On the very first day of school this year, I was sitting in the auditorium at Beacon High School for our Superintendent's Conference. There were no students in school on this day. The first day of school is reserved for the administrators, teachers and staff — a day to refocus and prepare for another school year.

As usual, the district had invited a guest speaker, a woman whose name escapes me, but who was some bigwig in the New York State Education Department. The woman began by telling us that her job in the state education department had literally taken her around the world. The woman had met dignitaries from dozens of countries and had learned to greet people in many different languages. In one part of Africa, she was struck by a most unusual greeting that translated into, "How are the children doing?" The thought behind the greeting was that children are our most important resource and if we can respond, "The children are good," then all is well in the world.

Over the last few weeks I have written that the Ellenville community has been simply negligent in its support of our high school football team. In case you are one of the great majority of people within the Town of Wawarsing that remain unaware — the Blue Devils are still undefeated after dominating Millbrook in their 40-0 Homecoming win last Saturday. The team is now 6-0 and ranked #12 in the state (a ranking that might be improved after last week's impressive victory).

Most communities that have an undefeated high school football team are ecstatic and the support of their team is unlimited. Not us. The Ellenville community (there are roughly 3,000 people who live in the village) and the Wawarsing community (population around 10,000) have been, for lack of a better word, unimpressed by the efforts of the Ellenville coaching staff and players. In other words, the adults in our community have no idea how the children are doing. How else can you explain the half-empty stands on Saturday, a day in which the Blue Devils clinched their third straight playoff appearance?

As I mentioned last week, the fans will come out when the Blue Devils are in the sectional playoffs in a few weeks. Everyone will rummage through their closets and find that old blue and gold Ellenville sweatshirt, but by then their support will be nothing more than that of a fair weather fan — like the kid who becomes a fan of a team after they win the Super Bowl. It will come across as shallow and insincere.

What could be keeping the Ellenville fans away? What could possibly be more important than knowing how the children are doing? Maybe some of the adults in our community are caught up in the important politics of the area, like should we let Walmart in? Maybe people are obsessed with the fact that our taxes are too high? Or perhaps people are upset that our elected officials appear politically impotent. Is there a chance that the area residents are consumed with the steady loss of local businesses and jobs? There are a lot of reasons to be upset about the state of Ellenville and Wawarsing. There are many negatives. All the more reason to celebrate the positives, and the most positive thing around here right now is the Ellenville Blue Devils varsity football team.

It is baffling why people stay away, but they stay away. Teachers, students, administrators, business people, public servants, senior citizens, and elected officials all find something other to do than support the children. All we need is one out of every five people (that's 2,600 people) who live in the village or town to show up and root on the Blue Devils. Imagine what the Ellenville stands would look like with a home football crowd of over 2,500 people. We would all have something positive to talk about for many years to come. And when someone came to Ellenville and asked us, "How are the children doing?" We could smile and say, "The children are good!"