amBush

When I was in intermediate (middle) school, I was terribly, terribly bored. In an attempt to revitalize my interest in school, I was given a project to landscape a small strip of land between the road and the bus pull-off in front of the school. iI was told the budget and sent off. I measured and made diagrams of the area ot be done. I interviewed landscapers until I found one that would work with me and within my budget. Instead of just planning to stick some trees in a line and stick in some annuals aroudn them, we planned the landscaping to be low-maintenance, able to withstand heavy traffic in case of fire drills and the like. We considered the view both from the school and the street, and came up with textures and line that worked from both directions. We wrote up the contract, and I took it all in to the principal.

Two weeks later, I got off teh bus to see a few trees stuck out in the space in a little line, with annual s stuck in around them. The annuals were promptly trampled three days later, when we had a fire drill. "Well, we decided to just go ahead and get something in," I was told when I asked about my project. Somehow, I never regained much interest in school.

I have yet to come out of an IEP meeting without being reminded of this experience.