Last Thursday, April 2, instead of catching the virus, Irving Elementary School’s principal, teachers, paraprofessionals, counselor, child study team, school district superintendent and Highland Park police officers caught the love and attention of the community by staging a parade throughout town. The theme was “we miss you, we love you, we will be there for you. The parade watchers were parents, most of whom had tears of joy running down their faces, and the school kids who were jumping for joy.
One member of the kindergarten class has been watching the video of the event non-stop since Thursday on his mom’s computer. It is suspected, but not confirmed, that his behavior is being repeated throughout the district.
Superintendent Scott Taylor had the following to say:
What started out as Dr. Taylor reaching out to Irving and Bartle teachers to ask kids if they’d like a Zuma-the-seeing-eye dog drive-by (Zuma is well known by the kids) turned into 30 of them and several paraprofessionals joining in the parade. Thanks go out to our loving and caring Irving personnel as well as Officers O’Mara and Culver who blocked traffic and led the “crawl” through what seemed like every street in town, including the Treetops development with lights on and an occasional siren to let folks know we were approaching. So many smiling kids and their parents and guardians with unfurled banners, some sitting on little lawn chairs were there to greet us.
Smiling and laughter and thank yous are the best way to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic. Watch the video below and revel in the medicine.
The Parade https://www.facebook.com/highlandparkpublicschools/videos/665686404199775/