By Nahani Meuse

Nahani Meuse

People are homeless because they can’t afford the ever-rising, sky-high rents. That is it. It isn’t because they “choose” to be homeless. It isn’t because they’re criminals. It isn’t because they’re addicted to a substance. It isn’t because they’re “lazy” or won’t work. People are homeless because they can not afford rent. Period.

I’ve lived in Worcester for well over a decade. I’ve personally been homeless and slept in my vehicle in Worcester. I’ve been homeless despite being college-educated, working two full-time jobs, making a six-figure income. After that experience, I shifted my professional plans and chose to work in this city to assist those like me. People who have no place to call “home” despite their best efforts. People who are looked down upon by the bulk of our society and overlooked by the rest. People who truly just need a helping hand to reclaim their lives. I couldn’t do nothing. I’m not the kind of person who can complain about a problem and not work to solve it.

Watching Worcester, the city that I call home, standing eyes wide shut in the middle of this housing crisis is sickening to me. We admittedly have less than 25% of the shelter beds in this city that we need based on our unsheltered population; yet Worcester City Manager Eric Batista says the city can’t put resources into shelters!

No one believes a shelter is a substitute to housing, but a well-modeled, service-rich, client-centered shelter that provides safety from the elements while connecting individuals to the various resources needed to
exit homelessness is sorely needed in Worcester on a year-round basis.

Affordable housing and inclusionary zoning laws are great, but don’t go far enough and literally do nothing for those folks who don’t or can’t make 60% AMI. We need no- to low-income, no-barrier housing options. We have one option coming on board this calendar year that will provide a few of those units, but that housing development was planned in 2018 … that is five full years between planning and executing.

So even if the City of Worcester plans and commits to a couple hundred units of supportive housing today, we won’t have access to those units for another half-decade.

Where are folks supposed to sleep in the interim?

The City of Worcester won’t enact a campsite sweep moratorium, so if we don’t have housing and we don’t have shelter beds and people aren’t allowed to sleep in a tent … then where should these hundreds of
individuals go?

We have no public restrooms in the city. We have no daily warming or cooling centers.

Though in the last several years we have had shower and hygiene options for the unsheltered in Worcester, we now no longer have those available either. We’ve lost treatment beds for those struggling with addiction; our substance use treatment beds in the state are already only half of what is needed for the population.

Our city manager says he will work with healthcare facilities to address the mental health of our unhoused population; but explain to me how that will work when our healthcare facilities are already overwhelmed and boarding mental health patients for 5+ days in the ER while conducting statewide bed searches.

News articles coming out each week about backlash and neighborhood complaints when a shelter or housing option is proposed. The NIMBY-ism is truly sickening. Seeing our city accepting that hatred and caving to that vitriol is absolutely disgusting.

Our people are our biggest asset and we are failing one another.

Anyone could end up homeless; an
accident, injury, loss of a job/income, loss of a spouse, mental health crisis, fire, etc is all it takes. Our housed neighbors are burdened paying 50% – 70% of their income on housing alone! Prices continue to rise. Subsidies and public housing have a 6 to 10 year wait list. Property management agencies demand 3 times the rent in income, credit scores above 680, perfect rental history, etc.

We provided shelter and services to more than 250 people this past winter. Men, women, veterans, elderly, high school students all stayed with us to seek assistance. An educator working each day to
teach our city’s youth only to return to a shelter each night. A first responder, hairstylists, construction workers, social workers, auto mechanics, estheticians, vet techs, admin assistants, landscapers, welders, wait staff, retail managers, recovery coaches – ALL homeless! All desperate to find a home of their own, all working and paying taxes yet unable to have a safe place to sleep each night. All struggling to hide the fact that they are homeless from their employers, friends, coworkers because they hear the rhetoric and they see how others feel about and act toward the unsheltered individuals in our city.

We are better than this! It isn’t going to be easy to remedy the mess we’ve allowed ourselves to fall into, but it is possible. This is a very complex issue that requires a strategic, comprehensive and
multifaceted approach to solve; but I assure you it is possible. Experts, data and research do not lie.

We know how to address this crisis, and we can do so if the city manager will listen to the experts in this field and follow the evidence-based practices we continue to insist upon.

By Nahani Meuse

Nahani. photo submitted.

My heart hurts. We, as a community, as a city, as a people, must do better. If I were to find a homeless puppy on the side of the road, I could make one phone call and that living soul wouldbe safe. In under an hour, I could secure shelter, food, medical care and advocacy for that dog. However, if that puppy were not a puppy, and was instead a human being, I couldn’t guarantee assistance. It would be a hit or miss,uphill battle to secure safety for that person.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I am grateful that homeless animals have safe options. I am a huge animal advocate, and actually run a dog rescue in my “free time.” My heartbreak is from knowing that even in the 2 nd largest city in
all of New England, I can not always provide a safe option for a homeless human being. I’ve worked in this city in homeless services for well over a decade, I’ve operated shelters, I’ve developed outreach programs to reach those on the street. We have countless service providers, beating the pavement each day to offer advocacy to the people who’ve long ago given up on receiving any true help, and resigned themselves to a life on the street, on the fringes. Marginalized, stigmatized and victimized again and again.

A homeless person suffering in the dead of winter in Downtown Worcester. CECELIA file photos.

Worcester is the second largest city in the entire region, not just the state, but in all of New England. Homelessness is at epidemic levels and has been for years, with no hint of declining. Although people become homeless in any number of cities and towns, many flock to city centers due to the resources available (public transportation, detoxfacilities, shelters, etc). In Worcester, we have one year round shelter built for less that 60 people and a handful of population specific shelters that hold far less, for veterans, or women fleeing exploitation andabuse. Routinely every one of these shelters is at capacity; despite the literally hundreds of people sleeping unsheltered on the streets.
Often times people would rather take their chances sleeping on
the streets than to enter the one year round shelter option in the city.

More must be done to help Worcester’s homeless!

The horrific reports of abuse, theft, violence, exploitation, etc have been public knowledge for years, yet no other option is put forth. Every social worker in the city has heard stomach turning details of people’s experiences in that shelter; many have witnessed it first hand and most have reported these incidents, yet no change occurs. The lack of transparency and accountability in shelter services in Worcester has only fueled the abuses that have existed since the PIP.

This past winter Worcester’s Blessed Sacrament Church on Pleasant Street provided a safe, clean space for homeless folks to eat, sleep and receive services. photo submitted.

Staff at these facilities were given the green light to tell any guest to leave for nearly any reason, and I’ve seen them do it hundreds of times. If an individual overdosed and wouldn’t go to detox,
they were thrown on the street. If an elderly individual had incontinence issues, rather than get them medical hygiene products, they were told to pack their things and leave the shelter and it was justified because “they need a higher level of care.” If an individual suffering from mental illness talks to themselves,
they were told to leave shelter for “bothering others.”

If a staff member didn’t like the individual, or was having a bad
day they would tell people to leave the shelter. If two individuals
hugged or exchanged a handshake, they were immediately accused of “selling drugs” and kicked out of shelter. At one point, the banned list for the city shelter was over 100 individuals! In 2016, with another brutal New England winter fast approaching, our city worked hand in hand with non-profit organizations and the faith-based community to create an emergency winter overflow shelter. The idea was that when the year-round shelter was full, there would be a safe place for people to seek refuge from the storms, the cold, the streets. Yet every spring the people who had accessed the winter shelter were again put on the streetsuntil the following winter. The all-volunteer shelter became
known as “Hotel Grace” and year after year would open the doors to provide safety for 60 people from the frigid winter. It operated on Temple Street each winter for several years prior to relocating to Vernon Street during COVID.

Hotel Grace operated out of the old Ascension Church on Vernon Hill winter before last. Folks could shower in the mobile shower unit.

Unfortunately, what had began as a beautiful, humane option for winter
shelter turned into yet another organization that was exploiting
and abusing the very vulnerable population it was supposed to
serve.The folks surviving and sleeping unsheltered have a host of concerns as well. The unkind elements are certainly not
the only fear these people face. There is risk of assault, overdose, being robbed of what little they have, being raped, infections, exacerbated wounds due to lack of hygiene, no place to toilet or bathe, etc. Some say homelessness has been criminalized and I understand that argument. People are routinely encountered by police who tell them they must move from where they are sitting or sleeping, or risk arrest because they are “loitering” or “trespassing.” We’ve seen the state come through encampments with bulldozers destroying everything in their path. Others have had their tents literally sliced with knives by the police.

Downtown Worcester: sleeping on a vent to stay warm. So many homeless people die in the winter!

A handful of us working in the field have become discouraged that every year at winter shelter we would see the exact same faces again and again, year after year. While they had a safe place to escape the cold, they received no real resources to exit homelessness.

We began to dream of a better
option. We spoke of operating a shelter without barriers. We
envisioned a shelter that didn’t simply provide a bed for the
night and food. We wanted to bring social workers, case managers, recovery coaches, religious supports, housing navigators, crisis interventionists, clinicians, physicians and treatment providers in to the shelter. We wanted to remove the barriers of appointments, transportation, stigma, etc and bring the help to the people who needed it in the moment. We wanted to dismantle the status quo, punitive system that exists in shelters … We all continued to work within the parameters that the current system had set for us, while dreaming of something so much better and doing everything we could in ourspare time to see that dream come to fruition.

Since 2016, the City of Worcester has taken a reactive approach to emergency shelter. Each year come mid-autumn, we panic and worry about where winter shelter will be this year, when it can open, where people should seek safety once the overflow is full, etc. In these same 7 years, Worcester has seen tremendous growth and improvement. There are numerous brand new housing developments but very few of them are affordable. Thereis a huge ball park down in Kelley Square. There are new shops, restaurants, businesses of all sorts. Yet in our thriving city, our most vulnerable still have no home. The closing of winter shelter is an entirely different nightmare. Stress, anxiety, emotion, hopelessness, defeat etched into the faces of the men and women as they pack their few belongings into their bags with nowhere to go, and uncertainty of what the future holds. It is truly inhumane to offer people the safety of shelter and then to throw them back to the streets when spring arrives. Homelessness is not a winter only issue.

Each spring, following the closure of the winter shelter, we see an uptick in untimely deaths of those who’d stayed the previous winter at
shelter. It is incredibly heartbreaking to think that people are literally dying on the street – alone – because they have no safe, humane, year-round option for shelter, services and care.

This winter, we were able to do something different. We were again constrained by the winter only timeline, however, we were allowed to bring all of the resources to the guests at the shelter to make true, lasting progressfor and with them. We obtained ID’s, birth certificates and social security cards. We helped numerous folks file employment applications and obtain jobs. We applied for Mass Health, SNAP and GA benefits. We connected veterans to the VA and to Veteran’s Inc. We helped young adults enroll in college courses.
We assisted refugees in navigating the tumultuous immigration process. We had physicians and nurse practitioners providing healthcare weekly. We has substance use providers providing medicated assisted treatment at the shelter every day. We had staff dedicated to conducting housing search and identifying units available for guests who couldn’t find a rental unit.

Because the City of Worcester has “dropped the ball,” Worcester’s first responders must often be nurse, doctor, social worker, even priest, to the city’s homeless.

Staff were dedicated to providing our guests the services they needed to successfully exit homelessness and itpaid off!Slowly but surely, as the winter progressed, we were seeing phenomenal results. Each week we would be saying“So long and good luck” to a handful of guests as they packed their belongings to move into their own homes. Each week we would escort a guest to pick out furnishings for a home they never dreamed would be a reality. And each week as we sent one guest to a home of their own, there was another individual waiting at the door for a chance to enter our shelter and work with the resources available to find their way to exit homelessness.

The work was exhausting, the
hours were long and the stories were truly heart shattering. Yet day after day, ourdedicated team of staff showed up to offer assistance to our neighbors who needed us the most. It wasn’t easy, but nothing worth attaining ever is. Even
on our worst days, I can confidently say that regardless of the guest, theirbarriers or their disposition, our guests were treated with the dignity, compassion, respect and decency they deserved. Confrontation occurred, untreated or
under treated mental health issues
flared, personalities clashed, and yet we remained the calm in the middle of that storm. We showed our guests, many of whom were anxious due to past abuses by other service providers, that they were safe here. We offered any resource our guests were willing to accept. Most did take advantage of several resources we made available, but some did not and chose to only sleep here and that is ok too. Hopefully, by making the offer of assistance but allowing the
individual to choose and respecting that choice, we built trust.Perhaps a guest wasn’t ready for housing this winter, but they know when
they are that they have advocates here that will work to assist them.

Many guests struggling with substance use disorder weren’t ready for treatment, but they knew we offered resources free of judgement, so they were able to be brutally honest without fear of reprisal. Feedback from our guests was taken very seriously and mattered to us, because we wanted to build and improve in any way that positively impacted our guests.

I am so incredibly proud of what we
accomplished this winter at Sowing Seeds of Hope at Bethlehem Hall.

I am amazed at the dedication I saw day in and day out from our staff, our volunteers and this amazing organization we partnered with. I am honored to have led this team and I look forward to working together with each one of you in the future, as we all continue to work to serve the homeless population.

If we all continue to be the change
we want to see in this world, progress will be made. Continue to advocate for a safe, humane, resource-rich, year-round shelter option in Worcester. Continue to advocate for affordable housing, housing subsidies that don’t take 10 years to acquire, permanent supportive housing projects, support services for formerly chronically homeless individuals and families.

Call your Worcester city councilor, call Worcester’s city manager, call your congressman. Continue to be anbadvocate and an ally for those who still don’t have a place to call “home.”

The City was poised to convert the old St. Vincent’s Hospital nursing school on Vernon Hill into affordable housing for seniors. Our senior citizens are still waiting! There are so many projects for the homeless that the City of Worcester delays, staves off … until people forget. Please, STAY ON YOUR CITY COUNCILORS! MAKE SURE THEY DELIVER FOR OUR MOST VULNERABLE NEIGHBORS!

Together, we can move mountains.
Together, we made a huge difference this winter! Together, we will be the solution moving forward!

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🏘️This article, written by Nahani Meuse, represents her opinions – not the agency she works for, Open Sky.🏘️

Lilacs and Fields

By Pamela Jordan

Quinsig Village today. CECELIA file photos.

I love this time of year – it’s Lilac Time! Growing up in Worcester’s Quinsigamond Village, it was almost like you could smell the scent everywhere you went. And the colors – dark and light and white. Where I lived at the bottom of Holy Cross Field, there is a street called Oswald. It was about a quarter mile long and was a dead end. In the back of every yard was a continuous hedgerow of lilacs eight or nine feet tall. I would sit under the bushes and read, surrounded by the heavenly scent. I often wondered who planted all of those lilacs.

I found out later in life why there was such a proliferation. An old Swede from the once Swedish neighborhood told me when a new outhouse was needed, a spot next to the old one was dug, and a lilac bush was put in the old hole! They are long-living bushes, as long as the dead branches are trimmed off. A lilac will not grow on a branch where a previous one bloomed.

So when I was a little girl in Quinsig Village it was tulips and forsythia and lilacs for Mother’s Day. And my Mom always welcomed my bouquets. She had a special vase for special occasions, and I always felt so proud that she used it for my gifts.

On the other side of the hedgerows were the fields, Holy Cross and Currans, and many which were unnamed – it was just “The Field.” If any of you remember the names of others, please let me know!

One of the many side streets branching off Greenwood Street or Blackstone River Road – going up the hill, deep into the residential section of Worcester’s Quinsigamond Village.

The fields were glorious for kids – forts and fencing with Catalpa bean pods. Berry picking and quiet chats. It was possible to traverse the entire Village from Butler Street to the Auburn line at Packachog without ever walking on pavement. We would leave in the morning with sandwiches and snacks, pen knives and books, and be gone for the day. Nobody worried about bugs or ticks. It was a simpler time. As one went along, other kids would join in. The days flew by and, as dusk drew down, we would take the streets back home – nobody wanted to be in the fields in the dark.

Many of these fields are gone now – accommodating new duplexes and houses taking up the green spaces. I was down at my old stamping grounds last week and while many things have changed … the lilacs are still there.

By John Monfredo, retired WPS teacher and principal and former Worcester School Committee member

Small groups are best when it comes to teaching. photos submitted.

Yes, folks there is a local election taking place this year. Candidates have until May 30 to file Municipal Election Nomination papers at Worcester City Hall. Also, the last day to register to vote for the preliminary election is August 26.

Unfortunately, in past Worcester elections there has been a low voter turnout during our local elections. It’s frightening to think that a community can pass laws and implement programs without the approval of the majority of its citizens. In the last local election Worcester had a 16% voter turnout among registered voters! Across the nation it has been reported that unqualified candidates have set back a community because they won by a few votes.

I urge our readers to find out who is running for office and be sure to vote this year. In addition, the media has not stepped up enough in the past to encourage voters to make voting a priority. A study from Johns Hopkins University cited insufficient media coverage as a potential cause for its citizens not being informed about local politics. Local elections have real consequences. Whether it is the guarantee of having healthy drinking water, having police in the high schools for safety purposes, concerns over an outdated infrastructure, increases in the tax rate, education reform, busing issues and paving streets. We need these issues addressed by
our elected officials. Apathy and low voter turnout should not continue to define local elections.

Thus, CECELIA/InCity Times is taking the lead to encourage voters to turn out to vote. It’s that important. It is critical to exercise your right to vote, for it’s one of the key freedoms of America’s way of life.

The next problem for our voters is to figure out for whom to vote and what the issues are. I’d like to encourage more participation and urge community members to consider running if they believe that they can make a difference in our city. For this edition of CECELIA/InCity Times, I have sent an email out to several individuals in the community and asked them to
consider the top issues that both groups (City Council and School Committee) need to address:

🇺🇸Worcester City Council … Many parents want to know, in light of the violence taking place in the community, whether the city council will consider funding police presence in the high schools as they did in the past. They want to hear the reasons for or against
from the candidates. A group of voters wrote about their concern about the increase in the tax rate and want answers on how the City can acquire additional revenue from our non-profits such as all the colleges and universities in our city.

Voters wrote to me about the homeless in our city and felt more needed to be done. Many people in
homeless shelters are afflicted by addiction. The voters wanted to know if assistance is being given to those in need of social services.

A few wrote to me about State Senator Moore’s bill on “smart meters.” They would like candidates to address this bill on its safety merit for its citizens. The bill calls for opting out of the smart meter. Another voter is concerned about the makeup of candidates and wants to hear from moderate
candidates, for the voter feels candidates need to step up on local issues rather than focus on grandiose social justice warriors interested more in national than local problems.Others voiced their concerns about a reliable internet service and are not happy about Spectrum. Since the city’s 10-year contract runs out in October with Spectrum, many of them feel a change should be considered. One voter wrote, “It’s poor and expensive.”

Another voter stated that the city council needs to look into
the fiber optics service now being touted by Verizon. All want to hear Council candidates address this issue.

Others want the Worcester City Council to address the street repairs in our city and do a better job paving streets and fixing potholes.

🇺🇸The Worcester School Committee… One voter wrote: “The main issue seems to be “visibility” “involvement” and “knowing the constituents” (the Worcester Community).

I have also had the opportunity to talk with most of them. I am thinking that the new School Committee and City Council would benefit from speaking to the different directors of the School Department and catch up on what each department is doing to support our students and parents. A walk-thru of the schools would also be beneficial, as it would help them get a good idea of the school day and how a school is run.

“Are School Committee and City Council members visible and at the schools? Are they meeting with
parents or community agencies?”

Also, there is confusion (noted during School Committee meetings) between ESL, Transitional Bilingual Program structure and the Dual Language Program. We have many ELS. We also have FEL (former English Learners). What does this mean to our system for assistance?”
This voter wrote: “I attended a session by the Worcester Education Collaborative on the MCAS and was surprised how there were statements made about WPS, ESL, etc. How can we help educate ALL stakeholders? It seems that they too lack a lot of knowledge on WPS. I noted that there were NO School Committee or City Council members there. At this point, I am listening and taking careful note of where I see them and what they say …”

Parents voiced concerns about the need of having more full-day preschool programs, summer sessions and after school help for the students. They would like those issues to be addressed.

Others spoke about the curriculum and would like the Worcester School Committee to address programs that deal with college readiness issues.

Go, Worcester Public Schools!!

Many want to know the educational background that candidates bring to the table and want to know if the candidates know the city’s neighborhoods. Many parents want to know how the candidates feel about the use of cell phones in the schools and what the School Committee’s ideas are about how to curb violence, absenteeism and truancy in the schools.

Other ideas expressed by the voters included bullying prevention, air quality in the schools, service learning, sex education, and whether CPR training has continued in our schools.

This is just a snapshot of issues that Worcesterites want addressed. Now, as we move into the campaign season, let’s hope that these issues, as well as others, will be addressed by our political candidates. We will continue to stay on top of the issues during this all-important local election!

My Dream School

By John Monfredo, retired WPS teacher and principal and former Worcester School Committee member

Little girl in downtown Worcester. CECELIA file photo.

As a lifelong educator, teacher, principal and former Worcester School Committee member, I am passionate about public education. Tom Brokaw was right when he stated: “There is a place in America to take a stand: it is public education. It is the underpinning of our cultural and political system. It is the great common ground. Public education after all is the engine that moves us as a society toward a common destiny. … It is in public education that the American dream begins to take shape.”

As a community we need to do all that we can to provide the best education for all of our children. Unfortunately, there are no silver bullets and no one solution to achieving this goal. But if the community and the schools work together, we can achieve success. In the next few months the state funding issue will play a huge part in moving our WPS forward because, once again, COVID money will be available.

As a society and as a school system, every decision we make should be focused on the questions “Is this best for our children? Can we do more?

Let me create for you an imaginary journey through “My Dream School” …

First, the additional funding, at the request of the school principal, was spent on hiring additional teachers to keep the teacher-pupil ratio down … then they started a full-day Preschool Program … funding was set aside for tutors, additional teacher assistants, a robust after-school program with opportunities available for remedial learning and playing a musical instrument, a strong summer school program, and students being involved in community service. COVID funding also went to purchase books for the school library.

The extra money was put into the school – and not used for system-wide administrative needs.

Now let’s visit my dream school:

As you walk with me into the school for the first time you see signs that welcome parents into the building. The office staff greet you with a warm smile and say, “Thank you for coming into our school … how can we assist you?” You are then escorted to the newly refurbished Parent Room. The walls in the room are full of suggestions on how you can assist your child in learning, and there are posters everywhere on the walls with messages such as “The most important 20 minutes of the day is reading with your child.” Another poster that caught our attention was: “A house without books is like a room without windows.”

As we continue our walk, every corridor has a positive message: for example, “Reading is the Real Magic Carpet.” There is display of books and pictures of students flying on a magic carpet reading a book.

Next, outside the teachers’ lounge, there is another quote that serves as a reminder to staff: “There are no learning gaps in children, only opportunity gaps. It is our job to close the opportunity gaps.”

We also see a giant calendar for the month listing all of the activities taking place in the school and a list of teacher and parent workshops. Teachers have workshops next week on “Read, Write and Lead.” Teachers also have a collaborative meeting tomorrow by grade level to plan together and have time to discuss individual children. In my dream school all of the children in their classes are viewed as “their” children. The teachers work on developing effective strategies that benefit both the children and their families. We are told that the families love this idea of teachers accessing the educational setting and making collaborative decisions based on the best interests of the students and families. Meaningful homework takes place each school day to reinforce what the child has learned or simply to ask the child to read pages from the library book supplied by the school.

As we venture forward, we see a sign-up sheet for a monthly “Read Aloud Day” for parents to volunteer to come in and read in one of the classrooms. There is a flyer for this Friday evening’s reading party … PJ Reading Night – come and meet Harry Potter! In addition, kindness plays an important role in this school, as we see quotes such as “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” – Mark Twain.

More important, the school practices what it preaches, for staffers go out of their way to make parents feel that they are an important part of the school’s success. The school makes it a point to let the children KNOW that they are special with a tag stating, “Student of the Week.”

Quietly we walk into a few of the classrooms in my dream elementary school to see the activities taking place. We are greeted with a warm smile by the teachers, and we see parents as volunteers working with a few of the children. The teacher continues to interact with the students and goes from desk to desk encouraging and asking questions of each student. We are in awe of the enthusiasm that the children show for learning.

Finally, we head back to the Parent Room and we are greeted by other parents. We see parents working on projects for the teachers and parents putting together their school monthly newspaper. We notice that this month’s newspaper not only has suggestions for parents on helping their child at home but also has a principal’s book review column. In addition, the newspaper lists several other after-school opportunities for the children, from sports to clubs to chorus to help sessions. As one parent says, “After-school opportunities at this school are very important in this neighborhood – and the children love it.”

A parent comes over to talk to us and speaks about how great this school is and how the school offers her meaningful opportunities to engage and contribute to the school. She went on to say that during her interactions with school staff they always respond to her concerns in a professional manner, whether or not they agree or disagree with her. Also, the parent mentioned that the principal and staff take the time to call up parents with good news about their child when they do something special and how happy that makes her – and her child – feel.

As we walk out the door of My Dream School, we smile and think: YES, this is a school that I want my child to attend!