HANCOCK COUNTY — It was the perfect day for a parade — with bright blue, sunny skies and temperatures hovering around 70.
Led by a police escort, dozens of teachers from Mt. Vernon schools decorated their vehicles with cheery signs and drove throughout neighborhoods in the school district, waving and occasionally tossing candy to the students they hadn’t seen since the start of spring break, nearly two months ago.
Erin Siefker, a speech pathologist at Mt. Comfort Elementary School, pulled her car into the line of 45 vehicles leaving the school around 3:30 p.m. Friday, May 1.
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“I think this is a great way to let the kids know that we’re thinking of them and that we miss them,” said Siefker, who brought her sister Nicole and her dog Oliver along for the ride.
Teachers gathered at three schools around the same time to make their way down county roads and into various neighborhoods, where parents and kids waited curbside with encouraging signs of their own.
Art teacher Liz Jenkins brought her dog Gigi and her daughters, Zoe and Maggie, along with her. With the sun shining down on her top-down convertible, Jenkins waved and shouted to students as the parade rolled by.
First-grade teacher Amy McCleery had her name written on her minivan so her students could easily spot her. Seeing her students’ smiling faces in person was a great way to spend a sunny Friday afternoon, she said.
“We’ve done Zoom calls twice a week, but it’s not the same as seeing them in person,” said McCleery, who had her husband drive so she could keep a lookout for her students.
Sherry Bluethmann, whose family watched the parade from their driveway in Sugar Creek Valley Estates, passed out gift cards she had accumulated to her children’s teachers as they passed by.
“It means so much to the kids to see their teachers do this for them,” said Bluethmann, who was accompanied by her husband, Jeff, and four of their six kids, all holding signs.
“It’s nice they came out because they wanted to see me so much,” said her 9-year-old son, Damonta, proudly showing off a bag of candy, Play-Doh and bubbles one of his teachers gave him.
His neighbor, 13-year-old Connor Bayliss, enjoyed watching the parade roll by his house alongside his parents and two siblings, including a sister who will start kindergarten in the fall.
“I think it is really cool they did this for us,” he said.
