Hearts to You

Photo by Corbis

Growing up, I spent many an after-school hour living and watching life in Louisiana's public schools. My mom and dad were high school teachers—each for more than 30 years—and every day at 3 when my elementary school let out, I'd skip to their school a block away, then bounce between classrooms, taking bets on who'd strike out for home first. 

Alas, it was always a wait.  

Mom was usually organizing her room or readying her Candy Stripers for another volunteer afternoon at Veteran's Hospital. Dad was invariably teaching students how to lay out the school newspaper—on linotype machines!—or helping develop pictures they'd taken with old Rolleiflex cameras. 

And they weren't the only busy bees; all around were teachers doing the extra stuff that kept the school buzzing long past the last bell had rung. 

It wasn't until years later that I came to appreciate that all that work was, plain and simple, about love—for the profession, for the students, and for their self-respect as African-Americans hailing from a segregated South. 

These days, I'm reminded—over and again through you—of the abiding love it still takes to make schools respectable havens for learning. Places kids want to be. It also takes courage—and if you need some convincing, look no further than our feature, "You Gotta Have Heart." There we profile three educators who not only love their profession, but embrace it with remarkable spirit, despite illnesses and disabilities that might have made others pack up and go home. 

Throughout this issue, in fact, we turn a spotlight on educators who every day show their love for students and public schools—from paraeducator Barbara Salazar, who keeps the train running in the special ed class she assists, to the many teachers and librarians who work feverishly to spark student interest in that waning American pastime, reading. 

For them, and for you, we open our hearts and say thanks. May February bring you a bounty of Valentines and many sweet stories of success. Just don't forget to share them with us. We're standing by.

Editor-in-Chief Marilyn Milloy