I Chaperoned 2nd Graders on the Subway During the NYC Earthquake
NYC had a 4.8 earthquake at 10:23 am ET and a 4.0 aftershock at 6 pm ET on April 5th, 2024.
Of course a few teachers and I were on the subway, escorting a group of 30 2nd-graders for a field trip to Times Square.
This is how things unfolded.
Earlier, I had signed up to help a 2nd-grade class for an entire week in downtown NYC. All classrooms in this school have two teachers, and I was covering for one of the regular staff members for a particular classroom.
I was quite excited about going on a field trip to an off-Broadway show. The last time I’d been on a similar field trip was before the pandemic. We were booked on a yellow school bus for the short ride to Times Square.
I saw my colleague’s ashen face the minute I arrived in the classroom around 8 am.
“There’s no bus. They didn’t put in for a bus.”
I found out that this was the third time this type of miscommunication had occurred at the school. Understandably, she and the other second-grade teachers were livid.
Heated conversations and texts with administrators on the phone followed while the…
