PANDEMIC: CLASSIFIED FOXBORO EMPLOYEES CHEER ON STUDENTS
Lunches available to anyone under 18
The past seven months have not been easy for Foxboro Elementary School students. Like all pupils in the era of COVID-19, they have spent nearly all of their time at home with some only visiting campus to pick up lunches.
But those who do pick up lunches get very spirited greetings from the school’s classified employees. One employee has even taken it upon herself to write letters to every single Foxboro student.
“The kids miss being at school, (and) we miss them,” Trisha Carr, the school’s library media technician, said.
On Monday, Carr joined Tara Hermann, student services specialist; and Lyn Wood, food services director, to hold up signs and cheer as students drove up in front of the school with their parents to pick up their meals. All the while, they blasted upbeat
songs — mostly from Disney movies — and wore shirts with slogans such as “Foxboro Family” and “Foxboro Rocks” while holding up signs bearing phrases like “We miss your smiles” and “You matter.”
The trio has been doing this since the Foxboro campus closed in March, save for the summer when school was out. They picked it up again when the new school year began in August.
Wood said the goal was to let students know that staff still care about them and miss seeing them every day.
“The whole reason we’re here is because of the children,” she said.
Wood and her team distribute bags with two meals each day, with items including milk, juice, cereal, burritos, apples, and other foods. The meals are distributed from noon to 1:30 p.m.
Wood said the efforts have produced both smiles and tears, the latter because of how stressful it can be for parents at home. For them, she said picking up meals is “the highlight of their day.”
Hermann has also taken it upon herself to interact with students outside of the food distribution days. She has checked up on students through Zoom, but she also does do the old-fashioned way: by writing and delivering letters to them.
“It’s just basically checking in with them, asking them how they’re doing (and) letting them know that I miss them a lot and that we all love them,” she said.
Hermann ends her letters by recommending students to write back if they have time. She said many of them have complied. Occasionally, she’ll include a personalized sentence like “It was good to see you the other day” and “How’s your lizard doing?”
Hand-writing letters in 2020 is an interesting experience, Hermann said,
“It takes a lot of time to write letters nowadays,” she said.
Hermann also puts stickers on the envelopes and has noticed that when she receives letters back from students, they have stickers on them as well.
“That’s saying that they’re paying attention,” she said.
Hermann said the kids have been excited whenever they have gotten letters from her. She feels the same way when she sees one
in her mailbox.
“When I get the letters, it’s like Christmas,” she said. “This is the simplest thing, and it just gets me excited.”
Carr said having classified employees to cheer the students on as they pick up their lunches gives stu
dents a sense of normalcy as they see familiar faces.
“Their worlds have been turned upside down,” she said.
Hermann said she wants to continue to let the students know that staff anticipates a time when they can
be back on campus.
“Even though we’re not here, they know that we still love them and care about them,” she said.