"When Tosha Alexander was 17, her world was unraveling. Her father had died, and with her mother unable to keep their lives together, foster care became the next stop in her journey. Then her history teacher, Brea Kitts, did something extraordinary. Without hesitation, Kitts - who was a single mother - stepped in and took legal custody. She gave Alexander not just a roof over her head, but a home, a sense of safety, and a chance to finish high school with her friends."
"In Kitts's classroom, the impact is impossible to miss. Students arrive hungry. Some wear the same clothes day after day. Parents count the miles to the nearest food bank, weighing the cost of gas against the cost of groceries. Kitts keeps snacks and hygiene products in a small drawer for anyone who needs them, a quiet act of care in a place where need is constant."
"The work is relentless. Teaching in a low-income school means doing far more than teaching. Kitts is part educator, part social worker, part counselor. It all follows her home: the stories that linger after the final bell and the kidsshe worries about at night, understanding that no matter how much she gives, it will never be enough. And yet, she stays. "These are my kids," Kitts says, simply. "If I don't stay, who will?""
Brea Kitts has taught high school American history for 27 years in rural Appalachian Ohio River communities and routinely meets students' material and emotional needs. She legally took custody of a 17-year-old student, providing shelter and stability that allowed the student to graduate. Many students at River Valley and Chesapeake High Schools face homelessness, hunger, lack of running water, and consequences of collapsed local industries and the opioid epidemic. Kitts stocks snacks and hygiene supplies, supports students who shower at school, and bears the emotional burden while remaining committed to her students.
Read at TODAY.com
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