At the school where I am the computer skills teacher, the students in 
one of the science classes were doing projects on the chemical elements. 
  Each student was assigned a chemical element, and told to research 
that element on-line and in the school library.

The student who drew the element mercury thought it would be nifty to 
have samples of the element in his project.  As I understand things, his 
father works in a field where mercury switches (which are little glass 
bulbs with mercury and wires in them) are used.  This youth brought 
several of these to class, almost certainly without his father's permission.

Some of these little capsules were broken in the school building, 
resulting in mercury contamination in one of the boys' bathrooms, the 
locker room, and my classroom.

Resultantly, a HAZMAT team was in the school today, tearing up the 
carpeting in my room, and doing their work in the other places as well. 
  My classes were relocated to another room, where the air conditioner 
was off.  Although this is middle October, this is also central 
Florida[1], so the room was uncomfortably warm.  The systems on which 
the educational software is installed are still in the room being 
decontaminated, so the students participated in their Accelerated 
Reading program for the day.  They sit and read for half an hour.  Most 
of them hate it.

The kid who brought the stuff to school was suspended for two days, and 
I was asked why I didn't notice kids playing with mercury in my room, by 
people who seem to have forgotten that if kids really want to hide 
something from the teacher, it requires Superman's X-Ray vision to catch 
them.

So, life at school sucked this week.  How's life for you?

Regards,
John

[1] Yes, those of you who live near The Villages in Florida may have 
seen this on the news.

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