This story is free to read.

Cook: As testing approaches, here’s the one thing teachers, parents, students need to hear

Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / Cafeteria workers, teachers and other staff wait to pass out meals at East Brainerd Elementary School on Friday, March 20, 2020 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Hamilton County Schools have provided different options, including helping to prepare and deliver student meals, to ensure their classified and hourly staff continue to get paid while schools are closed amid the coronavirus crisis. Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / Cafeteria workers, teachers and other staff wait to pass out meals at East Brainerd Elementary School on Friday, March 20, 2020 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Hamilton County Schools have provided different options, including helping to prepare and deliver student meals, to ensure their classified and hourly staff continue to get paid while schools are closed amid the coronavirus crisis.

By David Cook May 1, 2021 4 min read

Years ago, a friend was teaching elementary school in North Georgia. Many nights, she’d stay late, well past dark, 9 p.m. even, getting her classroom ready for the next day. Often, dinner was Sonic drive-thru on the way home.

One night, a noise at her window.

Tap, tap, tap.

It was the mother of one of her students. She lived nearby, had probably seen the lights on. In her hands, a paper plate, an extra helping of dinner – chicken, green beans, chocolate brownies.

This is for you, she said, handing it through the open window.