He Loves Our School

We are all terribly sad at my school to be losing our principal at the end of this year. He's moving across the country this summer and it's getting awfully close to the time to say goodbye. It's actually getting close to the time to say goodbye to a few other teachers who are close to our class, as well as to a couple of kids who are moving.

Not that our cards and messages of goodbye are any less heartfelt, but it sort of feels these days like we're a factory of appreciation. Fold. Draw. Tell what you like about her. Fold. Draw. Tell what you'll miss about him. I could almost post a permanent sign for the remainder of the year and just write in a different name each day. "The good-bye card of the day, children, is for _____."

The cards for the principal, Mr. Jim, were really wonderful to look through today. And as with much of the kids' work--a little funny, too.

He talks nicely to me.

He is a good guy.

He always says hello or good morning and never is bad.

Aw. Yes--Mr. Jim does talk nicely to people and always says "good morning." And yes, it's definitely a good thing that our principal was never bad. The fanciness of Mr. Jim's ties featured prominently in the drawings as well as the things the kids like about him.

You are a great principal to me and you wear fancy ties.

The best thing about you is that you give people hugs and you pay money to the school so they can go on field trips like the Capitol.

Well, it doesn't really work like that with the money, but OK. Some kids gave advice.

Here’s advice for you, Mr. Jim: Always feel like a principal in your heart and be safe. Everybody wants help from you every time in their life. Mr. Jim, make sure you don’t forget us. Please don’t forget us. I’ll forget you if you do, but you won’t.

We tried to clarify with Marnay about the “I’ll forget you if you do.” "Surely you must mean, 'I’ll forgive you if you do.'" But no. Marnay insisted that she wanted to tell Mr. Jim that if he does, in fact, forget us, we will pretend he never existed. Just so he knows that up front.

Jacob told that he likes how Mr. Jim fixes kids' problems, and Abria drew a whole scene to encapsulate just exactly how Mr. Jim does help kids.

A teary-eyed Sydney in the picture says: Sorry that I’m sad but people won’t let me play with them so I can make my friends.

A tie-wearing Mr. Jim replies: It’s OK Sydney. Sometimes people won’t play with me.


Another girl in the picture, perhaps even Abria herself, says: Sydney fakes like people don’t play with her.

A wavy skirt and label saying “Ms. S” shows that it's me saying: Ok—people will play with her today.

Though I'm not sure it was fully necessary to include the mention of Sydney faking, Abria's goodbye message above the drawing was pretty spectacular.

What I like best about Mr. Jim is that he loves our school. He wants the best for it and it makes me feel like I can trust and give all I got!