To the editor:

Many of the articles that we read about teachers and our school system are often written by the public devaluing their importance.

As parents of three children who are at each level of our schools, we have had the incredible fortune of being provided with educators who deserve this letter of gratitude. I want to write this to all of the teachers who understand the grave importance of their occupation, and who do not take that responsibility lightly.

Over the last 13 years, teachers in the Bristol Warren School District have shared in the raising of my children. They have spent more hours each day with my children than we have as their parents. We have sent them off to school each day knowing that they will be gifted with teachers who truly care about their entire well-being.   

All of my children are very different and all of them have had their individual needs met and cultivated to help them shine. There really are not enough words to express gratitude for all they do and for all the teachers we have encountered over the years.

We are thankful for the teacher who spent countless hours before school for weeks on end to help prepare our high school student for his AP exams. We thank the teacher who took time away from his family on a Friday night to support my child at an awards ceremony. We thank the past and present teachers he is able to reach out to for support academically and emotionally before, during and after school, which is definitely above and beyond any job description.

We thank all the teachers who have pushed our middle school student to reach his full potential, all while appreciating his snarky personality and energy. We thank the past teachers who have helped mold his young mind and assisted him in becoming the young man he is today. We thank his future teachers for the continuation of encouraging him to push his limits.

We thank the teachers who have risen to the challenge of having our elementary school child in their classroom despite the challenges of his allergies. We thank the nurse and all school personnel who have partnered with us to make his day safe and display true love for him. We thank you for enduring all the resistance when forging the way to make school the safest learning environment for him.

Most of all, thank you for overcoming the daily struggles of a complicated education system, and still dedicating yourselves to achieving as much as possible for your students. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for the kindness you show. Thank you for giving students confidence and courage to follow their dreams. Thank you for the guidance you give them while learning to grow.

Thank you for swallowing every negative generalization people may make about teachers, and knowing in your hearts that your job is one of the most important jobs in the world.

Keri Larson Russ Ferreira Bristol