One teacher’s extra attention to her students’ well-being has gone viral since it was first shared at the start of the 2021-2022 school year. She sent a message to parents that asked them to let her know if their children could use a little extra care during the school day, and recipients appreciated the thought and shared it.
Parent Jacqueline Nichole Thomas posted a photo of a teacher’s note her child brought home from school to Facebook.
The note reads: “If your family is experiencing difficulty at home, I would like to provide additional supports at school. I understand that you are not always able to share details and that’s okay. If your child is coming to school after a difficult night, morning, or weekend, please text me, ‘Handle with Care.’ Nothing else will be said or asked. This will let me know that your child may need extra time, patience, or help during the day.”
“So sweet and thoughtful,” Thomas commented. “It’s going to be a good year!”
Thomas’ post has now received 4,800 reactions, 1,100 comments and 67,000 shares, with largely positive responses to the idea of supporting children on rough days.
The teacher who created the note, Rachel Harder, is a fourth-grade teacher at Union Valley Elementary School in Hutchison, Kansas, which is in the central part of the state.
She told Fox News the idea came from attending a conference on trauma where she learned that some police stations will notify schools if one of their students was part of a family that had encounters with law enforcement the day or weekend prior. That way, the school knows to handle the student with care.
Harder thought the idea could be adapted by teachers themselves. She successfully used it with the parents of a child with autism and then adapted it as a class-wide system. The result of giving a student some extra time, space or understanding pays off in a better school day, the Kansas teacher said.
Harder added that many teachers already sense if a student is having a rough day but a heads-up can be helpful. She often texts parents back to let them know how things are going.
“We know that kids need time and space and love just by the way they walk in the room,” she told Fox News. “But, a heads-up from parents is wonderful if we can get that.”
What do you think about this viral teacher’s note?
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
