Thank You, SLS Staff
Throughout the months of July and August, I was honored to participate in an effort by the Springfield Board of Education to commend every employee of the district for their commitment throughout the 2020-21 school year to the district, their colleagues and most visibly the children, to whom we are all entrusted to educate, nurture and keep safe. Observing mitigation protocols, we could not celebrate each person in-person. While each department, grade level or administrator may not have been present, the accolades shared were heartfelt, deserved and long overdue.
It’s funny. I receive thousands of email messages each month. Certainly, there are those that express concerns regarding a specific decision made, or those sharing isolated incidents that the writer hopes we will investigate. However, I can count very few where any writer questioned the value of what we do. If there is an upside to be found in living through this global pandemic, perhaps it is the very vocal recognition and overwhelming appreciation offered to those who teach kids. Also, the agreement that many with and without class rooms are involved in each student’s education.
We have been battling many things since March, 2020. I find comfort in this quote from Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” I am surrounded by warriors of change—men and women who simply do not believe that they “can’t.” For those students who might think they can’t learn, great teachers change how they teach to ignite the curiosity of that student. I visit a lot of classrooms every week and what I see and hear about are teachers, found both before and after school, helping students change the world. I also hear about and see the special ladies working in our cafeterias and the men and women driving our buses who notice that child when s/he mistakenly thinks they’re invisible. While they’re changing light bulbs and sanitizing surfaces, our maintenance and custodial staff chat with students about the topics they know the students care about. They know their names. They know the accomplishments of the athletes, the events that our musicians are performing at. I could go on and on. And, I want to. If I could, I would include each name in this column so that you, too, the readers of this column, might join the board of education and me in honoring their work.
To close this column, I need to share what I observed each time a certificate was presented to a deserving employee. There was humility instead of arrogance. There was gratitude instead of expectation. And most telling of all, there was the true sense that “just doing my job” means something very different to those working in the field of education. What we do is not easy. What we do, quite frankly, is hard; what and how we do our jobs is under intense scrutiny. Thank you for trusting that the decisions made are the result of collaboration, data and genuine concern for the well being of every warrior and student. Afterall, we rely on one another for access to the tools that will help us all change the world.
