Vignette: "You're Under Arrest..."

An email sent to my colleagues today...

A Brookline Police Officer strolled into my classroom after school today and jokingly said, "You're under arrest....do you remember me?"

The face was familiar. "Debbie Kindred!!" I shouted.

Debbie was in my fourth grade classroom when I was teaching in the 1857 Pierce Elementary School building, now called The Annex, in the early 70's. Between us, we figured she was in my class of 1972 or so. 
She's now the mother of four and on the Brookline Police force working in the DARE Program. We had fun reconnecting after not seeing each other for, well, let's say about twenty years!!

Patrol Officer Deborah Hatzieleftheriadis is  still in touch with many of the kids she grew up with, some of whom were in that distant 4T class at Pierce.

It's so rewarding to see how your 'kids' turn out. I know many of us teachers feel that our influence, guidance, caring, nurturing, structure, beliefs, core values...our essence... is somehow distilled and preserved in the character of those kids who 'graduate' from our classes and then echoes into the future. Talking with Debbie and sensing her genuine delight in finding me still at Pierce School reinforced my notion about this.

We do noble work. And it's appreciated more than we know.