Where to begin. First, you all may see a spike in gas prices in the coming days. Second, now I know how much the district administration cares for its staff and students. Let me take a couple of deep breaths before I go on.
Clik here to view.
Here at Top Comments we welcome longtime as well as brand new Daily Kos readers to join us at 10pm Eastern. We strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
Our story begins on Thursday. I left school early to train to drive a district activity bus. A short bus built on a van frame that seats about 14. No CDL required. Why? As I reported last week, we had a very successful day at Solo and Ensemble. So instead of making our school’s band director drive, I’m volunteering to drive. That’s why there will be no diary on the 17th. A full report will be in the diary on the 24th.
But I digress. As I’m out on the road (the trainer seemed like he made me go through every RR crossing in town) the trainer notices a HUGE column of smoke. We thought it might be a big fire, but nope.
There was a power outage at the BP refinery in Whiting, IN—the largest refinery in the midwest—that cause ALL the stacks to flare. Workers were evacuated as was a nearby day care center.
Needless to say, the air became rather unpleasant in the afternoon. I was already at home when I found out that the after school credit recovery program was cancelled after only like an hour due to fumes.
*Deep Breath*
The next day.
I’m usually one of the first in the building in the morning. The SECOND I step in the door I’m knocked back by the smell. It got worse. My room smelled like bad asphalt. Not the good clean kind they put on the roads, but nasty rotten asphalt. My room is next to the plant. Only a brick wall separates. Not happy. Not happy at all. 20 minutes before the bell rings to start class, parents received this:
We are receiving some inquiries about whether we will hold school due to the BP refinery issue. We have checked with Hammond Fire and it is not causing an air quality hazard.
I’m not going to go into the teacher thread on the school email, suffice it to say that we were NOT happy. Between six and ten teachers left during the day because they got sick. The nurse’s office was packed. Parents were picking up their kids left and right. Me? I was lightheaded all day. But I’m high functioning, so I was able to power through. The looks of absolute misery on my kids’ faces was heartrending. My thoughts were that senior admin NEEDED to come into the building and experience it for themselves. Because if ONE kid got carted away in an ambulance because of the smell and fumes, that would have been it. The principal emailed the teachers to say that admin WAS in the building on and off with the fire department checking air quality throughout the day.
Hmm.
Then we get THIS at the end of the day from a BP spokesperson:
The exact material and amount released during the flaring event are presently undetermined. However, air monitoring is being conducted around the facility, and levels are currently meeting national ambient air quality standards.
Determinations regarding public health and safety are made by local emergency management officials and local health departments. Questions regarding specific health impacts or recommendations should be directed to the county health department or other qualified medical professionals.
Remember that these kids live in the shadow of that refinery. US Steel is also nearby. These places have been poisoning the area for decades. Why? Because they’re mostly black and brown and all of them are poor. Even meeting “national standards”, kids and adults can still get very sick.
As one teacher said, it really shows everyone just how much the superintendent cares bout his teachers and the students of the district. I’d say more, but I might get in trouble.
It will be a VERY interesting board meeting coming up, that’s for sure.
So with prayers for the health of my kids, and hoping I didn’t suffer, on to Tops!
TOP COMMENTS
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down. Please remember that comment inclusion in Top Comments does not constitute support or endorsement by diarist, formatter, Top Comments writers or DailyKos. Questions, complaints or comments? Contact brillig.
No submissions at this writing.
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, February 2, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
TOP PICTURES
Top Pictures for today, February 3. Click any picture to be taken to the full comment or picture. Thank you to the wonderful dKos staff who made it possible to continue this feature in memory of jotter!
