Elves on the Shelf visit Vincent Elementary Students

LORAIN — Students at Clearview's Vincent Elementary got a visit from some of Santa's helpers Thursday afternoon. The school's principal and assistant principal play life-sized Elf on the Shelfs. In the past, they have greeted the kids from atop the roof, or popped into classrooms and waved energetically in hallways. But with the district in remote learning through the new year, the elves missed the students, Principal Lynne Stark said. "When we did this in the spring (last school year) and we had a parade around Clearview, the families loved it. And so we want to see our kids — so we kept telling the kids the elves were so sad ... that they couldn't find them, so they're coming to find you." With a little help from Transportation Supervisor Giles Brown, who agreed to play Santa, Stark, Assistant Principal Jennifer Fazio and a handful of staff donned their best holiday sweaters and got on a school bus to visit Vincent Elementary students. "This brings the Clearview family back," Brown said. In roughly 50-degree weather, the fuzzy red suit, beard, hat and face mask proved to be a bit warm but he stuck it out for the students. "There's been a lot of bad news about Clearview these last few months and this brings it back." Winding through the neighborhoods, staff and the elves waved to students and threw candy out the windows. At larger stops, like the Boys and Girls Club on Pearl Avenue and Clearview High School, the group got off the bus and met other teachers who had set up hot chocolate stations and invited students to visit. Stark noted Brown created the route so they visited the most students possible, including those in Lorain and at apartment complexes or day cares. Those same students had been receiving messages from the elves leading up to Thursday's trip, Stark said. She and Fazio created an email address for the elves, eventually sharing the password with all of the teachers who were able to write notes to students from the Vincent Elves of the Shelf. Stark said some of the students know it's her and Fazio who moonlight as Santa's helpers, but they like to keep the students guessing. A video sent out to families promoting Thursday's event showed Fazio and Stark talking to the elves — thanks to some movie magic — and throughout the day the park covered their costumes with sweaters to interact with students in Zoom meetings. "It was so great to see all their faces and to see excitement in their faces," she said. She added later, "Our teachers, they're working so hard and I'm so proud of them. And they're tired. They're just tired and frustrated and this is not the way they want to teach and as much as this was about doing this for the kids, for Jen and I this was as much about doing it for the teachers." Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.