3001 Orr Dr.    Tyler, Texas 75703     Phone  903-262-2400    Fax 903-262-2401   Walter  Perez, Principal

Dear Parents,

                                                                                                October 22, 2009

Orr Elementary is committed to promoting kindness and compassion so our schools remain safe places to learn and live. A program titled “Rachel’s Challenge” has been implemented at the secondary level in Tyler ISD. Rachel Scott was the first victim in the Columbine High School shooting. Her father and over twenty other certified presenters travel all over the nation delivering the message of kindness and compassion, two traits that characterized Rachel Scott.

Curriculum and programs are available to middle and high school students, but since we believe that the foundation of social and emotional skills, as well as academic skills, begin at the elementary level, we would like to introduce “Rachel’s Challenge” to our elementary school. We will not focus or discuss the nature of Rachel Scott’s death, but focus on how she lived her life and the challenges she set forth for us all: influence, goal setting, journaling, acceptance and kindness.

Students will be urged to fill our paper chains with statements of kind and compassionate actions they have witnessed from others. The links will be chained together in each classroom. The goal at the end of the year will be to host a group, campus or district wide event celebrating all the acts of kindness and compassion and joining all the chains together creating a “Chain Reaction of Kindness and Compassion.”

It is our hope and wish that this will spark a change in how students treat each other as they prepare for middle school and high school. Please encourage your students to show kindness and compassion toward others, especially those who are new students, special needs students or isolated students. This was the wish of Rachel Scott.

Please join us in celebrating this exciting year of kindness and compassion. Please speak with your child about Rachel’s Challenge and encourage them to commit random acts of compassion and kindness.          

                              “We have to reach their hearts before we can teach their minds.”

- Pricilla Vail

Sincerely,

Erin Brunton

Orr Elementary School Counselor