'Rozo Days' at Sharon School

Rep. Rosemary (Rozo) McLaughlin, who died this past week, did not represent the Town of Sharon—officially. She did, however, represent all the children in the state of Vermont.

Rozo died much too young; she had a great deal of work still to do. She was a model of energy, warmth and commitment, especially to causes which involved the well-being of children.

Sharon Elementary School had a special place in her heart because we had already made a commitment to connect our children with the physical and cultural place in which they are growing up. Rozo's Farm-to-School bill, which passed earlier this year, has opened up opportunities for schools to connect in meaningful ways with local growers, thus improving the nutrition of Vermont's children AND the financial health of small farmers.

Rozo adopted our school as a poster school since we were already doing so much of what she hoped to see in other Vermont schools. She broadcast our FEED (Food Education Every Day) work in the legislature and invited Mr. Haley and his third graders to the State House to share their famous salsa, all to convince skeptics of the hopefulness of this work.

Our school will honor her memory by calling "Rozo Days" all days when we do special work with locally grown foods. These will include our Harvest Festival and Thanksgiving dinners, our monthly "taste tests" and frequent consulting days from our good friends at Vermont FEED.

If you walk into our school and see a banner which says "Rozo Day," you will know that we are featuring some educational work that is connected with a local farm or a regionally grown food product. May we all live our lives so that we can make such a mark.

I also want to thank Rozo's political opponent David Ainsworth, who graciously suspended his campaign activity following Rozo's death.

Sharon Elementary School counts David and his wife Peggy as good farm friends. The Ainsworths open their farm to our teachers and children for work and learning.

May we also continue to live in communities where one can know and appreciate good people who follow different political paths.

Sheila Moran, Principal

Sharon Elementary School