Last bus for weeks departs from Decatur High School
DECATUR — We always thought that World War III would be the one that would end mankind with the atom. But at present, the entire world is at war, not against threats from conventional arms but from a microscopic virus that has proved to be a killer over the last month. Because of the coronavirus, the way of life as we all knew it is over, for now.
On March 16, just before the one o’clock hour, classrooms at Decatur High School were teeming with students receiving lastminute assignments and instruction on the online class process. Most of the kids were spending the last few minutes of school visiting with friends, knowing that this may not be possible for the next few weeks.
A few of Coach Fess Thompson’s senior boys’ basketball players gathered in Peterson Gym for one final basketball gathering. This would be the last bit of normalcy before, at 1 p.m, the final bell rang out, ending classes for the rest of the month of March and at least part of April, as well.
Students from Decatur Middle and High Schools gathered in front of the DHS building waiting for the buses to return from Northside Elementary. Some were picked up by parents, some were whisked away in a friend’s car, but most waited for the familiar yellow bus.
As the last of the basketball players and other athletes exited the gym and Thompson returned to the coaches’ office, Peterson Gym, which had been full of life for the past several months, suddenly fell deathly silent.
And due to the Arkansas Activities Association’s “Dead Zone” restriction, silent it will stay through April 17 or beyond unless the coronavirus should suddenly take a miraculous turn and disappear.
So, for now, the halls at Decatur High School, indeed across the nation, remain empty, as do the tracks, baseball, softball and soccer fields across the world.