SOL: school zone

These days, I'm heading home from school sometime between 5:10 and 5:30 because of track practice. Today, I was driving along behind another car. As we approached a school zone sign, it began to slooooow down.

I thought to myself, If the light's not flashing, it's not a school zone.

Students have fled for the day, their backpacks stuffed with smelly gym clothes and the homework they may or may not do. They have changed in the locker room for track or tennis practice, worked out, and waited for their parents out back. If the light's not flashing, it's not a school zone.

Teachers, fed up with glancing at the dingy white cinderblock walls that no number of colorful posters or exemplary student work samples can truly cover, have packed their bags. They have trudged out the door, weighed down by papers that may or may not be graded by the next day. They are home with their partners and children and pets, in their needs-to-be-cleaned-but-who-has-the-time houses. If the light's not flashing, it's not a school zone.

The building has emptied, cleared out but for the evening janitors dutifully emptying trash cans and wiping down white boards. The lights automatically switch off with no activity in the rooms. If the light's not flashing, it's not a school zone. 


If the light's not flashing, it's not a school zone.

Well, at least, you don't have to drive 20.