In a school year filled with challenges, the Eastern Pulaski Schools community is making sure it’s also a year of hope.
During last week’s school board meeting, Superintendent Dara Chezem shared an email from Elementary School Principal Jill Collins, highlighting one example from over Christmas break of how staff members are addressing students’ emotional needs.
“‘We have a student who shared with some of the support staff who work with him that he didn’t even want to take his handmade ornament home, as both of his parents are in jail and it wouldn’t end up on a Christmas tree,’” Chezem read. “‘Some of our very special instructional assistants had an idea and made something magical happen.’”
They offered to put the ornament on their own trees, and then several others joined in. “‘Yes, this little ornament was driven all over to capture “An Ornament Filled with Hope,”’” Collins’s message continued. “‘I am so grateful that I and many others who work with this little guy were able to take a photo with his ornament hanging on their own personal trees. This, my friends, is one of the most thoughtful and love-filled gestures of the year.’”
Chezem also complimented teacher Patrick Schuttrow and his students for producing a virtual fall play and virtual choir concert, while High School Principal Cody Hook said plans are in the works for a virtual spring musical with the possibility of a limited in-person audience.
Meanwhile, the First Presbyterian Church donated $1,000 to help with Eastern Pulaski student needs.
