I’m thrilled to report that Bishop Maginn High School staff and I have agreed on the first small act of great kindness from the Army Of Good for 2020, to be launched here on the blog by the end of this week.

The idea – worked out by Principal Mike Tolan and teacher Sue Silverstein and me – is for the school to put up a Bishop Maginn High School Amazon Wish List seeking student review books for the New York State Regents Exam in the subject areas for Bishop Maginn students – Sciences, Math, Social Studies, English.

This will be out sixth Wish List for Bishop Maginn, all have been 100 percent successful.

The  New York State High School Regents Exams is held in June. In order to graduate from high school, students must pass five Regents exams in the following areas: English Language Arts, a math, a science, a  social studies and any additional exams approved by the state.

They are critically important not only for graduation but for college admissions and vocational schools and scholarships. Each year, Bishop Maginn struggles to get the review books that the students need. The refugee families can’t afford them, and the school has no funds to buy enough.

It would be wonderful to get each student the review book he or she needs for 2020.

If we can get them the review books now, the teachers can get to work preparing the students – many refugee children working on their English language skills –  right now and over the next six months.

June is not far off.

Sue and Mike are asking the teachers this week which editions they need; they are all sold on Amazon and cost about $10 each. It looks like the school will need between 50 and 60 review books altogether.

I think this is a perfect Wish List and fit for the Army Of Good, we can give these students something they have never had – an equal shot at preparing for an exam that will go a long way towards determining their futures.  The teachers will take it from there.

I’m going into the school on Thursday to work out the final details of the Wish List, assuming I’m all better by then (I am confident I will be), and I’ll post the details Thursday or Friday.

I’m very excited to be getting back to doing some good, I wanted to give everybody a break over the holidays, but this is a beautiful way to kick off our work for this challenging year.

I think our work is more important than ever in 2020; I am committed to the idea of doing good rather than arguing about what good is. The last few years have shown that this is good for us as well as others.

We can help to support the future and the lives of this inner-city and refugee children. They have responded beautifully to our support, and these review books will be a game-changer for them. I know many of the teachers have been trying to buy these books out of their own pockets.

I think we can do better, we can help.

And thanks. You know how the Wish Lists work, you get to decide what you wish to spend and purchase the items directly, they are sent to the school, no middlemen or administrative costs.

I didn’t want to go into the Mansion while there was any chance I could get the residents sick, but I’m going in there this week, possibly tomorrow,  Zinnia and Fate will be coming with me. The staff Break Room is almost finished, and I’d like to spend some time in the Memory Care Unit.