From SOMA Justice:
On Wednesday and Thursday morning, volunteers from SOMA Justice, in partnership with the SOMA Community Alliance for Education, parents, and various PTA leaders, organized an appreciation event for SOMSD teachers and school staff. Parents and students handed roses labelled with messages of support to teachers and administrators as they entered the school buildings.
The roses and notes of appreciation were labeled specifically for teachers, para professionals, lunch workers, school custodians, and other school staff. The goal was to show appreciation, solidarity, and support for all the hard work they’ve done in the most difficult circumstances in an impossibly hard year. The goal was for everyone – our students, teachers and administration, to be able to participate in giving.
The idea was inspired by a random act of kindness that SOMA Justice President, Dr. Khadijah Costley White, encountered years ago when a stranger asked her to carry a rose into an airport and give it to an airport cleaner, someone whose labor often goes ignored. That action to support folks whose labor we often take for granted – and to let a stranger share in that act of gratitude – stayed with her, and sparked this idea to bring the community together.
It was sweet, it was kind, and it was a powerful showing of our school community coming together. We hope this is one small step towards healing for all of us.
Photos from Montrose School:
Photos by Tracy Sham:
Photos from Montrose School:
