12 Months of Miss Read: May

Miss Read notes that May is her favorite month and I certainly share her pleasure in the month.  Around here, May tends to be mild and with trees leafed out; everywhere I look, there is beauty to be seen.  The month of May finds Miss Read contemplating the role of her school in the life of her town and, as she prepares a celebration of the school’s 100 years, she’s thinking about the school’s central place in the life of her town community:  from celebrations of the Queen Victoria’s 50th year on the throne to the school’s contributions to England’s war effort in the 20th century, the Fair Acre school has been at the center of it all.

My school is less a fixture in the community than it is the actual community; the center of the lives of the families with children enrolled in its grades.  For me, with a child in the school and a job in its hallways, the school is very much the center of our world.  At no time is this is obvious as the month of May, when school days have a frenetic pace as projects and work are completed.  Between early meetings and late baseball games, that day may very well last more than 12 hours.  I think that a school’s most essential contribution is its sense of community.  When that exists, children can take risks and push further, safe in the knowledge that a support net is in place.  For thirteen years, my school has played that role for JT and I and in May, as our school year winds down, it seems fitting to be grateful for that enormous blessing.