Dear Lansing School District Community,
I hope that this newsletter finds you well. As always, it is a pleasure to be writing to you all.
This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, with Tuesday, May 7th being Teacher Appreciation Day. For anyone who has ever had a great teacher, you know just how impactful they are to you academically, socially, and emotionally. A great teacher can truly change the course of a child's life. Be it teaching a skill that a student loves and then pursues as a vocation or exposing a young learner to a topic of interest that becomes a life-long pursuit. That one book, that one class, that one field trip can open up pathways a pupil might never have known. When you compound that one lesson 180 times or 360 times, if you are lucky enough to loop in with that great teacher, your life trajectory inexorably changes for the better.
I was lucky enough to have many teachers that positively impacted me. Thanks to Ms. Wells, I learned about birds and art. Thanks to Ms. Kagan, I learned how to use footnotes and cite my work and how to research and study. Thanks to Dr. Mason, I learned how to conceptualize mathematics in a way I still use today. Thanks to Dr. Perrone, I learned how a teacher could be creative and engaging while still teaching state standards. I hope that all of us have been positively impacted by at least one teacher in our lives.
So, here is a great chance, an entire week, to say thank you. I ask everyone reading this newsletter to thank a teacher. Try to find your favorite teacher; maybe they are long since retired, living in Florida. Perhaps they are still teaching at Sexton. Maybe they now work in the central office. Track them down, say thank you, write them a card, and buy them a cup of coffee. One year, a former student of mine came to my classroom and handed me a little trophy, which read, "Thank you for believing in me." I will tell you that I still get choked up when I think about that moment and act of thanks. It was incredibly meaningful.
Teachers and educators work incredibly hard. Day in and day out, they endure the hours, stress, and the 1001 things they are asked to deal with on a constant and consistent basis. Please use this week as a time to reflect on the great work a teacher did for you, and hopefully, you can find a way to say thank you.
I know this week schools will have celebrations and lots of cake. The district is putting together the first (hopefully annual) Educator Appreciation Celebration at the Eastern Fields Complex on Friday. But I know firsthand that the individual, specific thanks a teacher gets from a student or a parent are much more meaningful than any Costco sheet cake or district t-shirt.
Happy Teacher Appreciate Week to all our wonderful educators! Thank you for all you do.
Thank you so much for all of your incredible support of our district. Together, we will do great things for the children of Lansing.
Benjamin Shuldiner, Superintendent
Lansing School District
