District Administrator Corner

by Loren Glasbrenner,  River Valley School District Administrator  “How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment, we can start now, start slowly changing the world.  How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward introducing justice straightaway… And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness.”  - Anne Frank You may not be aware, but this week has been a celebration of random acts of kindness.  Yes, Valentine’s Day was a day to honor love and adoration (possibly with a Hallmark), but we wanted the lessons to continue.  So, this week the River Valley School District has been highlighting a Random Acts of Kindness Week (www.randomactsofkindness.org), February 13 through 19. Classrooms and schools are built upon a foundation of cooperation and kindness.  Students and staff, janitors and cooks, administrators and parents, volunteers and bus drivers, coaches and leaders—all working together to achieve a common goal.  We model and teach kindness every day.  Being a Blackhawk is a great responsibility.  “A recent study reported on how people felt after performing or observing kind acts every day for seven days.  Participants were randomly assigned to carry out at least one more kind act than usual for someone close to them, an acquaintance or stranger, or themselves, or to try to actively observe kind acts.  Happiness was measured before and after the seven days of kindness.  The researchers found that being kind to ourselves or to anyone else—yes, even a stranger—or actively observing kindness around us boosted happiness.” (health.harvard.edu)   Truly, we reap what we sow.  By highlighting random ways to help each other, we can only hope that students will build cooperation and happiness simultaneously. As a community there is a plethora of ways to act on kindness to help you or others: • Reply to a social media post happily • Set goals for yourself • Text someone a random “good morning” • Cook a meal for a friend • Visit a bookstore or our public libraries to browse and learn • Let a public officer know you appreciate their work • Smile at someone for no reason • Let your day start or end with thanks • Take a walk and breathe more deeply As a school community, through thick and thin, we focus on academics…but also on social and emotional growth.  Students and families rely on our schools to celebrate progress to build success, which extends deeply beyond content.  As proud Blackhawks, our mission is to prepare confident, competent, healthy, and emotionally strong individuals.  It can be an overwhelming responsibility.  Yet, as Desmond Tutu posits, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the work.”