Here’s an idea: we are writing our own stories, moment by moment, day by day. Let’s try to write one together, one in which the spring news from our schools is all about commencements – new beginnings, celebrations, the promise of the future.

In this tale, the only thing that ends as the school year does is, well, the school year.

There are no sirens, except the ones excited families bring to arenas and gymnasiums to make noise for their graduates.

There are no emergency phone calls, except the ones from graduates who forgot their mortar board decorations.

There are no wounds, except the kind a band-aid on the heel over the blister from a too-new shoe can fix.

In this tale, we celebrate the commencement of the next chapter in every student’s story,  and they all live to write those chapters.

Let’s try it.