Lafayette Teacher, Author Brings ‘Different at School’ Message to Rockwood Schools

October is Disability History and Awareness Month nationally, a time during which the Rockwood School District encourages our schools to provide instruction on disability history, people with disabilities and the disability rights movement. There are approximately 130,000 students with disabilities educated by Missouri public schools, and we value the importance of our schools recognizing the contributions by people with disabilities to our society through school curriculum, assemblies and other school activities.

The first meeting of the Pond Elementary Best Buddies club for the school year included a very special guest: Lafayette High social studies teacher and children’s book author Jodie Lee.

Lee has written four books in a series titled “Different at School,” named for the organization she started in the summer of 2022 that aims to increase awareness, inspire students to celebrate what makes them unique and encourage strong leadership skills for all students.

Her first book, “Makenna’s Brave Start,” is based on the experience of her daughter, a Babler Elementary student who has alopecia, attending school for the first time.

Lee has gone on to write “Jane Leads at Lunch,” “Lonnie Helps Us Listen” and “Jackson Speaks Up” about students who have food allergies, hearing loss and autism, respectively. She read the “Lonnie” and “Jackson” books aloud to the more than 40 students gathered for the Pond Best Buddies kickoff meeting Oct. 3.

“We all promised to be kind to share and to play, and we made lots of friends by the end of the day!” a page included in all of Lee’s books reads. “We learned that being different is powerful and cool, and we can stand up for kids who feel different all over school! Together, my friends and I could change the whole world wide! And then everyone can celebrate their differences with pride!”

After the reading, students separated into groups to decorate paper panels of a kindness quilt, which special education teacher Nicole Tucker compiled on a bulletin board at the school.

You can follow Different at School on Instagram and Facebook.