This past Tuesday, Susan Koch was formally named the Vermont Teacher of the Year at the State Board of Education meeting at Hartford High School, in Hartford, VT. What an honor and so well-deserved. Susan is an exceptional professional, advocating thoughtfully for her students regularly, and differentiating instruction. I'm delighted for Susan, for her family, for her colleagues and for the UES Community!
On Tuesday, Susan, UES Principal Chris Hennessey and I carpooled down to the State Board meeting. Having not grown up in Vermont, there are many, many places I have yet to visit and Hartford is one of them. Riding in the back, I assured Susan and Chris I would use Google Maps to get us there and settled in for the hour ride from Montpelier.
As we got closer to the intersection of Interstate 89 and 91, I looked at my phone and saw that it was indicating we needed to take Interstate 91 south. I told Chris to head for 91 south. He asked me if I was sure. I checked the phone again and indeed, I saw 91 south. Chris moved into the right lane and headed for the off ramp for 91 south. I looked at my phone one final time and it changed from south to north! It was too late, we were heading south on 91.
Those of you familiar with driving on the interstates in Vermont, you may recall that once you are heading south on 91 from 89, there is a cut out on the left. The cut out connects to 91 north and would be the quickest way to correct our mistake. Chris saw it immediately, announced he was heading for it and moved into the left lane. I looked over my shoulder quickly and saw a vehicle several hundred feet behind us. It appeared to be a pick up truck and had little lights on the front grill. I couldn't see the driver very well and I saw what I thought was a rather large antenna sticking up as well. I was pretty sure a police officer was behind us.
"Chris, don't do it," I said quickly. I told him I thought I police officer was behind us and not to use the cut out. He turned off his blinker and accelerated. I should add that it is illegal to use one of these cut outs, except in case of an emergency. While I thought we were a little bit late, it legitimately was not an emergency. As we passed the cut out, there was a vehicle at the other end about to enter 91 north. It was a police vehicle with the blue lights on!
As we continued down 91 south, to the next exit to make a legal u-turn, I apologized to Susan for making her late for her announcement. She told me we had plenty of time and we didn't need to be there until 11:45 (I thought we had to be there at 11:30).
Despite my failure in co-piloting, an almost certain ticket for using an interstate u-turn illegally, we made it in plenty of time for Susan to be honored by the State Board. We did it together. While honoring the Teacher of the Year for her collaboration, it happened for us on the way there.
Brian, A heartfelt story and wisdom to slow down and really figure out what's important. Of course, there's not always time to that. So our intuition and gut helps in the absence of time.
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