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Boarding the bright yellow school bus on the hottest day of summer

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 8, 2007 |

School opens this week (Thursday in Clarksville) in most area schools. Please keep a watchful eye for children crossing streets, and remember to stop for school buses (it’s the law)!

Having lived in the area for three and a half years, I remain amazed by the early start to the school year. Having watched severe heat waves unfold in August for two of those three summers, I remain amazed that more school children, teachers, and bus drivers aren’t sickened by the excessive heat in the time it takes to line up, board, travel and debark from the yellow academic arks. Short for archaic?

What’s the deal?

Pools close just as the hottest month of the year kicks in, leaving parents with other young children unable access that form of cooling, and leaving no cooling options for the hot weekends still to come. Pools close because the school year starts, and many of the young lifeguards are heading back to class. And do they close this early out of antiquated habit?

The county clings to closure in May, before the summer heat sets in, which sets the stage for the first-day-of-school surge in August, just as temps will hit 100+ with high humidity, dangerous heat indexes, and poor air quality. Again. Of course, everyone will feel better too as they inhale the exhaust fumes and feel the heat radiating off a dozen or two buses and cars in crowded school parking lots when the mercury crosses the century mark. Are bus drivers certified in first aid and prepared to deal with heat exhaustion?

Add to all that the reality that air conditioning bills for the schools are a nightmare still in development, given the surge of people crowding into hallways to generate even more heat.

I believe it would make so much more sense to keep students in school until mid-June, and return closer to Labor, and closer to the starting time-line of most colleges and universities. Let our children stay home, and stay cool, in the hottest month. School will still be there in September, and in June.

About Christine Anne Piesyk

With 40 years behind me (Huh? What? How did that happen?) as a journalist, feature writer, investigative reporter, editor, and film/theater/arts critic, I brought my liberal New England activism to Tennessee several years ago. having completed a midlife undergraduate degree in community organizing and women's studies, and an MA in Interdisciplinary Arts. I am currently an MFA student at Goddard College. I served on Future Search Commissions for two colleges and an issue-specific commission for the City of Northampton, MA, and did minor undergraduate work in studies in urban planning and community development. I am a community volunteer and a member of FreeThinkers for Peace and Civil Liberties. I am a certified storm spotter. In my spare time (define spare time please?) I am a voracious reader, obsessive movie buff, classical music junkie; I also and design and make sci-fi/fantasy and renaissance costumes. I have an unquenchable interest in just about everything. I see life as an ongoing opportunity for learning and adventure, with the best things still to come. All posts by Christine Anne Piesyk as presented on Clarksville Online are copyright ©2006, 2007 to the author.

Email: womanspeak@yahoo.com

Sections: Arts and Leisure
Topics: Heat, pools, school year, Schools

3 Responses to “Boarding the bright yellow school bus on the hottest day of summer”

1. Jeff Mack Says:
   August 8th, 2007 at 8:20 pm

   No access to cooling? Go inside. They close because there is no one paying to go into them. Should they be forced to keep them open by the government? Most of the pools are owned by the city, if they stayed open with no one paying to get into them, people scream about wasting money. Young lifeguards heading back to class would be a good reason to close them too. I don’t know of a resposible adult who would work as a lifeguard at the pay they are paying these kids. BTW - With “hot summer day” in the title the picture has children with jackets and long pants. What a hoot!!

2. Bill Larson Says:
   August 8th, 2007 at 10:10 pm

   You say we are taking unfair advantage of these children? Sounds like you are demanding a increase in the wages they are paid for doing the job in question. Jeff we will make a fine liberal/progressive out of you yet!

3. Jeff Mack Says:
   August 10th, 2007 at 9:41 pm

   LOL! Good one Bill, but as I’m sure you know, it’ll never happen! Nice to see you have a since of humor. I don’t get to see it much. I didn’t say anything about taking advantage of the kids, because they are getting paid what they are worth. They should not get a dime more than they are worth. Just like me and you. If I’m not worth much, I won’t get paid much. Just as it should be.

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