Little Children WILL Lead Us!
I missed the deadline for this Shepherd’s Fold cover, which is not my style
but is a cause of stress to me. It turns out, however, that I’m writing a more
important article than I could have written two days ago, so it may just be
that God messed with my schedule to be certain I would tell THIS story.
There are countless reasons for me to be proud of my students and my school community (and this would have been how I started my first article about school accreditation, too) but I’ve never been more proud than I was on Wednesday, March 14 between 10:00 and 10:17 a.m. We decided as a middle school faculty to plan a way that our students, should they choose to do so, could participate in the National School Walk Out, to honor the 17 victims of the one month ago shooting at Marjory Stone Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and to proclaim our hope that such a tragedy will never happen again in our schools. These two purposes were clearly communicated to students and families, as we were not making a political statement, but standing in support of those who have been through unimaginable loss and incomprehensible trauma, and teaching our children how to do so. We made three options available to 5th-8th graders: Stay in class and continue with work there; walk to the church for 17 prayers and the tolling of the bell as the 17 victims’ names are read; or walk to the parish hall and make cards for the Episcopal parish youth group of which one of the fallen was a leader. I was confident our students would rise to the occasion and be guide by their hearts … I couldn’t have dreamed of how overwhelming a witness they would make.
Two-thirds of our middle school students chose to walk out of class at 10:00, 67 of them moving in silence towards the church and 16 of them writing beautiful and encouraging cards for Carmen’s youth group and family. In the church, by candlelight, 17 students read 17 prayers and the names of the 17 victims. The bell was tolled upon the recitation of each name. All heads were bowed, respectful silence was stunning, and the solemn but intentional walk back to classes was clear evidence of the powerful impact of the event. I stood in awe and wonder, certain that the Spirit had moved around and through us in those 17 minutes.
Two days ago I was going to write about our re-accreditation process, so I will end this article by mentioning one thing about it. Once I could find the words, standing at the west doors of the church following our vigil, I said quietly to the Headmaster: “The accreditation visit went well and served its usual mission and planning purposes … but just now we saw SO MUCH more, for THIS is who we are, and THIS is who we want to be.”
There are countless reasons for me to be proud of my students and my school community (and this would have been how I started my first article about school accreditation, too) but I’ve never been more proud than I was on Wednesday, March 14 between 10:00 and 10:17 a.m. We decided as a middle school faculty to plan a way that our students, should they choose to do so, could participate in the National School Walk Out, to honor the 17 victims of the one month ago shooting at Marjory Stone Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and to proclaim our hope that such a tragedy will never happen again in our schools. These two purposes were clearly communicated to students and families, as we were not making a political statement, but standing in support of those who have been through unimaginable loss and incomprehensible trauma, and teaching our children how to do so. We made three options available to 5th-8th graders: Stay in class and continue with work there; walk to the church for 17 prayers and the tolling of the bell as the 17 victims’ names are read; or walk to the parish hall and make cards for the Episcopal parish youth group of which one of the fallen was a leader. I was confident our students would rise to the occasion and be guide by their hearts … I couldn’t have dreamed of how overwhelming a witness they would make.
Two-thirds of our middle school students chose to walk out of class at 10:00, 67 of them moving in silence towards the church and 16 of them writing beautiful and encouraging cards for Carmen’s youth group and family. In the church, by candlelight, 17 students read 17 prayers and the names of the 17 victims. The bell was tolled upon the recitation of each name. All heads were bowed, respectful silence was stunning, and the solemn but intentional walk back to classes was clear evidence of the powerful impact of the event. I stood in awe and wonder, certain that the Spirit had moved around and through us in those 17 minutes.
Two days ago I was going to write about our re-accreditation process, so I will end this article by mentioning one thing about it. Once I could find the words, standing at the west doors of the church following our vigil, I said quietly to the Headmaster: “The accreditation visit went well and served its usual mission and planning purposes … but just now we saw SO MUCH more, for THIS is who we are, and THIS is who we want to be.”
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