Two days ago while watching my daily fix of Perry Mason, the station broke in with a breaking news story. As I watched smoke rising from suburban Portland the crawl was telling me that Marysville school was burning. Several thoughts went through my head. I am currently teaching Lego Physics at Marysville, and had been there just a few days before. When I started in the Portland TAG program over 20 years ago, Marysville was one of the hubs where students were bussed. I have no clear count of the number of times I have been in that school.
As the white smoke rose and drifted across the city I thought of the students and staff. As the reports continued and it appeared that all people were safe I thought of the several times I was there when there was a fire drill. The attempts to keep students quiet and to take this seriously all the while thinking "this is totally messing up my class time." Soon there were news crews on site showing the front of the school with the roof in flames. I thought of the hallways with the student murals and artwork. As the firefighters skillfully and quickly took a chain saw to the roof, cutting large sections to aid in the fight, I thought of the beautiful exposed wooden trusses. As I watched the hoses blasting untold gallons of water into these openings I thought of the classrooms both generic and unique, the projects, the posters and the books. As I watched the quenching water pouring like a small stream out the front door I thought of the conversation I just had with the custodian who was worried about a small leak and the ensuing water damage.
As the news helicopter showed the trucks, the hoses, and the chaos from above, I thought of the newly reborn playground, transforming the decades old asphalt into a truly wonderful space. Every school has its history and soul and when an event such as this happens it changes forever. It is my hope that the damage will be repaired with a minimum of scaring and that students and staff can return soon. And I look to the day when I can push my cart of Lego's down those happy halls.
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