When students come to school without supplies, it is often up to their teachers to make sure they have what they need to learn.
Teachers are given an average of $50 to $100 to make supply purchases, and when they run out of that money, they have to pay out of pocket. Veteran teachers are often able to collect a surplus of supplies over the years they can give students, but first-year teachers don’t have that accumulation of items, putting them in a difficult position. That’s why members of the Clark-Pleasant Education Foundation decided to use a $4,864 grant from the convenience store chain Casey’s Cash for Classrooms initiative to help provide those supplies, said Jenny Zahm, the foundation’s executive director.
The Casey’s grants are made possible through points donations from Casey’s Rewards members. This year Casey’s Cash for Classrooms has awarded $1 million to benefit K-12 public and nonprofit, private schools with 79 grants, according to the Casey’s website.
On Monday members of the foundation, which serves as the fundraising arm for Clark-Pleasant Community School Corporation, stopped by the school district’s eight schools to give away bags of supplies ahead of the start of the school year Wednesday. They prioritized first-year teachers, teachers of specialty classes such as art and music and instructional assistants, who don’t get a supply budget, Zahm said.
During an orientation day, new teachers and classroom assistants filled out wish lists of supplies they wanted to start the school year with, she said.
“Last year, we got over $25,000 in grants, and over the years we noticed with many of the grants, teachers were asking for basic school supplies,” Zahm said. “If we could eliminate that need, we could find more things to fund through grant requests.”
Not only will the supplies help teachers not spend part of their paycheck on classroom materials, but they will help students whose families can’t afford to send them to school will a full backpack, said Johanna Pollert, a volunteer grant writer for the Clark-Pleasant Education Foundation.
“High school teachers and middle school teachers would say that their students didn’t come to school with supplies. A lot of students don’t have any supplies when they start the school year,” Pollert said. “Another thing was, kids come to school hungry and they need snacks. That’s one of the supplies purchased with the grant money.”
Along with snacks, supply bags included: paper, rulers, folders, scissors, Play-Doh, staples, erasers and laminating sheets. Teachers also got dry-erase boards, which have the value of being reused by an unlimited number of students, Zahm said.
First-year teacher Jess Howell said the supplies ease at least one worry she has going into her first semester.
“I was worried about having to buy all the supplies I needed. This helps a lot for sure,” she said. “Getting more supplies, paper and dry-erase boards was a biggie, and it helps support our students in the community.”
Another first-year teacher Laura Jones said the supplies help take away some of the guesswork in supplying her first classroom.
“As a first-year teacher, I was unsure of how much I would need. I will do third-grade math, so with dry-erase boards and easels, I’ll be able to make anchor charts,” Jones said. “Even just looking at the supply list gave me ideas about what I’d need. It alleviates stress, and I’m feeling more comfortable heading into the classroom.”
Liz Breeden, a mentor teacher, says the supplies will make sure fewer students go empty-handed.
“It’s always exciting to get more supplies for a classroom. There’s never a time you can have too much paper and laminations,” Breeden said. “It’s one more kid that has paper and scissors.”
