Editor,
I was dismayed after reading Current in Carmel’s recap of the Sept. 27 school board meeting. Shouting, disruptive outbursts and flagrant disrespect for the school board members and administration.
But I don’t want to talk about that. I want to focus on the women and men in Carmel who are, day in and day out, in the face of a global pandemic, unprecedented scrutiny and opposition, continuing to show up for our kids. I want to talk about teachers.
Teachers, thank you for teaching my kids to read, to learn their times tables, for dancing with them during “brain breaks” and providing “cozy reading corners.” Thank you for bringing “Humphrey the Hamster” books to our house during lockdown because my son just had to have more Humphrey books and the library was closed. Thank you for bringing the pumpkin patch to your classrooms when field trips to Russell Farms were canceled. Thank you for teaching my second-grader about Rosa Parks, prompting him to ask if we could visit Alabama and see the bus on which she famously refused to give up her seat. Thank you for teaching my sometimes-anxious older son how to “faucet breathe” and “calm his mind” when he gets butterflies in his tummy. Thank you for reading “Unstuck” to your third-graders to help my son’s classmates better understand stuttering. And thank you for instilling a love of reading in my first-grader (I’m sorry he greets you every morning with “boo Ohio State!”).
My sons’ school is one of 11 elementary schools in our district, and each one is filled with amazing teachers. Teachers who, while shepherding their own families through the “COVID years,” gamely and professionally continue to teach and love our children. They’ve done it over Zoom, they’ve done it masked, and they’ve done it beautifully. They teach on, and they have my utmost respect.
Lindsay Blythe, Carmel
