School is IN Today in Rochester NH

You are reading that correctly folks. Maple Street Magnet School began it's school year this morning and all eyes in the Granite State are focused on a place that I know quite well.

I'm thankful that this tweet from Foster's reporter Kyle Stucker not only perfectly displays the visual element of returning to school, but also helps to create perspective on my story of long ago.

Back in the 1990's, I worked for Public Buildings in Rochester and during the summer months, Maple Street School was one of the many stops on my garbage run.

Each school in the Lilac City had summer camps and their trash receptacles were under my jurisdiction. As you can see from Mr. Stucker's camerawork, the summer sun scorches that playground during the day.

So many other schools, who shall remain nameless, were a terror to deal with. Upon pulling up to other properties, you'd commonly see the blue plastic barrels twisted and tipped upside down (even though the tops were changed to the fence.)

BUT NEVER MAPLE STREET.

That playground was always clean and the barrels were right where they belonged. Also, the staff and kids were ALWAYS friendly even though the yard was hotter than the surface of the planet Mercury.

Many years have gone by since then but, judging from the pride that Maple Street Magnet School shows at citywide track and field events AND their school's production of plays and musicals (They're the envy of all Strafford County.) I'm sure that they'll meet the challenges of the 'new normal' head on and success will be theirs once again.

GOOOOOOOOO Maple Street!