Students at Mary Moore Elementary School in Texas are being encouraged to slow down and find joy in their school day. As part of this initiative, parents gave some 37 hours over one weekend to paint inspiring messages across school bathrooms.
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After performing a deep-clean on the bathrooms, eight parents painted the black before adorning them with beautiful illustrations and inspiring quotes such as “She believed she could so she did,” “Kindness changes everything,” and “Your mistakes don’t define you.”
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“Public school has become pretty tedious,” Principal Tyson Jones, told TODAY. “The kids are being tested to death, the teachers are overworked. We decided we wanted to hit the brakes on everything this year — still working on things like getting scores up, sure, but going out of our way to look for joy, for the positive instead of the negative.”
It was a couple months back that a group of parents approached Principal Jones with the innovative idea. As it turned out, they scheduled the work to be completed just days after the brutal massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. For Jones and the parents involved, this made the project all the more meaningful.
“Schools across the nation are grieving,” the principal explained. “We are all thinking about how easily it could have been our campus. When the students came in that morning, they were very shocked and very excited. They were so proud of it — all of them wanted to go to the bathroom at the same time!”
Of course, despite the hard work of this group of dedicated parents, many are concerned that the bathrooms might be subject to some vandalism. In response to such concerns, Jones offered a simple message.
“These kids have taken ownership of these bathrooms; they know they are special,” he said. “And even if by chance one kid down the line decides to mark it up with a Sharpie, does that mean we shouldn’t make the effort for the other 130 fifth-graders?”
Ultimately, the project is about injecting a bit of and hope into the lives of these students.
“School should be a joyous place,” Jones concluded.
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Messages of support have been pouring in on the school’s Facebook page.
“I love these all so much and know they will be cherished by the kids as well!!” one person wrote. “Thank you to the parents for doing this and the school for approving it. Mary Moore is just the best!”
“Great job!!! I’m not even in your district, but I love this. I’m a social worker and my husband is an elementary school teacher in MISD. Y’all are making a difference!” another added.
(H/T: TODAY)