Dr. Roberto E. Gibraltarik

...I attended the Million Man March in Washington DC in 1995. I wasn’t prepared to write anything. But it was a historical event. I didn’t have lined paper nor a pen. I had a pencil and a napkin and began scribbling my verses. That ordeal resulted in the first book of poetry written about the March, titled “Messages from the Historic Million Man March”. I gravitated and graduated to more profound social and political issues as seen in the poem Años de Lágrimas (Years of Tears): I can hear my ancestors They’re being taken away… The screams piercing the air…

We need to make school FUN again! The finger painting, coloring, playground, and games (inside and outside of class) alongside academics project a light of jubilance in the soul of your child. As they ascend to higher grades, a subtle shadow or cloud can begin to encroach on their amination and desire to go to school and/or continue in a society that has failed them. Of course, there are numerous distractions: social media, computers, and cell phones just to list a few, as there are well-documented after-school extra-curricular activities for students to engage themselves such as sports, chorus, or drama club. Students need to be challenged, academically fed, and entertained.

The pandemic took anything that was challenging already in schools and poured gasoline on it.  Rather than punish kids or try to cure the problem, our job is to help them get through it.  The number one thing a kid needs while dealing with trauma or toxic stress is a loving, caring, reliable adult, per Harrison Bailey III, principal of Liberty High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  Too many kids, which, consequently, are our future workforce, have been castaway, kicked out of their home, or virtually disregarded due to lack of parent involvement, lack of a healthy