SUDBURY -- A Sudbury educator has taken to social media to introduce parents to his colleagues at a Sudbury elementary school.

Brandon Antonioni is an educational assistant at St. Francis Catholic School. With the loss of face-to-face interactions, Antonioni produced a video to showcase all of the staff to the parent community.

“I knew that the school year was going to look very different and I wanted to do something different that showcases our school but still touches on what it is that we’re still going through,” said Antonioni. “I really wanted to showcase our staff and how awesome we all are and how we all work so well together and I wanted children to know that they’re safe here and we’re here to help them reach their goals.”

The video runs over four minutes in length and showcases a more creative side to the school’s staff, singing along to his original song.

“I wanted the parents and the outside community to see our staff but to really see just how fun and inspirational they really are,” Antonioni said. “I know that parent/teacher interviews aren’t really going to be a thing this year, so I figured why don’t we showcase them a little differently?”

Already more than 1,000 views

It took less than a week for the video to reach more than 1,000 views online. Natasha Folino, the school’s principal, said the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Parents are just, a lot of thankful comments about thanks for making the transition easy for us and for making a situation that could be potentially scary for some a little more warm and welcoming,” Folino said.

Staff have been thinking of ways to get creative with how to stay in touch with parents since the school year started. Antonioni said he’s hearing positive feedback around the school, as well.

“Once I had that I said OK, I wanted a really, really big course. So one of our teachers here, Dominica F, she’s really amazing. I asked her to do the chorus and that just really sounded good to me.”

Antonioni, who works as an educational assistant in one of the school’s life-skills classes, said his passion comes from his own childhood. Once a student at the school he now works at, Antonioni struggled with a learning disability as a child.

Positive role model

“That kind of helped me to want to become an educational assistant and then from there on in it’s just been something I’ve loved ever since, just being able to help kids and be a positive role model for them.”

He said he’s very grateful for the support and positive feedback he’s had since releasing the video.

“It just goes to show how far I’ve come from that time that I was here, being a kid who had trouble in school, but now I work for the school and I was able to do a fun project like this and that to me is pretty inspirational,” he said.

You can see the video for yourself by clicking here.