There are also those good Samaritans who go above and beyond the norm, the kind that care, kindred souls that sacrifice a small part of their own lives to make others better. And nowhere is that sentiment more pronounced than in our schools.
Despite the absence of students at Lemoore’s schools, hundreds of kids are still getting fed and still learning the lessons of school – and maybe more importantly, the lessons of life.
And behind all of those lessons are the teachers, because many are still on the job. And some are going above and beyond the lessons learned in the classroom. They’re teaching valuable lessons about life and caring for others.
And just this past weekend just about all the sixth-grade students currently attending (or not attending) the Lemoore Elementary School District’s P.W. Engvall Elementary School got a surprise visit from their teachers, and in the process, learned the most valuable lesson a teacher can deliver – that they are loved.
When they could have been safely sheltered in the sanctity of their homes, Engvall teachers, Suzanne Ross, and her fellow teachers, Yvonne Sousa and Jennifer Schuchhardt, all 6th-grade teachers, took to their cars and visited nearly all of there students, beginning Friday and continuing through the weekend, leaving visible signs – either via sidewalk signs created with chalk or for those in the country, hand-made signs.
It was Schuchhardt who broached the idea of visiting their students.
The message? A simple missive that they were missed – and loved.
“All three of us teachers were trying to be sneaky,” said Ross, a teacher for 21 years, the last 14 at P.W. Engvall. “But we got caught several times. We just wanted it to be a surprise for the kids, letting them know that we were thinking about them.”
And all of their efforts were appreciated by students – and their parents. At least one student, Andre Johnson, a 13-year-old sixth-grader in Ross’s class – got the message, loud and clear. While he didn’t initially see Ross, his mother, Michelle Johnson, did.
The Johnsons live outside Lemoore. “We get a bunch of traffic. We saw a white car we’d never seen before drive into our driveway, and we were wondering what she’s doing.”
The vehicle’s driver exited the car. “When I got close to her, I saw that it was Ms. Ross, my son’s teacher,” said Johnson.
Ross told her than they miss their students, and they wanted them to know that they missed them and loved them. Ross posted the sign and then left. Andre, who was in the house, didn’t see it until his mother told him to walk to the mailbox (where Ross posted the sign) and take a look.
“They were doing it for all the students,” said Johnson. “They’re the real MVPs. They’re the ones that keep these kids learning. She’s great, and for her to be doing this on Sunday, is great.”
The district's superintendent, Cheryl Hunt, was upbeat about the visits. “They’re (teachers) coming up with creative ways to let our kids know we’re thinking about them, and by all means making sure to meet the social-distancing requirements as they go about this," said Hunt. "Those connections with our kids and staff are so important, not only to our staff but extremely important for our kids and their families, so this is just one way to let them know that we care, and we’re thinking about them during the COVID-19 pandemic."
This experience was one school lesson that Andre - and many other students - will most likely never forget.
