HEADLINES………………………………………………………….September 16, 2011

(Dan’s just departed to get a head start on an out-of-town weekend. He asked if I’d be your substitute ‘Headlines’ writer for this week.)

“Teacher Mary, we found the snake.”

I was standing in the school’s main hallway on Thursday afternoon when a small group of middle school students approached me with that announcement. It’s one of those deceptively simple declarations that raises alarm and calms your fears all at the same time. It brought back memories of phone calls from my son that began with, “Everything’s OK, Mom. No one was hurt” or “Hi, Mom. The good thing is that nobody’s in jail”. In this case, too, no one was hurt and I was deeply pleased that the snake had been found and settled back into its cage (or’ jail’, I suppose, from the perspective of the snake.)

The snake in question was Spot, the ball python who lives in Teacher Bailey’s middle school science classroom. He’s not of the poisonous variety and Teacher Bailey assures me that he’s ‘friendly’, although I’ve never really put him to the test. (How can you truly determine that, after all? He can’t shake hands, give hugs, or provide me with an encouraging pat on the back. And I have never seen him smile.) In any event, on Wednesday, one of our middle school students was engaging in an unrequited embrace with Spot and didn’t latch his cage completely when she returned him to it. Spot saw his opportunity sometime that evening and he made a break for it. When his absence was discovered on Thursday morning, the middle school students formed a search party, but their sincere efforts failed to turn up any sign of Spot. Soon , Teacher Bailey appeared at my door, looking slightly abashed and asked if she could sit down. (The middle school science classroom has been the setting for some of my best Friends School stories, often the kind that make you think, “This will be funny someday.” When Teacher Bailey appears in my office with that look on her face and asks to sit down, my body goes into its ‘fight or flight’ response. I pretend to be listening serenely, but I am braced and poised to flee.) Teacher Bailey told me that Spot was missing, despite everyone’s best efforts to find him. She assured me that he wasn’t poisonous and she reminded me once again of his friendly nature. Then she also reminded me that Back to School Night was scheduled for that very evening and asked how I felt about having a hundred parents in the building with a snake at large.

Before we really had to confront the ethical dilemma of hosting a large event with an escaped serpent slithering around the building, Tinka Berger, parent volunteer extraordinaire (and snake charmer), found Spot. He was on a high shelf above the turtle cage in a shoebox full of rocks. I’m told he was smiling. And no one was hurt.

Announcements & Reminders

** Please plan to join us for our all-school potluck dinner on Friday, September 30 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in our Community Room.

**We had a great Back to School Night last night. Thanks to all of you who turned out to join us. We hope you enjoyed the evening and found it informative, helpful, and non-reptilian.

** We’ve had our first case of strep this week in one of the K/1 classrooms. This is the season for coughs, colds, and sniffles, but you might want to be a little extra vigilant right now.

I hope you all enjoy a lovely fall weekend.

Best,

Mary