Fiesta

This weekend is the annual Fiesta at my daughter's school. It's part carnival/part fundraiser/part 3 day party. Unfortunately, this weekend it's been hovering at the 100 degree mark and the Fiesta has been super hot and miserable. Not that the kids have noticed, of course. We've been to the Fiesta all three days -- Friday night for four hours, Saturday for eight hours, and today I left after five hours (she's still there, with some friends, for another two hours).

Last night, as the live band was playing and people were dancing and laughing, I was struck by the sense of community. These are the people I see every day as I drop my daughter off at school, or the people I see Sunday at church (it's a parochial school). And yet I don't see these people in a social setting very often. Once a year, on Fiesta weekend, we come together and dance, laugh, and visit with each other. And that's a very good thing. Why don't public school have social gatherings for parents? Why don't we (as public schools) build a sense of community? Even if we had something much smaller, like a Saturday afternoon school carnival in the cafeteria -- something to help foster a positive sense of togetherness within ourselves and the members of our school community.

Just an idea.