Educators

THEY ALSO SERVE

St. Boniface on Siesta Key, FL is my home parish.

But I have another “once a month” parish which I attended this morning – All Angels on Longboat Key, FL.

The very good Rector at All Angels was away, and the Eucharist was led by a retired colleague, The Revd.Bill McLean.

The Director of Music, Dale Hooey dragooned me into singing in the Choir. I was more than willing to be press-ganged!

At Coffee Hour I chatted with a couple who I thought to be new to the parish. It turned out they are related to the Revd. Bill McLean.

They are each a school teacher at Sarasota’s “Booker Middle School”. My conversation with them led me to muse. My thoughts led me this way.

“We often honour those who ‘serve their country’, and in doing so we mostly think of the fine women and men in our Armed Forces. But ‘they also serve’ who are school teachers. They are honourable men and women who serve us so well in oft-times difficult circumstances.

They are answerable to politicians, to voters, to school administrators, to parents, and to children.

They serve in the face of incredible odds with crowded classrooms, low pay, and long hours. (Yes, long hours - their creation of teaching plans and their assessments of homework mean that they work for much longer than the school day).

So, let’s hear it for the wonderful women and men who serve in our schools. Our nation utterly depends on them.

When I was Rector in Pittsfield I organised an annual “Educators Appreciation Day” at St. Stephen’s.

Now that I am no longer a Rector I use this blog to “Appreciate Educators”. They are irreplaceable and invaluable. Our Democracies depend upon them.”

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Here are the links:

http://www.bonifacechurch.org/

http://www.allangelslbk.org/

http://www.sarasota.k12.fl.us/BMS/



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