PHILADELPHIA – On this Teacher’s Appreciation Day, we are highlighting an assistant principal who’s setting a culture of love and positivity for the students at Mann Elementary in West Philadelphia.

“My goal is to make sure they know that I see them,” vice principal Arnold Ford said. “And that I love them.”

Around here, Mr. Ford accomplishes that every single day as vice principal and teacher at Mastery Charter Mann Elementary.

When you see him, he’s probably giving out hugs, handshakes, or making phone calls to parents.

Simply because he says it’s part of the job.

“Before we teach math, before we teach reading we teach kids, we teach souls,” Ford said. “You got to start with love and love is the curriculum.”

Last December, Ford started posting candid videos of his interactions with students to his Instagram page and in a matter of months, skyrocketed to nearly 31,000 followers.

“Interacting with kids does something to me,” Ford said. “Gives me life.”

Underneath his viral videos are emotional comments like “I love this, and “I feel every hug.” Another person wrote, “When my kids went to school there were no teachers like that.”