Columbus school: Beware of Falling Rock and Burning Brakes

We have been here almost 3 months now and have not yet written a blog about school. There are many reasons for this. Primarily, a lack of time. And secondly, it is difficult for us to keep current on all the changes that are taking place.

Everyday we get picked up by a small escolar busetta (a mini-van sized vehicle that seats 14 seven year olds comfortably, and 14 adults miserably) and we head up the mountain. The main road up to school is Las Palmas, a two lane mountain highway, very similar to Mt. Baker Highway near Artist Point in quality (much better than many imagine being in Colombia) and terrain. However, this is the main road to the country, the airports, and many schools in the area. Two lanes just isn’t enough so the department is widening the road to four lanes. This requires blasting away at the mountain side from 8 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon; thus, closing the main road to school.

So, two weeks ago the school board, parent committee, and administration changed our school schedule to accommodate the road closure. The school day was changed from 7:45-3:00 to 9:45-5:00. The main route up to school would be up the very steep Escobero road, very beautiful but dangerous when wet. (Oh, did I mention that it is now the rainy season in the “rain forest”!) Then, after a long day with children who have been on buses since 8:30, we leave school at 5:00 to go down Las Palmas after the road re-opens. We usually arrive home around 6:30. It sounds like a good plan, a bit of a long day, but safer going up and down.

But what happens when you blast away at rocky mountain side in the middle of the rainy season? Mud slides and falling rocks! Not something I would like to drive or ride through after a long day. So, after two weeks on the “long schedule” the school is changing the school day and transportation yet again. Starting on Wednesday, we will be going up and down the Escobero, with an 8:15-3:30 school day. The school has hired full time mechanics to inspect the brakes on all the buses every day before going down (burning brakes is a common sight on the Escobero). The upside to this schedule change is that hopefully we will get home with some daylight left and two days of school off while the transportation department resets bus routes and inspects the buses.

How have the kids been handling the changes? Remarkably well in the elementary school. The past several weeks the second grade classes have been deeply involved in their habitat study. With five classes, the teachers decided to give the kids a quick overview of several different land and water biomes and animal needs. Then we each turned our classrooms, with the help of the fabulous integrated arts teacher, into five different biomes (Heather’s class is the ocean, others are the deciduous forest, rainforest, arctic tundra, and desert.) The day before the schedule change was announced we had given our students the assignment to research one animal from their given biome and create a project showing and telling how the animal meets its needs in its habitat. Quite a project but the kids were thrilled and got to work. Then the schedule changed and they were leaving home at 8:30 in the morning and returning close to 7:00 in the evening. Not much time for a large project. But the kids and parents were already too excited to stop and last week each classroom invited parents and all the other second grade classes in, one at a time of course, and the kids taught each other about their respective animals and habitats. It was thrilling to see how quickly their English writing skills and oral skills jumped when the kids were excited about what they were learning.

So, there is a quick overview of the Columbus school. It truly is like most schools anywhere, a few kinks to work out, but the reason we are here is for the kids and the challenge of bringing excitement into learning.