It is September already and the school bells have rung loud and clear, summoning the little darlings back for another year of learning. Also, which always seems to ring true, it means that the weather will be hot-hot-hot.
When I was molding minds in the classroom, I would hear the students lamenting about how hot it was and asking why wasn’t there air conditioning, at which point I reminded them it was also hot where I was standing and we would just have to offer it up (Catholic school thing).
We would have box fans in the classrooms and we let students have water breaks and water bottles. The more water they drank the more bathroom breaks, the more fans, the louder one had to speak. Guess what? We lived through it.
Does it also seem school starts earlier? My son, whose birthday is on Sept. 1, felt school should never start before his birthday. That didn’t come to pass.
This year we are seeing schools getting more crowded as there seems to be a deluge of students. At one time enrollment at Blythe Park School in Riverside dropped so low some felt it should be closed and the property sold. Good thing it didn’t happen. Ames School also in Riverside needs to expand, with the school board searching for ways to accommodate all of the kids. Komarek School in North Riverside has encountered the same problem.
What doesn’t change is you need to keep those No. 2 pencils sharpened, crayons boxed, have enough paper, make sure you keep your assignment notebook up to date and don’t answer the question “What did you learn in school today?” with the answer “Nothing.”
Get your tickets: Tickets for the Riverside Township Lions Club Person of the Year Dinner honoring Frank Gangware are available at Riverside Bank, 17 E. Burlington St.; Riverside Library, 1 Burling Road; and Aunt Diana’s, 29 E. Burlington St.
The dinner will be held at the Riverside Golf Club on Sept. 27. Tickets are $45 and will not be available at the door. More information can be obtained by calling 447-5219. Deadline for purchasing tickets is Sept. 21.
