Missing their kids, teachers find ways to show they care

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“The teachers absolutely miss the kids,” said Bell Creek Principal Jill Adams. “We started this thinking it was only two weeks off and then spring break. It was really abrupt and sad that last day because you know I was watching the buses pull out of the parking lot and it brought a tear to my eye thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this could be it.’ We didn’t have a goodbye.”

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Since COVID-19 has kept students away from the classroom now for weeks, between 300 and 400 free lunches a day have been passed out in the Stephen Bell parking lot to any Bellbrook student up to the age of 18.

“I think for a lot of those kids, it’s their one time out of the house during the day and it’s fun to get out,” Adams said. “So seeing their teachers is a big hit for them.”

Shouting “Hello’s” and “we miss you’s” between vehicles, teachers held signs and students waved excitedly.

“It was nice for them to get to see each other in person and talk a little bit and laugh together,” Adams said. “It was just a really nice day.”

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Adams pointed out that while not all the families necessarily need to pick up the free lunch, it’s been a great way to include some regularity into the kids’ days.

“The kids really like having the school milk carton, and things like that are just a little bit of school normalcy but in their house, which is fun,” Adams said.

Even if the drive-by students didn’t currently have one of the teachers who sat waving from their back trunks, Adams said the day was a nice remembrance for some of the older middle-schoolers or high-schoolers who got to see a teacher they might have had back in the day at Bell Creek.

“I think for everybody, just seeing somebody that they’re not used to seeing when we’re all stuck in the same place with the same people,” Adams said.

Last week, one Bell Creek teacher drove to each of her second-grade students' houses and wrote a personalized message for them on the sidewalk: Miss you, Ella! — Mrs. Hebrank.