blue card count

They used the word "desperate" over the intercom, as in "teachers: Ms. ------ desperately needs your full blue card count in the attendance office in order to even out class sizes." Mine was already filled out, but I asked the kids to add up the numbers for me in their heads. (That's me--reinforcing mathematics in the language arts classroom; aka: don't have a calculator.) 139 students, total, in my cluster. In the cluster down the hall: about 60.

Long story short: The entire seventh grade needs to be restructured in a stunning display of schedule-juggling worthy of Barnum & Bailey. I despair.

And then, leaving school today, I saw the sweet woman who answers the phones huddled over a pile of blue cards with the brilliant art guy who makes shovels, and it was like the Red Cross airdropping food to a famished nation: help is on the way!