Inclement Weather Dismissal Plans

I LOVE my kids' elementary school. Typically, they walk the mile home from school in the afternoon, but today was not a typical day.  Exactly 20 minutes before school let out, the torrential rain started...

So instead of listening for my Droid to play Fleetwood Mac and notify me that it was time to open the garage door, I jumped in the van and headed for the school.  

In nicer weather, the kids who walk, exit the school from the back of the building.  So, I pulled up to the rear fence and waited along with a few hundred other parents who didn't want their kids to drown on the way home!  

2:55...no kids
3:00...no kids
3:05...no kids

It occurred to me after ten minutes, that there might be an inclement weather dismissal plan that I wasn't aware of.  

And then I saw the most amazing thing!  A very small, very wet, woman who slightly resembled a teacher was running barefoot from car to car in front of me.  

Do you know what she was doing??  She was asking each parent which kid(s) they were there to pick up and then radio-ing back into the building to tell the teachers inside!  And THEN, the teachers inside would find the kid(s) and walk them out to the appropriate car...with an umbrella!!!   The whole process took slightly longer for me than for some of the other parents because they had to track down THREE of mine...probably all at opposite ends of the building! 

I kept watching that poor little drenched teacher running back and forth in the rain, thinking how grateful I am that we found such an amazing neighborhood and such amazing schools with teachers who take such good care of my kids.