School Superintendent's Reflection and Prayer

My personal, professional, daily struggle as an school superintendent during this bizarre time...
Are our 700 students in NBSD OK? Do they have everything they need? How are they feeling? Who do they have to talk to, process their feelings with?
I know how frayed my emotions and temper has been with my own kids as we struggle to maintain things in the Kelly-Perez house...and I know we are blessed. We both still have jobs. No one has missed a meal. Heat is still on, internet buzzing, etc.
What about my kids, where that's not the case?? How are my kids managing distance learning when their parents are working or home with them but can't help? Of our 700 scholars, more than 70% qualify for FRL and 120 meet the federal definition of "homeless"....but less than 300 kids have requested lunch/breakfast delivery.
My daily prayer, the last several weeks, is that this situation moves us as a nation closer to my ideal world where there are certain "rights" that we all agree every human being should be offered. Wouldn't be great if the collective community cared about each and every child as if they were our own??
Plus, I'm a bit selfish...I miss the HUGS. Yep, I work in public education and still hug. Big bear hugs from big kids who may not have been hugged by another adult in awhile...little hugs from little kids that leave my knees riddled with snot stains and breakfast residue...I miss them all.
I hope in this polarizing time when folks spend the majority of their time bitching and moaning about who is wearing a mask, which politician screwed us the most, and when the $1200 check is coming....people would seek out others to serve, care for and love....love unconditionally, without expecting anything in return....and especially look out for our kids.....the youngest among us who have the fewest life experiences and fewest resources, who rely on the adults in their midst. I really want each of our kids to be OK!

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