Two Saturdays ago, a 47-year-old woman from a small village in Scotland named Susan Boyle took the stage. Her appearance and pre-performance banter led the audience to mock her. But as soon as she began singing, almost everyone in the room was on their feet cheering. Many of you may have already had the pleasure, but for those of you who haven’t, please take a moment to view it here.

In less than a week Susan’s performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables has had more than 20 million views on YouTube. According to one company that tracks online videos, clips about Susan Boyle have drawn 85.2 million views in just a week. Here in America, she’s been mentioned on the evening news, appeared on two morning television shows and is scheduled to appear on Oprah.

She’s truly “an overnight sensation.” Many columnists and media analysts have written about why Susan Boyle has touched so many people’s hearts. Some suggest the current economy has left everyone feeling so pessimistic that we’re touched to see an underdog come out on top.

I think there’s some truth in that analysis, but I mention Susan Boyle today because I want us to think about the lessons we can take from her story and apply to our work with children and their families in our schools. It is so important that we not let surface judgments color our interactions with students and their families. Too often, people are tempted to let demographics or appearance or first impressions dictate how we feel about people. But when we fall into that trap, we run the risk of never discovering the true potential that lies within.

As much as we hate to admit it, we’ve all been guilty of making a snap judgment at one point or another. Keep a link to this video handy and next time you’re tempted to stop at the surface, reconsider. Just like Susan Boyle, our kids come to us full of dreams and they’re looking to us to help them make those dreams come true. The judges on that show gave Susan a chance to change their minds. I hope all of us will allow our students the chance to show us how much they’re capable of, too.

P.S. Each month we recognize students and staff who have won first or second place in the state or nation during our board meetings. It is really amazing to see the large number of recognitions each month! This month there are so many that we had to move some to May!!! The talent in our school district is beyond what anyone could imagine. I also wanted to mention that over Spring Break, Kathy and I had the opportunity to attend the production of "Fiddler on the Roof" by our SCAPA students and it was as good as anything we had ever seen on Broadway or by traveling Broadway casts. It is our favorite musical and we thoroughly enjoyed the performance. Again, the talent is amazing!