Mayor Reina visits Holman School kindergartners

Jackson, NJ – Today was “Dogs for Dads” for Kindergartners of Mrs. Davenport’s class at the Lucy N. Holman Elementary School.    A day for kids to say thanks to dad in advance of Father’s Day, but it was also a special day for the kids and their fathers as they were treated with a special mystery guest, Jackson Township Mayor Mike Reina.   

Mayor Reina was presented with a tie made by parents and children which included stars, an American Flag, the words Mr. Mayor and of course a tree with a gypsy moth caterpiller on it, which the mayor graciously wore as he read Dr. Seuss’ The Sneetches, a story about how one scrupulous business owner tries to take advantage of unsuspecting sneetches on the beaches by selling them status symbols they didn’t need.    In the end the Sneetches realized that it didn’t matter if they had something that made them different because regardless of their differences, they can all be friends in the end.

Today’s visit was the brainchild of six year old kindergarten student Erin Stilton who thought it would be a ‘cool’ idea to ask her dad if Mayor Reina would be her special mystery guest instead of himself.   “Of course when she wanted Mr. Reina instead of me, it was a blow, but I thought it would be a wonderful experience for the kids.  Besides, who wants to hear about an old IT guy talk about the differences between megabytes and gigabytes.  I agree the mayor is a bit more interesting” said Erin’s dad Phil “I’ve been told all along that parents should get involved in education in our town and it’s an opportunity these kids might never have had otherwise.   So much has been cut from our town’s education in the past 7 years and these kids stand to miss out on opportunities that were available just a few years ago.  It’s nice to have a mayor who so freely gives back to the community and it’s an experience the children will take with them and remember as the day the mayor came to class and read to them”.

The mayor, who is used to tough crowds down at town hall handled the children just fine and mingled with the group of  first year dads whose children have just finished their first full year in Jackson’s public school system.   After reading to the children the mayor was off to meet with county officials to continue brokering a deal for the Jackson Girls Recreation Softball League to find them a permanent new home over at the county owned Patriot’s Park to give the league much needed relief.