Life, Uh...Finds A Way

After spending 10 amazingly awesome days back in beautiful Massachusetts with my friends and family, today, I made my triumphant return to Samoana High School. Feeling relaxed and rejuvenated, I was ready to start a brand new semester on a high note.

As I opened the door to my room, I noticed that it was warmer than I had remembered. I immediately ran for the vents to check the AC…it was on. Best I could gather, the school had turned off the air conditioning over break. Save the school some money; not a bad idea.

I continued my trek across my classroom and turned on the lights (why my light switch is across the room from the door, I still can’t quite understand.) As I scanned my gloriously tiny classroom, I noticed it was much dirtier than I remember leaving it. It also had an odd smell.

Upon initial inspection, everything seemed in order. Chairs were folded in the corner, tables were leaning against the wall, and my “desk” was clear of clutter. Then I spotted it. On my one of my students’ “Mitosis vs. Meiosis” project from last semester…MOLD! A closer look led me to mold on other projects and on the sides of the desks. Green, white and black, it was everywhere.

But, how? Using my best logic, turning off an air conditioner in a humid climate is a bad idea. When the AC was turned off, the hot equatorial sun heated the building. The humidity started to rise. However, the objects in the room were still cool and water began to condense. Since the sides of my desks aren’t finished and my students projects are made of clay, they had just the necessary amount of nutrients to harbor some lovely mold spores.

Realizing the dangers of loose mold spores in an enclosed room, I reached for my handy-dandy Clorox wipes (every teacher’s best friend) and began to scrub my desks. Next, I made a move to take down the posters when the bell rang. There was no time. The posters would have to wait…a…minute…and then I saw it! In the ceiling, near the rope from which the posters were hanging was a HOLE!

It was a small hole. Maybe a student was fooling around when I wasn’t looking and punched a hole in the ceiling. After all, it was only mineral fiber board. Not that difficult to puncture. A little angry about the disrespect for my classroom, I moved to open the door and there it was…another hole! It was then that I realized this was not the work of a student. No, this was the work of a true mastermind. It was a rat! Yes, I said, a rat!

While the presence of a rodent in my classroom would have sent me straight to the janitor or an exterminator, I simply went on with my day. In my classes, we talked about what my students did over vacation and they set goals for the upcoming semester. During my prep, I took down the moldy posters and had a student throw them away in the dumpster. That was that because, realistically, there isn’t much that can be done. On a small, mountainous island, there really isn’t much living space. Rodents, cockroaches, termites and other vermin are a fact of life here.

That is not say they aren’t annoying and a little creepy. The minute I see a cockroach in my house, the hunt is on. But there is always going to be another cockroach. True, the questionable building materials and shoddy workmanship don’t really help the situation (my building is newly renovated and the builders are still putting the finishing touches on two of the labs) but, in the words of Dr. Ian Malcolm, “life, uh…finds a way.”

Of course, I do draw the line when it comes to my students' learning. If I walked in this morning to find a rat/mold infestation, I would have marched down to the office and demanded immediate action. In order for positive learning to occur, it must occur in a positive environment. But I never saw a rat and the mold was easily taken care of.  It didn’t affect my students’ ability to learn and, thus, it wasn’t a top priority. To sound super cliché, the rule in American Samoa is that you have to roll with the punches and choose your battles wisely. Some days, there will be rats in your ceiling.