The whooshing sound you may have heard this week was the sound of hundreds of area parents sighing in relief that school has started again. Slightly softer was the sigh of relief by hundreds of area kids who are secretly glad that summer vacation is over and they can go back to the classes, friends and activities that the school year brings.

Now is the time to be on the lookout for kids walking or biking to school and busses traveling along the highways and gravel roads. It’s time to start thinking about school concerts and football games and all the other things that come with a new school year.

While you’re thinking about all that, it’s also time to remember the people that will be teaching our students. We won’t be expecting them to teach just the basics of reading, writing and math, but also about how to be good citizens, how to take responsibility and how to get things done on a timeline. These are all things that will come in handy when school is just a distant memory and they are sending their own children off on their own learning journey.

We owe it to our kids and our teachers to be involved In our schools, even if we don’t currently have children attending. We need good schools to attract employers to Webster City to bring jobs and opportunities for the rest of us. Education keeps young people from getting involved with drugs and crime, which has been proven again and again. We owe it to our students to advocate for them with our elected officials to support quality education.

So welcome back to school, Hamilton County students. We’re standing behind you.