Lawrence appreciates it's staff

For nearly half the school day at Lawrence Elementary School at the Broadway Campus, specifically room 254, where Shelley Citrin, the school psychologist works, roughly 100 teachers, administrators and staff walked in and out after filling plates with bagels, muffins, pastries or fruit and pouring orange juice, ice tea or a variety of iced coffees into cups.

It was Teacher/Staff Appreciation Day on Dec. 15, hosted by the school’s Parent Teacher Association. In addition to the food, the PTA, with the students help, put together a booklet for each teacher in the third, fourth and fifth grades that included a quote from the book/movie “Wonder” and explanations from the children why their teacher is special.

“It is the idea that we are supporting kindness and acceptance, and that the teachers are a wonder to all their students,” said PTA parent Alana Fischman, who noted that the children had seen the “Wonder” movie.

The 2017 film, based on the 2012 novel of the same name by R.J. Palacio, recounts the story of August Pullman, a boy with facial differences who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time.

Tobi Putterman, a special education teacher for the past 14 years, was schmearing her bagel, when asked what she thought of the morning spread. “It’s really, really nice,” she said, about the breakfast. “It’s real nice to feel appreciated.”