Please Excuse My Absence From School Yesterday - as Told by Nick Lagos!

Nick Lagos has been getting pretty cranked up about the Class of 1973 reunion - stories are coming out of the woodwork and Nick wanted to share this one in the hope that it may entice all of you fence sitters to be sure and make the 40th reunion the one event you can't miss this year!

As told by Nick Lagos:

Please Excuse My Absence from School Yesterday!

So – I am sitting in the Home Economics classroom in RHS waiting for Doctor Lee’s business law class to begin on a Thursday in February of 1973…..the bell rings, and class begins – However, Doc Lee was not yet ready to begin class and instead - he addresses Chris Bowe;

·         Doc Lee:          Mr. Bowe… why were you not in class this past Friday?!!

·         Chris Bowe:     I stayed home from school, I had a sore throat…

·         Doc Lee:          You need a note stating such from your guardian, don’t you?!

Uh Ohh Chris!, now you’re busted …. but at this point, to the amazement of most of us in the classroom, a very funny and interesting thing happened next;

Chris got a piece of notebook paper and wrote the following note:

Please excuse my absence from school yesterday, I had a sore throat.

Sincerely,        Chris Bowe

Chris brought the note up to Doc Lee’s desk and laid it down in front of him.  Doc Lee looked at the note – looked at Chris, shook his head a few times in disgust, and quietly told Chris to back to his seat and sit down.

Chris walked back to his seat (which was right next to me) and we laughed about Chris’ newly-discovered freedom and the great potential that this freedom/power might afford Chris until the end of the school year in June.

See --- Chris was born in  1954 --- you might remember that the age of majority in New Jersey was switched to 18 years old starting on January 1, 1973 --- so Chris was the legal responsible party and able to write his own excuse for not being in school the previous day.  We also had what was called an “Open Campus” policy at that time, which also significantly contributed to an interesting and fun spring of 1973 leading up to our graduation in June.

I am looking forward to talking and laughing about stories like this one and many others with all you guys about some of the fun we had back at Ridgewood high, and I will celebrating Doc Lee’s Business Law Class among many other events during our time in high school.

Nick Lagos

 

40th Reunion weekend October 18-20, 2013