When Shayla Williams-Barnes dropped her 6-year-old son off at Alan Rowe College Prep after making the switch from a traditional public school to a charter, she was impressed. Staff members were outside ready to greet parents and students who opened car doors.

She noticed one male teacher smile at her son as he left the car to enter the school. The teacher leaned down and said “good morning genius” as her son grinned and left to start his day at school.

She felt emotional and deeply moved at the gesture because it aligned with how they’ve always spoken positive affirmations to her son. Williams-Barnes and her husband both felt good as they drove off, knowing he was going to have a good year with the change of the school.

“For one of the first times when we dropped him off, I was almost i

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