The Education Wonks
Wonderful story! It definitely happens. Even the wealthiest areas have people living in poverty. And regardless of the parents' shortcomings, the children are innocent.
This is fantastic! Kayla is an exemplary teacher, one who not only cares about her students, but who does so nonjudgmentally and compassionately. I've been trying for a long time to convince anyone and everyone I can that the majority of student's problems in school start early and that if we want to make the biggest difference we should address these problems as early as preK and Kindergarten. Congratulations to Kayla for recognizing a problem and doing something about it.
Fine and dandy to fill their tummy...but can she teach???
I'm a pastor, a dad, and involved in the school system. I've heard too many stories of parents in our area (where 70% of the students are described as "economically disadvantaged") who reckone that their kids get enough food at school (free breakfast, free lunch) so they don't need to feed them on evenings and weekends. It frees up the parents to buy their smokes, alcohol, video game systems (if you don't work you have to do SOMETHING to pass the time), and pay the cable and satellite bills. Or maybe like the "mom" who shares her trailer with her kids and 23 dogs.
Very commendable. But what I want to know is, where are the churches? Here, churches feed the poor.
it's so sad when students are doing poorly and you realize that hunger is at the core. Our school has a volunteer program called "Breakfast Club" hat feeds children before school. Every teacher at the school has a snack box to give kids who are hungry at recess. Most of my students come with a healthy snack but I have had kids in tears with headaches because they haven't eaten. Yes, a lot of Math is going to sink into their poor little brains. It makes me sad.
I think someone who is that observant of her student's behavior and its affects on his classroom performance is probably an excellent teacher as well.
I think it's an excellent idea. I work in a poor district where sometimes the students do not eat breakfast, but I also have a lot of students who take advantage of this. It makes it hard to have extra food on hand for special cases because special cases suddenly become the norm.
Luckily, my school offers many (if not too many) opportunities to eat during the day, for free or reduced costs.
Thanks for recognizing Kayla. I saw this story on the news last night and it literally made me cry. And it makes me wonder about some of those academic/behavior problems I have in my classes.
It's always nice to see a teacher who has heart, imagination, and initiative.
What happens to these children in the summer?
She's given the kids a fish so they eat for a day--no small feat. But if she taught them to fish, they'd eat for a lifetime. I'm with RightWingProf on this one--where are the churches and the "feed the hungry" organizations?
Noticing that the child was hungry? Awesome teacher!
RightWingProf and Darren- I thought she got the food for the backpacks through a church?
In any event, I would argue that as schools are one of the true remaining public institutions in this country, it makes sense for schools to assume some responsibiity for its students not going hungry. And I would hope that after reading this article that school administrators in Bowie would consider offering free/reduced breakfast at this school if they don't already.
Michele at AFT
The food is coming from a church, but you can't teach a man to fish if he's not a man yet.
You're so right Darren. Those kindergarteners should be out tracking down faith-based initiatives. There's nothing worse than a lazy five-year old.
Perhaps a few of you don't like the fact that I see this program as a very small fix, and you set out to pick nits.
Or perhaps you weren't bright enough to get was I was saying. I'll try again.
The school *can* be an asset here, but not in the way this teacher is doing it. They can be part of a longer term solution, not *merely* a feed-the-kid-today solution. As I said, feeding a kid today is a good feat, but before we flop down towards this woman and cry out "We're not worthy!" let's see what the school *could* do.
It could serve as a clearinghouse for information for organizations that can help longer term. It could mobilize community assets, bringing in job training counselors, representatives of feed-the-poor groups--things of this nature, things that would get wheels rolling *in the community*. Right now, how are these kids going to get this extra food the day after school gets out?
It's a sad state of affairs when kids go to school hungry.
When we're all finished sharing our comments, how about we do something to fix this situation. Any takers?
Reminds me of a child who came to school recently and was very subdued and looked tired. I asked him how he was doing. His response, "My mama got drunk and passed out and the ambulance had to come and we had to go to our neighbors and I didn't sleep at all last night." I doubt he learned very much that day at school.
Doubting Thomas - anyone can teach although not all are good at it. She's in the first year or two of her career, let her get some experience before you start criticizing or analyzing her teaching methods/abilities.
Sorry Darren, it's not that I lack the brightness necessary to understand your point; I just think you're being ridiculous. You wrote: "She's given the kids a fish so they eat for a day--no small feat. But if she taught them to fish, they'd eat for a lifetime."
What excatly was this kingdergarten teacher supposed to teach a five year old? What "fishing" skills did you want her to impart? That's not nit-picking; what you wrote is absurd. She saw a need and filled it. If only more teachers did the same.
Later, you criticize the school for not doing enough in its attempts to go above and beyond its mandate to teach. You criticize the teacher and the school for not mobilizing a larger movement -- seriously, who's nit-picking here?
I was using a phrase, and hoped you'd be able to see the use of the phrase in a larger context. Since I obviously failed, I'll try again:
The school has a place in addressing this problem. This teacher is obviously good-hearted and well-meaning, but she's only tackling the immediate. As I said, that's no small feat, but with only slightly more work on the school's part, far more could be done.
Does that make it any clearer?
Actually, I'm with the fish analogy person.
Children are taken from their parents for way lesser reasons than simple things like not feeding them.
I mean really -- if you can't manage to feed your kids, and someone notices, why on earth should you still have your kids?
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