Timing Is Everything

 Outside our school is a ring of heavy machinery, tearing up the streets. Not just outside the school, but for a block up and down on either side. Tractors, dump trucks, backhoes, all running full tilt from seven in the morning through the bulk of the instructional day. The mild relief we receive comes from the fact that the heat in our school remains unfixed so we are keeping the windows closed to diminish some of the extraneous noise.

Which is considerable. 

Grinding up old pavement and putting new asphalt down. All the attendant chatter of the crew is drowned out by the machinery, but surges to the fore as soon as something shuts down. Which is noticeable because just about the time the drone becomes a noise in the background, the pulsing stops. All that leverage one gives to ward off the sound threatens to topple over when it isn't there anymore. 

And all of this would be a challenge in any environment, but at an elementary school you have the unique feature of children's fascination with all that hardware. Monsters chewing up their street and spitting it back out. Little Bobcat frontloaders dodging in and out. Sweepers trailing behind, moving debris to the gutters. 

Just try and get a group of first graders away from the fence and try to coax them back inside for math. Nothing could ever be more mundane than the pursuit of knowledge when tractors are the alternative. 

Somewhere in here is the reality of the working week. It's the same one for teachers as it is for the crew working to fix the street outside our school. The neighborhood was awakened bright and early with sirens and a PA announcement demanding that cars be moved or would be towed at the owners' expense. This special bit of cacophony came before the diesel contraptions began their churning. The families of our students were tasked with finding a place for the car and getting their children dressed and off to school. Full attention is at a premium on the best days, but this makes rainy day recess look like a walk in the park. 

Which might be a better solution, now that I think about it. Taking all these kids for a hike until the din subsides. And we are left with the usual racket that accompanies elementary education.