Amazingly we are still conducting in person schooling. I can see the difference in our students. They are settling into a work routine, absorbing new material, and recovering past material. That is a wonderful thing to see. My teacher’s heart grieves for those schools that have been forced to close. On the other hand, my heart is angry that those teachers in the north are sacrificing their students’ futures for …I’m not sure what. The science says put the kids in school. I grieve for all those babies who are falling further and further behind. This will impact our poorer schools more than the kids from affluent parents. They have resources that poor kids in Chicago can’t even dream about to use. Please put our children back in school. I am so proud that our administration and teachers have chosen to serve our students.
Bro. Mack is headed for the surgeon’s table on Monday. A field dressing accident, after a successful hunt, badly cut his hand. He is hoping this surgery will restore full use of his hand. He does hours of typing, and it takes two hands working at full capacity to get the job done properly.
The basketball teams are blazing their way through the season. The boys had a late start, but they are great athletes and getting into the flow of the game quickly. Our junior high teams are young and energetic. I’ve watched a couple of their games. The enthusiasm is not always matched by skills since they are in the learning process, but they are a delight to watch. Good luck to all our basketball teams. They will be preparing for track season shortly. We do keep these kids busy.
Last week was child safety week. The school sent out notices last week to make parents aware of this program. There are different programs for each age group. I wish we didn’t have to have programs about bullying and stranger danger, but we live in a different world.
If your child has a question, please have them ask their teacher or sit them down and discuss what you feel is appropriate for your child.
It won’t hurt to ask them what they took from their presentation. I remember when my daughter attended a health program on teen pregnancy and when I questioned her, I was stunned by her response. It was the total opposite of what I knew the program had presented. When pushed for the reason, it turned out one of the other kids had a different idea about the material that was totally wrong. So, please, make sure they took away the right information.
We have a clear run of Monday Church for February. By that I mean, there will be no interruptions on the calendar. So please have your child ready when the van comes around on Monday morning. We have studied Job and Joseph. This week we are going for letter J again, this time it will be Jonah. Jonah was the reluctant messenger who ran away from God and found out there was no place to go. We are having a great time and I want to say a heartfelt thank you to all the volunteers who show up every Monday to offer this service to parents and kids in the community.
Shiloh is holding youth services each Wednesday although in a limited way to maintain COVID safety. I’m not sure how long we will all be safe. First Baptist San Saba had to go to remote services this week due to the rise in COVID cases. I would like to remind everyone to stay safe and follow masking procedures when you are in crowded areas.
I am not a masking fan, but neither do I want to have our school and youth programs shut down.
I am known as a hard nose when it comes to rules, especially with kids. I believe that one of my duties as a teacher is to teach kids to follow the rules. Unlike some who want to load you down with rules, my contention is if the rule is important make it and enforce it. If it is not important, then take it out of the rules. We should not be encouraging kids to disobey and bend rules. The bigger picture is more important. If we allow kids to break rules indiscriminately, then we will have them arguing with authorities and police officers. I see so many of these videos with smart mouth people smack talking the officers. It usually escalates and they end up in jail. So, parents and teachers need to be firm in the rules they make and enforce. To be exact, don’t make the rule if you don’t mean to enforce it.
I dislike the new Box tops format. For the life of me, I can’t ever remember to scan my receipt, nor can I figure out what you do once you scan it. So, very few Box tops have made it to Mrs. Barker. The library budget must be a little slim since we didn’t do the book drive and we aren’t getting the Box tops. Mrs. Barker always has a smile and a book for the kids that enter her lovely library.
We have so many sick people in the community. Part of it is the winter bugs, but I think being shut up and quarantined from society adds to the isolation and sickness. We have multiple cases of cancer, a couple of surgeries and a few cases of COVID. We have had a few cases of COVID in town, but most have been relatively mild. Please pray for our county, our country, and the world for relief from this deadly COVID virus. The vaccines will be here in San Saba this month. If you need the vaccine, please contact Everett’s Pharmacy, and ask to have your name put on the list.
Please pray for our government, our president, our congressional members and for the unrest in the country. Our police and first responders, as well as medical personnel, are exhausted working with the unrest and sickness in the country. Most of all pray for our precious troops and their families. Take care, stay safe, and have a great week.