Readers of our newsprint edition may have noticed it’s a bit thicker this weekend.

This is because we’ve included our annual back-to-school edition.

If you have a school-aged child, we suggest you check it out. The stories offer updates on what’s new and improved in the area districts as well as calendars and more. But this year, we hope our readers will do more than just read an article or clip out a calendar.

If you’re a parent, you probably want the best education for your son or daughter. This is understandable. If you’re a resident of Bogalusa, if you own a business here or if you just care about the community, you probably want the best education for our children.

This is why we urge everyone in our community to step up and help our schools.

Whether you donate school supplies or volunteer or attend games or school plays (or do a bit of everything), we want to remind our community that a community is defined in part by its schools. Good schools make good communities but good communities make good schools, too.

Parents might have a slightly greater interest in a particular school or teacher than those of us who have no children, but it behooves each of us to develop a positive relationship with our schools and school districts. Because the fact is this: We are going to have a relationship with our schools and if we don’t work on a positive relationship, we’re bound to have a poor relationship. That hurts the schools, the kids and, ultimately our whole community.

So, here’s to school improvement and here’s to community improvement.