My son wrote the following letter as part of a class assignment earlier this month:
Today, the principal (Mr. Oberweiser) and the district's director for food services (Mr. Gasper) met with Kevin. I had thought this was just our very awesome principal wanting to validate Kevin's concerns, but they would politely thank him for writing the letter, say they weren't making changes, and that would be it.
I guess I was wrong.
From the email I received from the principal today:
He did great! ... I let Kevin know that Mr. Gasper has been a very important person in getting our gardens off the ground and also assisting with bring the crops from the gardens (potato, bean, squash) directly to the lunch program. I told Kevin that because of this, Mr. Gasper also deeply cares about the environment.So Kevin asked about the switch from metal to plastic. Mr. Gasper explained that both metal and plastic have benefits yet each also has a negative. On the negatives for metal, lost silverware in the garbage, employee cost to wash, chemicals that are used to wash the silverware which then pollute our water supply. The positives for metal are pretty self-explanatory. On the side of plastic, negatives are pretty obvious. On the positive, reduced staff, no chemicals, and also, most of our garbage is burned for energy(which has its own pro's and con's). Kevin then asked if the plastic silverware could in any way be recycled. Kevin even came up with a way to soak the soiled silverware in a strainer type mechanism. It was very thought out on Kevin's part.Next steps are that Mr. Gasper is going to look into whether the plastic silverware is recyclable (which he believes to be the case) as well as any other products such as the juice containers. After Mr. Gasper finds out, we will reconvene to plan our next steps. We all seemed very interested in the idea of recycling. We told Kevin that if we go in this direction, we will need his help with this endeavor and getting the word out.
Forgive me for being a very proud mom.
20,000 miles behind me, the world still to see.
Good job raising a thinking child!
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” - T.S. Eliot
What a great attitude Kevin has... And how comforting it is to know that the people involved in his education are kind and treat him with the respect that he deserves. Maybe you have a future little engineer with you, Shari? Or an environmentalist? :-) It brings me joy when I see children full of concern for others and for our world. Our future will be in their hands soon. Thank you for raising such a fine little human being.
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
This is totally awesome, Shari! Kevin is a very forward thinking, responsible young man! And, kudos to his school for taking his letter seriously and for listening to him!
But The Smile That I Sent Out Returned With You.
Great story - I hope some real action comes out of it. It looks good so far :-)
Where's that Like button? Or a thumbs up emoticon? What a great kid.
I seen the letter on FB. Congrats to you for being such an inspiration to your kids.
Thanks, everyone - I'm proud, but I claim no part in influencing this. Nature and helping wildlife and animals is something he has latched on to, so I give some of the credit to Ranger Rick magazine.
And I give the school, especially our principal, a lot of credit for not just shrugging this off since it was part of a writing assignment. He was to write a letter to persuade someone to do something.
kween
Just fantastic. The fact that his requests were treated with respect and deemed important will really validate any other ideas he has in the future. I suspect he will have more and more good ideas, too. You have a future little activist on your hands (that's a good thing).
Nolite te bastardes carborundum.
Very cool!
Team TJ
Nice job Kevin and mom! He seems like a really smart kid.
Running for TJ because he can't.
Credit to the kid but credit to the school as well for saying, "well, why not?" All too often, we fail to ask that question when presented with something that challenges our worldview.
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).
I actually thought the school admins handled it well despite not making the change. Sometimes all it takes is a seed to plant the idea of change. This could take days, weeks or years but do not dismiss their decision as a rejection, but rather a time for that seed to take root.
Keep an open mind regarding their reasons against it, just like you want them to do regarding yours for it.
Good stuff!
Trust me, I am thrilled with how the school is handling it! One of my son's friends, who is at a different elementary in the district, asked about the same thing and was just given "no." The fact that the principal and food service director took time to sit down with Kevin and actually discuss this impresses me. Even the district superintendent, to whom Kevin also addressed his letter, was in the building and met Kevin, though he couldn't stay for their discussion. I feel very blessed to have the school principal we do - it is obvious in many ways that he knows and respects the students in his school.
Oh okay, I mistook your position from the original post. You're with it!