The kids were very receptive to that.

We want to surround our families with as much support as possible. There are some great people working with kids in this town. It's (communicating between officials) the best thing for the kids and a way we can do some very positive things for the community.

Whenever you have a concern about a group of kids, you have to get those with authority together to discuss it.

In partnership with parents and local government, you never know what you can do. There is a lot going on here (the high school) for kids, but we can't offer everything. We'll never be able to schedule every minute of every student's day.

My hope is the letter will get people talking.

It makes you tear up a bit just to see that the kids can do something for you. There's one resident who knew that I did not have breakfast, lunch or dinner yesterday. At 10 at night, she was shoving crackers in my pocket telling me to keep my strength up as we were walking through here. I made her take them back, but they try and give back as well too.