Chapman served both breakfast and lunch to all students, otherwise it would have been a big issue.

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One of the biggest problem I see in education are disinterested parents, who do not value education, do not support their own kids at home and provide little or no motivation for their kids to succeed in school. They are also the first to cast blame on the teacher for any problems that arise at school.

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There always a gallows humor in situations where it seems the odds are stacked against you. At Chapman we used to joke potential parents in our drawing area should first be presented with a goldfish. If they could keep a goldfish alive and well for six-months we'd present them with a puppy. If the puppy was still alive and well after a year, then they would be granted a license to have one child.

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Teaching 1st/2nd combination classes I had many great students at Chapman. After six years I took a 5th grade position and caught some of the same students again. Many who I believed were thriving in 1st/2nd grade I found to be beaten down by their home environments by the fifth grade, often the spark was completely extinguished.

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I ran into one of my best and brightest years later. She was now a single mother working a a local car wash, a shadow of the vibrant student I worked with for two years in the 1st and 2md grades.

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When I began teaching, primary teachers were oobligated to make home visits. That was pretty grim duty. It was not unusual to homes with one parent on re-hab while the other was serving time in prison. These are the kids that haunt me, the kids we must reach. Kids lucky enough to have to stable concerned parents will most likely be successful in school, but ot the others.