THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 23, 1995 TAG: 9511230851
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ANNE SAITA
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
One day this month, I showed up for a meeting at the wrong place and - it turned out - the wrong time.
Currituck County's boards of education and commissioners had scheduled a morning joint session at Central Elementary School. But the word never got to me that the meeting place had been changed to a Moyock restaurant.
So I ended up sitting in the school's faculty lounge a couple of hours later questioning the legality of the boards' actions, and fuming.
Someone at Central must have sensed the heat of my anger because the fire alarm went off.
I don't remember much from my own primary school days, but I do recall fire drills bringing out the worst in some of us.
We'd push each other in line. We'd whisper mean things in someone's ear to start a row. Or we'd giggle with such enthusiasm that before the ``all clear'' bell rang some of us would be pulling chalkboard-cleaning duty during recess.
Girls hadn't yet been allowed to wear pants to school, so those of us wearing ``in'' dresses that barely grazed our behinds would shiver uncontrollably in the cold Connecticut air.
A lot of the children standing Wednesday outside the school building in Barco were really cold, too, but they didn't display any of the misbehavior I'd have expected.
In fact, the schoolchildren behaved beautifully.
``I know it's cold, sweetheart,'' teacher Sandra Newbern told many of the kindergarteners lined up in the windy, 30-degree morning. Many wore a thin pair of pants and T-shirt.
Newbern told those in short sleeves to tuck their arms inside, closer to their warm bodies, as they waited for about 15 minutes to return to class.
``Figure another idea except this,'' one shaking 5-year-old begged of her teacher, apparently believing this was part of a lesson plan.
Older students in other classes sometimes huddled together under teachers' orders as a way to stay warm. None among the school's 360 students - at least in my line of vision - was horsing around.
This was also American Education Week, designed by the National Education Association and National Parent-Teacher Association, among others, to promote a better appreciation of public schools.
The program has been around since 1921 and encourages parents and community members to visit their local schools and see what children are learning these days.
Schools throughout the Albemarle, including Central, planned special activities to make taxpayers feel good about their investment in education.
But true tests usually come when events aren't staged, like a faulty smoke detector setting off the school's fire alarm on one of the coldest days this fall.
And, from what I could see, this was one drill that every Central Elementary student passed with flying colors. by CNB