On Thursday night, when it became clear that Newport Independent Schools would be closed for a fifth day, Principal Kyle Niederman went into a bit of a panic.
In a school district where 90 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, he knew the snow days meant many of his Newport Intermediate students would have gone all week without having had a nutritious meal, or maybe even any meal at all. A fifth day off would mean that some might also go hungry all weekend.
Niederman fired off an email to his teachers and staff, and on Friday morning nearly two dozen of them showed up at the school to trek across the city in the snow and biting cold, volunteering their time to knock on doors and deliver food to make sure their students were fed.
They delivered 66 Power Packs, bags of nutritious, nonperishable items provided by the Freestore Foodbank and normally distributed to a school's neediest students on Friday afternoons.
"We were concerned about our students and wanted to make sure we helped them the best we could," Niederman said. "They'll have food this weekend, and hopefully they'll have a good weekend."
Remember THESE are the people that Governor Scott Walker, and the Republican party, puts at the top of their enemies list.
I have known, and worked with, a lot of teachers in my time and I would say that the vast majority of them would not hesitate to do this as well.
They constantly come in to school when they are supposed to be off, buy supplies with their own money, tutor children after school for no compensation just to help them be successful, and fill in for busy parents when children are in crisis.
I am not a religious person but if I had it in my power to grant sainthood, I know dozens of teachers who would be at the top of my list.
Yet we send BILLIONS to Israel, who used irt to give their citizens universal healthcare, and buy weapons!! While the gop is fighting to cut services for the poor in this country, they are welcoming a man who is disrespecting our President. Since AID is taxpayer money, it should be up to taxpayers to decide if they want to send BILLIONS to Israel, or feed kids, help unemployed and fix infrastructure. Put it on the ballot, let the citizens decide.
ReplyDeleteYou bring Israel into this? Rilly?
DeleteThe gop is fighting with everything they have to cut programs to help poor people, yet send BILLIONS to Israel. YES, I DO bring Israel into this. Let them stop buying weapons, invading Palestine and SUPPORT THEMSELVES. The Billions we send them could be better spent in this country. This is OUR tax money. It should be spent feeding kids, helping the unemployed and disabled. Rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. THINK about that.
DeleteAnon at 9:50 am. Given that this is the day that Boehner has given over to the Israeli prime minister to do his saber rattling, I guess it might be o/t but appropriate. Think how many American children and their families would benefit if just a fraction of the money we have lavished over the decades on Israel had gone to jobs, education, healthcare and social welfare here at home.
DeleteBeaglemom
You're making a huge assumption that the money would have gone to our own social programs and not somewhere else like military spending. I guess we can dream, though.
DeleteWhat's HI in the middle and round on both ends? (Hint: Not Israel.)
DeleteG-d or the Noodly Deity bless the teachers who cared enough to provide sustenance to their chilly, hungry students at this time! Even a steaming bowl of Top Ramen tastes like manna in such circumstances...
ReplyDeleteGood for them..the best people I know are or were teachers in public schools. Underpaid, under appreciated, and doing the job of two people now. Bravo!!
People like Walker are threatened by teachers because bad is always threatened by good.
ReplyDeleteScott Walker is threatened by teachers because they are educated and he is not.
DeleteSince Gryphen owns you Sarah, tell your buddy Franklin Graham how real spiritual people operate. (hating to use the Xtian).
ReplyDeleteHave him pass that on to Scott (I hate teachers and ISIS fireman) Walker.
IM. Thank you for a truly beautiful example of humanity.
And fiscal conservative tcot Republican's who invariably have "Christian," in their tag-line say out loud, "If those parent's can't take care of those kids, they shouldn't have those kids," with the cognitive dissonance of myopic trickle-down econ, pro-life, anti-planned-parenthood, affordable child/healthcare policies.
ReplyDeleteGod bless those ril servant's hearts.
Someone said "If the daughter of a poor person gets pregnant in high school, they are considered a slut. If a daughter of $carah Palin gets pregnant in high school, she gets her own reality show"!!! Bristles is STILL a slut though, even after all these years.
DeleteThese teachers and their principal are surely what is best in this country. And I bet the teachers are part of a teachers' union. God bless them all.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
So much for those lazy, greedy, incompetent, self-centered union thug teachers the right is always bashing.
ReplyDeleteScott Walker and his goons would not even think of these children. It would not even occur to them they might be going hungry. Nor would one of them leave their nice warm offices and homes to do what these teachers did.
Time and again teachers show exactly what they are made of and for their compassion and altruism are attacked and vilified by the media and right wing.
I applaud these selfless teachers.
And I am glad I am retiring in June and will no longer be a political target for the likes of Scott Walker.
And I'll say it again. I want someone with more than a high school diploma in the White House. It may not guarantee a great president but with Scott Walker as a prime example, a high school diploma is not enough to govern and govern well.
At our local food pantry, people are advised that, even though it seems generous and festive to give during the holidays, the greatest need may be in the summer, when children do not get school food.
ReplyDeleteAlso, to bear in mind: food stamps don't cover toilet paper, plastic bags, tampons, napkins, or anything else that you might think are essential but are not "edible," and therefore must be paid for out-of-pocket by poor people.
Also, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap. You get the idea. Whatever they don't have to buy gives them more money to buy food.
Just before Valentine's Day, I give a couple of packages of valentines for children to distribute in the classroom. Easter candy just before Easter. Inexpensive hats and gloves. Pencils and pens in September.
All of these things are just a drop in the bucket for most families, but are expensive, and sometimes overlooked, items for those in need.
And diapers.
DeletePerhaps birth control is the most precious gift we can give to people who can't afford their children.
DeleteYears ago my kids' preschool started the Shoebox Project, for which the little ones decorated boxes AND brought all kinds of basic hygiene items to fill them. Dentists got into the act and donated hundreds of brushes, tubes of toothpaste, and packets of dental floss. Traveling parents brought home toiletries from those provided in hotels, supplemented by shopping-baskets'-full of more shampoos, soaps, deodorants, lotions, combs, feminine needs, etc., etc., that the little ones enjoyed picking out at the supermarkets and drugstores.
DeleteIt was no small lesson that people "just like them" (as they saw it, and why not?) might not be able to afford items they took for granted in their own warm, comfortable homes.
And not one of those kids forgot these gently taught lessons... none whom I knew, at any rate.
Shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, laundry detergent, towels.
DeleteThank you for highlighting this. Selfless acts by teachers are repeated daily all over this country.
ReplyDeleteThose teachers are just like ISIS.
ReplyDeleteThose right wing Xians are just like the Taliban.
DeleteThose teachers are just like ISIS.
Delete------------
Yea Scott, keep trying to tell yourself that :)
And I bet those food packs didn't come with religious brochures inside!
ReplyDeleteTeachers doing the job that churches claim to be doing. Great job Newport OH teachers.
ReplyDeleteTeachers, the only profession that folks expect to work for minimum wage.
ReplyDeleteAnd pay out of pocket for you own instructional supplies.
DeleteAnd work overtime for free. (That would be nights, weekends and time off.