This story from Oklahoma went viral. It is a powerful counterpoint to the nonstop negativity that deformers spew to the media about public schools. It is also a rebuke to the nonsense that Oklahoma legislators spout about the state’s public schools.
It is a story of caring, concern and dedication to the students. It stands in sharp contrast to the charter schools built on the “no-excuses” model of iron discipline and conformity. What can charter schools learn from public schools like Bizby North Intermediate?
If only Oklahoma’s Governor, its State Superintendent, and its legislators cared as much about the state’s children as its dedicated educators!
BIXBY, Okla. (KFOR) – Out at a school in Bixby, Oklahoma is a principal whose hug was caught on camera and passed around online last week spreading what’s said to be some much-needed positivity.
“We do this all the time and tomorrow my team will do it all over again,” said Bixby North Intermediate Principal Libby VanDolah.
She was captured on camera taking care of one of her many students.
VanDolah said that while speaking with other members of her staff she noticed a student with their face in their hands sitting on the ground.
“At first I thought they were tying their shoes but then when I looked again they were still on the ground,” said VanDolah. “I don’t even know if I even finished what I was saying, I just walked off because I knew this student was needing some assistance.”
VanDolah got down on the ground and that’s when she noticed the student was crying.
“My team went into action. I got down and hugged that student, and my counselor went and got that student breakfast,” said VanDolah. “We sat there and hugged and it was a few minutes before we were ready to move. It was just a moment.”
That hug was captured on camera and posted online by Jessica Jernegan, Bixby Public Schools Director of Community Engagement. And that’s what the picture did, it engaged the Oklahoma community.
“That picture encapsulates what public school is about,” said VanDolah. “We meet the kids where they are and we give them what they need. All educators do it. It happened to me yesterday (Thursday) but it could have been my assistant principal or it could have been someone in another district.”
The student had walked into school without a backpack or a coat and was stressed VanDolah said.
The post by Jernegan was shared by Representatives, online influencers, and by many teachers. Jernegan posted:
“Not one question from the principal about being tardy or where’s your backpack or where are you supposed to be?!
A moment. A hug. And breakfast.
In case you’re still with me on this post and wondering if all the rhetoric you’re hearing about public schools is true…let this be a small but very real and tangible reminder that it is most definitely not.
We’re just over here meeting kids where they are and giving them what they need.”Jessica Jernegan, Bixby Public Schools
“I think the reason why it went so viral is that people are hungry for positive things, especially centered around education,” said VanDolah. “We do it every day because we care so deeply about our kids. Yes, I have the honor of being 475 different moms. I think the reason so many people connect with it is because they have an educator in their life that they’ve seen this happen with.”
The student had walked into school without a backpack or a coat and was stressed VanDolah said.
The post by Jernegan was shared by Representatives, online influencers, and by many teachers. Jernegan posted:
“Not one question from the principal about being tardy or where’s your backpack or where are you supposed to be?!
A moment. A hug. And breakfast.
In case you’re still with me on this post and wondering if all the rhetoric you’re hearing about public schools is true…let this be a small but very real and tangible reminder that it is most definitely not.
We’re just over here meeting kids where they are and giving them what they need.”Jessica Jernegan, Bixby Public Schools
“I think the reason why it went so viral is that people are hungry for positive things, especially centered around education,” said VanDolah. “We do it every day because we care so deeply about our kids. Yes, I have the honor of being 475 different moms. I think the reason so many people connect with it is because they have an educator in their life that they’ve seen this happen with.”
To see the photograph, open the link.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The HUG was always part of our culture, but very unfortunately in today’s crazy upside down world, teachers are told to never comfort a child by touching him because it can be construed as some sort of sexual deviant behavior. But it is perfectly fine to encourage girls who are having issues with their identity to go for a sex change.
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I have never heard of a teacher telling a student to “go for a sex change.” That sounds like a conversation that adolescents might have with their parents, not a teacher.
Can you identify a school district where that has happened? Do you have a source or are you just slinging mud?
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If you go to Twitter and search for Republican sexual predators, you will find many lists.
Here is one, updated to last month, with over 1,250 names.
https://goppredators.wordpress.com/
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As someone that worked with SIFE (students with interrupted schooling) ELLs from countries with extreme poverty and violence, my motto was always to “meet students where they are and take them where they need to go.” What I discovered is that the students that had been through horrible trauma were often among the most compassionate and caring toward others.
When teachers and school staff model compassion and create a sense of community in the classrooms and school, most students perform better in a secure environment. While it will not eliminate all conflict, it will help to reduce and minimize it. This Oklahoma school is wise to support the needs of the whole child, not just the academics. When the whole student is accepted and valued, better academics often follow in my experience.
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Alas, as a matter of self protection I had a general rule that I did not hug students. Period. And I have always advised that others similarly refrain. It is just not safe in today’s world.
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You are right, especially for males on the secondary level, such gestures can be misconstrued. On the elementary level some K-2 youngsters simply spontaneously hug the teacher when they enter the room.
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This made for awkwardness sometimes. Quite a few times, a student would be grateful for something I did or responsive to some comforting words or gesture on my part and would “go in for the hug,” and I would find an excuse to turn away. It’s sad that this should be the case. There should be more hugs in the world.
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My own response to this problem was to be clumsy and do the side hug thing. It was sort of an asexual rope-a-dope I carried out to seal the vision students had of me as non-threatening. In my culture, perhaps i all cultures, there are some things you have to dance around.
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Yeah. I know that dance well.
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I remember billion dollar iPad scandal dogged, former and never again LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy firing a teacher for patting a student on the back and, a few weeks later, hugging a student on stage at his annual address. That was the height of hypocrisy. Hugs can be powerful or unwarranted. It’s all about the context, and it’s all about how dangerously opposed to teachers and teachers unions the boss is.
This article is good news. Here’s some more good news from Jackie Goldberg in my neck of the woods: https://www.dailynews.com/2024/02/01/lausd-bars-charter-schools-from-using-350-campuses-citywide/
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