedii, and BMW's.  Our Senior Lawn at the front of school, which because of the drought has become Senior Dirt Slab, has been dug up.  Even our office has all the concrete around it torn up such that the only way into the library or the office (same building) is through our finance office, and I'm sure our controller, whose tiny office is now a major thoroughfare, is less than pleased.  Upturned concrete and cyclone fencing is everywhere.

Faculty arrives back to work in a week and a half, students will flood the campus in less than two weeks.  I can't imagine that any of that cyclone fencing will come down before then, meaning that students will be attending school in a major construction zone.  I doubt even the walkways around the office will be poured before then, although I'd love to be wrong about that.

My first thought at seeing all this last week was to panic--what a nightmare!  What are the office people to do?  What about parents who need to find the office?  Where are the kids going to park?  And what about the...

And then I stopped.  Yes, it's going to suck for the people who are affected.  But I'm not really affected.  My classroom is away from the construction, and the route from the staff parking lot to my classroom to the staff lounge I frequent is completely apart from the construction.  My classroom and daily routine aren't directly affected at all.  I can feel sympathy for those who are affected, but I don't need to carry their burden.  I have enough of my own work to do, what with getting entirely new standards and textbooks for the classes I teach.  I need to take care of my business and let others take care of their business.

This is difficult for me.  I'm usually a "team player" and I try to help others and improve the campus environment outside of just my classroom.  However, there's nothing I can do to impact the construction schedule.  There's nothing I can do to help those whose classrooms or offices are affected by the construction.  My stressing about it would do no good for anyone, so I need to just butt out and let people adapt to it.  Of course I'll offer sympathy, but I won't get worked up over how ridiculous it all is.

In other words, I'll have to live the serenity prayer: Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

The campus was painted though, and a fresh coat of paint makes the remaining buildings look nice--nicer, in my opinion, than they did before. So I guess that's something.