There are some teachers who not only care about their students inside the classroom but outside too.
Fourth-grade teachers Kristen Driemeier and Heather Steighorst are those kinds of teachers.
The scholarly duo have been co-teachers at Fetus Intermediate in Festus, Missouri for the last eight years.
But this year, they decided to start the school year off a little bit differently.
So, they sent a note home to parents before the first day of school titled “Handle With Care.”
They got the idea from the website Teachers Pay Teachers, which shared the note but weren’t sure who the original creator was.
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The note reads as follows:
“If your family is experiencing difficulties at home, I would like to provide additional support 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.'</p?
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.”
Drimeier and Steighorst figured that this might be a complicated school year and that students would need the extra emotional support.
“It is important to remember these kids are dealing with all the normal kid troubles plus the unknown, fear and politically-charged time caused by the pandemic,” Driemeier told ABC News. “I feel like if I know about their day or their weekend or their morning we can talk about it….instead of keeping it all bottled up inside.”
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Parents loved the notes so much that they shared it on Facebook, where it ended up going viral.
Drimeier and Steighorst said they were overwhelmed by the response they received from well-wishers as a result of the post going viral.
Apparently, these two aren’t the only teachers who have used the note.
Teacher Rachel Harder of Hutchinson, Kansas, told Fox News that she got the idea from a trauma conference she attended a few years ago.
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“There was a discussion how police stations across the country have started partnering with schools so that when they have encounters with families in the evenings or on weekends, the police will contact the school – either counselor or administrator – and let them know to handle a student with care since they had encounters with police beforehand,” Harder said.
“We loved this idea and figured there had to be a way to make this work within our own classroom community.”
Harder said the note came in handy big time when she had a student who was new to the school and had autism.
Giving that child a little bit of quiet time and extra care helped the rest of her day run more smoothly.
She said this payout was “huge.”
Parents will just text her in the morning to let her know that their child needs a little extra attention.
Harder doesn’t ask for details and just knows to handle the child “with care.”
Harder will also usually text back later that day with an update.
“We all have challenging mornings – we can’t find shoes, backpacks aren’t packed,” Harder explains. “It’s doing for others what we would like done for us when we have days that are hard. Giving kids the grace we all want after a hard night or morning.”
What a simple, yet impacting way to make a difference in a child’s life and support the family beyond just the school day!
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