The Worst 30 Minutes of my Life

Last night, one of the most awful events happened. Here is the official report of what transpired.

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Event Occurred On December 13, around 5:30
Event Documented on December 14, 2008

I had sixteen children in my care on December 13, 2008 for the after school field trip to the movies. Fifteen were 3rd graders and one was a 1st grader. The trip there went relatively smoothly. On the way back, however, it became clear that a blizzard was coming. We drove home on roads with very poor visibility and bitter cold winds. Before the children arrived at school, I gave all access to my cell phone to allow them to notify relatives on our location and predicted arrival time.

We pulled into the back school parking lot around 5:30. The children were anxious to get off the bus and be reunited with their families. However, I made all of them remain in their seats until I checked for trash around their area. I then dismissed them one by one. I did this from front to back.

My first failure was not explicitly telling students to inform me before they left. As a result, by the time I had dismissed the last student and had gotten off the bus myself, some students were already getting into their cars. At this time, three of my students told me that they really, really, really had to go to the bathroom. I knew this to be true as they had told me this much earlier in our journey home. The tutoring trailer was not open as the director couldn’t locate the teacher, who had the keys. I therefore walked these three students halfway to the school (about fifty-yards from the general crowd) and gave them my keys to get into the school to use the bathroom. I instructed them to come back quickly. At that point, the uncle of one of the girls, who went to the bathroom, drove up to fetch her. I told him that her father had called me not fifteen minutes ago asking me to take care of her for an hour until he could fetch her. He therefore called him and cleared up the matter. The little girl came out of the bathroom and I gave her to her uncle.

After she left, I put a student had been holding my hand the whole time in my truck with the heat on so she would stay warm. Her niece soon joined her, as did her sister. I was taking them all to the church at the request of their parents when all the other kids had left. Finally, the last girl to come out of the bathroom. She told me that she couldn’t find her cousin, Crazy M, and was worried they had left without her. I told her that I doubted that her family would just leave her, assuming that Crazy M would have said something if she had left her cousin. At this point, I began to worry about where M was, as I could not see her with the remaining students. I told her to wait with the girls in the truck as I looked for M. After a few minutes of asking around, it became clear to me that I had lost M. The only students remaining were the four in my truck. The rest had gotten into cars and left when I had walked the children those fifty yards to go the bathroom. I got really worried at this point and told the director. She was clearly alarmed and upset with me, with good reason. I asked around, the students, etc. The kids in the truck had seen her running towards the tutoring trailer, but since that had been locked, she couldn’t have been in there. After about ten minutes of searching for her, the girl's aunt arrived, looking for her, M and their other cousin. I asked M's cousin to go and see if M was in her aunt'scar. She wasn’t. At this point, I became very anxious. I asked the director if we could call the bus driver to check to see if she fell asleep on the bus. The director became very very angry with me and told me that M was my responsibility and that I needed to go over to the bus garage and pound on the door myself. I didn’t know the buses were at the bus garage, or I would have done this without asking. As I was running towards the garage, M’s aunt got out of the car with a clearly worried expression. I told her I was running to check to see if she fell asleep on the bus. I pounded on the bus garage door and one of the bus drivers allowed me to check the bus. No M. I then ran back, terrified at this point. I found that Maria’s aunt and her cousins had left. I then tried to check the school I asked one of the 3rd graders who was with us if she had seen her. She had not. I then ran back into the parking lot. Another teacher was now with the director. She told me that she had seen two girls in the store with their grandmother, one of whom she thought was M, but she didn’t know their names. I asked her if one of the little girls was wearing a pink shirt, as M had been. She said that she was. This was the first bit of good news. Until the news was confirmed, the director told me to quickly run the three girls in the truck to their parents in the church parking lot. I did so and returned within five minutes. When I came back, the other teacher was gone and the director was in her car on the phone. She rolled her window down and then told me that M had been found. She was indeed with her Grandmother the whole time.

I naturally take 100% responsibility for not knowing where my students were at all times. I love my students and no one was more distraught that I lost M than I was. With the terrible weather and her propensity to wander off, last night’s saga could have ended tragically. This is a very sobering reality that has weighed heavily no my spirit. After much thought, I have concluded that as a first year, first semester teacher with no background in education and very little familiarity with the policies of Little Wound Elementary or the community at large, I am not qualified for the position of 3rd grade tutor. I therefore will not seek to renew my contract for the spring semester.

Sincerely,

BB