By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

CHELSEA – More than 20 adults and children walked around Chelsea Park Elementary School on July 22, praying for the school’s students and teachers before the new academic year starts in August.

Tiffany Bittner will have three sons at CPES this year and organized the informal walk, mostly through social media and word of mouth, to encourage other parents and community members to pray for protection over their children, faculty and staff members.

“We’ve seen some of the horrific things that have happened at schools,” Bittner said. “I just think it’s time, because of the culture that we live in and the times we live in, to pray. This is one way we can try to protect our children through prayer.”

CPES Assistant Principal Mary Anderson said about 830 students in kindergarten through fifth grade are enrolled for the 2015-16 school year.

“I encourage all of us to pray for our children as they enter these doors in a couple of weeks,” Bittner said to the group. “Pray for the families, faculty and staff. Pray for Christ to be known here.”

Amechele Toups, a parent of CPES students, said the prayer walk was a “good start for the school year.”

“We fight a real enemy,” Bittner said. “To combat that, we need to cover the school in prayer, and not just today, but every day.”