Peace and a Chicken

After a long but successful week, our students have returned and are re-settling into life at Christ School. Each of the four meetings was a further glimpse into culture here, as Kevin, our staff, parents, students and board members each spoke about the events of the last month. They talked about parenting. They talked about expectations of a quality boarding school. They talked about their own experiences as teenagers. They talked about dreams and hopes for the future. They talked about their concerns as students. They talked and talked and talked. And for the most part, Kevin just got to listen. After one of the meetings, (nearly five hours of talking and listening) Kevin came home smiling and commented that it was wonderful to just sit, not look at his watch and hear from the community. Most of the comments were very supportive of the school and with those that were not, Kevin realized that he didn't have to say a thing. In each case, one of his staff stepped forward, stood up and addressed the concern with confidence and maturity. It was one of those long answers to prayer, that the school really is moving out of its infancy. That Kevin could "just listen" and not feel that the weight was all on his shoulders to carry the school through this is a testament to how far we have come. The board of governors have advised us well and done a good job as advocates for the school within the community. The parents, as a whole, were supportive of the school and were taking their children to task for their behaviour. Our discipline committee identified eight of the ring leaders, and they were peacefully dismissed. After each of the four meetings, the whole community took a meal together and then each of the students and their representative parent signed a code of conduct. So thank you for your thoughts and prayers, life is somehow never easy here and we are grateful not to be alone.

Last but not least, one of the parents sent Kevin a chicken and a bag of potatoes to express her gratitude for the school and his leadership throughout this latest ordeal. What a wonderful gift. Nate and Savannah were so excited and spent the morning "playing with their meal." "Dat MY chicken." and "It gonna be SOOO yummy!" ...which after 45 minutes in the pressure cooker and two cups of homemade South Carolina style BBQ sauce it WAS.