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TUCKAHOE, N.Y. -- William E. Cottle School Principal George Albano wants to know, have you been kind today?
Being kind is the focus at Cottle this week as the school's 550 students spent the week participating in the nationwide "Random Acts of Kindness Week.
"There are so many anti-bullying programs, and all of them are good," said Albano who has been an educator for 42 years. "But just teaching a child to be kind sends the perfect anti-bullying messageit's a way of life."
Albano said that students started the week wih Jump Rope for Hearts, where the kids collected pledges on their jump roping ability.
"We earned $26,000," Albano boasted.
Another event was bringing two lunches to school on Wednesday.
"We must have had three hundred lunches,"Albano said. "There were bags and bags piled up waiting to be packed up and brought to a soup kitchen in Mount Vernon."
Albano said that while he was thrilled to take part in the program, all of the credit goes to two moms, Karen Kelly and Janna Conybeare.
"They came to me and asked if we could do this and I was very happy about it," Albano said. "These parents and others organized everything for us, they did a great job."
The final act of kindness has been going on all week, with kids and faculty putting their change into jars all over the building. The goal is to raise enough money to buy a heffer, to be donated to Heffer International which will ensure that a community in dire circumstances will receive an animal urgently needed.
Albano said he is confident that the week of practicing to be kind will net long-term results.
"This is one more example of how the Cottle School community and its parents work hard to develop well rounded students, who are academically, socially and morally well rounded," Albano said.
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