Lessons Learned

I answered the phone and heard the crying voice of a teacher informing me that a parent was murdered and found by her children.  I  met the police at 5:30 in the morning and took girls into the safety of school because their mom was raped as they slept in their beds. I witnessed a five-year-old tell her teacher that she was touched in an awful way.  I attended funerals of parents who have died of heroin overdose.  I refused to release a child to a strung out parent.  I held a child in my arms and shared that his  dad was going to jail for life.  I stopped a child from eating from the dumpster and found the child food. I comforted children who witnessed a shooting.   I wake up in the middle night as my brain flashes back to the images of abusive marks left on children's bodies.  I am a principal and I am there at a child's worse moment to keep a child safe.  I am the only safe man in some children's life.  I am a...

I hoped to avoid entering the debate on the horrific loss of life and injuries as the result of a spree shooting at a Flordia High School. Seems offensive to be debating when parents are holding a vigil at a hospital bed or mourning at a child's funeral. We should be mourning as a nation that children were murdered. I find myself drawn into the debate because of posts and media statements blaming a 55-year-old court case banning organized school prayer as the reason for chi ldren to be killed by evil. First, I believe in God, father all mighty, maker of heaven and earth. I was taught that the Lord is forgiving and loving. God is not spiteful or revengeful. God is love. A loving God does not spite children. God's grace is everywhere including schools. Second, prayer is present in school every day. Students pray. I witness children praying grace at lunch. Students may read the Bible or religious works at the school. Students may organize prayer groups. Teachers pray ever...

Alzheimer's disease is a hideous illness.  Robin's grandmother spoke and wrote three languages. Sometimes, she spoke three languages in one rapid sentence accented with the wave of the hand.  She was a talented baker sharing that passion with a willing granddaughter. You never know when a loved one inflicted with Alzheimer's disease will speak a last coherent sentence.   This horrific disease does not come with a warning light that this the day a loved one will smile for the last time.   Alzheimer’s is a cruel disease slowly eroding away emotions and coherence. We knew Robin's grandmother was forgetting family when we visited her home for the last time. She grabbed Robin's hands and would not let go.  Grandma’s hands showed the effects of decades of hard work, but her touch was warm and soft.  Her eyes were moist with emotion as he held the hands were once of a little girl, but now belonged to a 40-something woman. She spoke her final word...