Student's Letter To Officials Saves Pizza Day At Vernon School

VERNON, CT — A heartfelt letter written to school system officials written by a pizza-loving fourth-grader turned culinary consternation into tastebud triumph Friday at Vernon's Center Road School.

"I had to," Vernon Superintendent of Schools Joseph Macary said about a massive pizza order sent to Antonio's in Vernon after receiving a letter from 9-year-old Aubrie Parrott this week.

It's been hit-or-miss with the traditional Friday pizza lunches because of manufacturing and supply chain inconsistencies with getting pizza in for Friday lunches, Vernon Food and Nutrition Services Director Elizabeth Fisher said.

Aubrie pulled no punches. She basically said Friday was pizza day and, though she knew she should be happy with whatever was being served, the school was "sad" over the pizza dilemma.

Here's her letter, composed after consultation with the CRS Renaissance Program staff:

Macary said he kept seeing "extra good pizza."

"Aubrie was tells us she could live with out this and that, but not Pizza Friday," he said. "So I called Elizabeth and (CRS Principal) Jen Miller said let's just buy the whole school pizza."

Antonio's delivered 33 pies. Cheers reverberated from the classrooms when Aubrie declared Friday was again pizza day during the morning announcements. Students were personally thanking her through the day.

"Friday is pizza day," Aubrie said on her way to lunch Friday.

She said the letter was not composed without serious thought.

"If you're going to get mad, at least channel that into something better," she said.

She said her classmates "couldn't contain themselves" when the pizza day was announced.

There was one oopsie.

Fisher said, to be on the safe side, she ordered all 33 pizzas with just cheese and sauce. At lunchtime, Aubrie declared her favorite was pepperoni.

Macary then grabbed his phone.

"Geno ... I need a pepperoni at the school ... large," he said to the Antonio's owner. "We need it ... just charge it to me."

Antonio's larges are big and the pepperoni arrived in time for Aubrie's lunch block.

"It's a good thing," Macary said. "It's a good thing for a student and a good thing for the school." Macary added that, aside from the smiles, he was happy about a lesson learned.

"We were sad when we found out there was not pizza ... literally in tears," Aubrie said. "But when we found out we were having Antonio's pizza, were were happy."

There was even a smile from Fisher, who said she has had to frequently amend menus amid the ordering problems. the pizza menu for next week was set.

"It's not Antonio's but it will be pizza Friday next week," she said.

From the look of things in the cafeteria as she said it as students ate slice after slice, next week was already off to a good start at CRS.