Are You Kidding Me, Deux?

Have you heard the good news? Bloomington Middle School will become Joe Baca Middle School! Yup, we get to move to a new school on Valley Blvd. Yippee! We are anxiously waiting for this school year to end to move into new rooms with new flooring, insulation, windows that don’t leak, insulation, roofs that don’t leak, insulation, and that are insect free. (Did I mention insulation?)  I was disappointed to hear from Mr. Almendarez that we would not be getting new student desks, as mine are falling apart. However futile, I can use electrical tape, safety wire, and bubble gum to repair them.

Maybe it’s superstitious of me, but I think if anyone of us complains about anything now, the move to the new school will be retracted. When this school year started, a few teachers complained that custodians had not dusted/cleaned an assortment of dead bugs off the countertops in their rooms. I drew an imaginary circle on the floor, spit twice, crossed myself, then told the teacher to wait awhile and the rats would eat them.   I asked Mr. Ayala and Mr. Almendarez if we could leave the rats at the old school. Mr. Ayala responded with an emphatic YES, but added that we’d have to return to feed them! It’s just one more thing I have to do, I thought. Teaching English gives me plenty to do, but I suppose it’s a small price to pay for a new school. You have to admit, though, it is a little ridiculous. The rats have fended for themselves for years. They can fend for themselves now, I say!

Divisions of ants regularly launch assaults on the school, break into regiments, and invade the rooms, sometimes by stealth, sometimes boldly, confident in their numbers. They were marching in their little lines across my desk. I squashed troops, but they returned with a vengeance. Being accustomed to seeing ants, one student calmly remarked, “Ms. Cattano, you have an ant in your hair.” Considering how many ants there were, I was lucky I had only one.

When other Colton teachers, the community, school board, and everyone at the district office visit our new school, they will see a happy staff. We are eagerly anticipating the move to the new insulated, non-leak, rat-free, mouse-free, and insect-free school. (Now I just have to keep my student desks together even though we have a “no gum” policy at our school.)