An Oklahoma principal pushes positivity in one picture
BIXBY, Okla. (KFOR) – Out at a school in Bixby, Oklahoma is a principal whose hug was caught on camera and passed around online last week spreading what’s said to be some much-needed positivity.
“We do this all the time and tomorrow my team will do it all over again,” said Bixby North Intermediate Principal Libby VanDolah.
She was captured on camera taking care of one of her many students.
VanDolah said that while speaking with other members of her staff she noticed a student with their face in their hands sitting on the ground.
“At first I thought they were tying their shoes but then when I looked again they were still on the ground,” said VanDolah. “I don’t even know if I even finished what I was saying, I just walked off because I knew this student was needing some assistance.”
VanDolah got down on the ground and that’s when she noticed the student was crying.
“My team went into action. I got down and hugged that student, and my counselor went and got that student breakfast,” said VanDolah. “We sat there and hugged and it was a few minutes before we were ready to move. It was just a moment.”
That hug was captured on camera and posted online by Jessica Jernegan, Bixby Public Schools Director of Community Engagement. And that’s what the picture did, it engaged the Oklahoma community.
“That picture encapsulates what public school is about,” said VanDolah. “We meet the kids where they are and we give them what they need. All educators do it. It happened to me yesterday (Thursday) but it could have been my assistant principal or it could have been someone in another district.”
The student had walked into school without a backpack or a coat and was stressed VanDolah said.
The post by Jernegan was shared by Representatives, online influencers, and by many teachers. Jernegan posted:
“Not one question from the principal about being tardy or where’s your backpack or where are you supposed to be?!
A moment. A hug. And breakfast.
In case you’re still with me on this post and wondering if all the rhetoric you’re hearing about public schools is true…let this be a small but very real and tangible reminder that it is most definitely not.
We’re just over here meeting kids where they are and giving them what they need.”
Jessica Jernegan, Bixby Public Schools
“I think the reason why it went so viral is that people are hungry for positive things, especially centered around education,” said VanDolah. “We do it every day because we care so deeply about our kids. Yes, I have the honor of being 475 different moms. I think the reason so many people connect with it is because they have an educator in their life that they’ve seen this happen with.”
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