Schoolteachers are consistently using their own money to purchase items for their students and their classrooms according to two nationwide studies, and Lake Highlands teachers are no exception.
A national survey by Adoptaclassroom.org found that 91% of teachers were purchasing items like food, snacks, toothbrushes and soap for their students. Another study said the average educator spends about $350 on school supplies and instructional materials each year.
It’s a problem that LH-area PTAs and booster clubs have long recognized and sought to rectify.
In the early days of Wild for Cats, the LH academic booster club asked teachers at Lake Highlands High School about their unmet needs and worked to provide funds to fill them. Teachers were encouraged to “dream big” about what could be added to the classroom to enhance the learning experience. In recent days, most of the fundraising has been dedicated to the College and Career Center, but if RISD funds the CCC as expected, some Wild for Cats dollars would be freed up again for teacher uses.
Parents at Highlander School, a private elementary in LH, want to make sure that their kids have everything they need and more.
“A large part of our auction proceeds this year will go to fill teacher wish lists,” said Anna Leigh Phillips, the Highlander Parent Association President. “The things we provide will be extra, over-the-top kind of stuff.”
At Forest Meadow Junior High, the highly successful Market in the Meadow fundraiser yields a bounty every year. Teachers submit their wish lists months in advance and keep their fingers crossed. The Disbursements Committee evaluates requests and fills needs for everything from state-of-the art digital projectors which display what the teacher has conjured on her laptop computer to school supplies for the kids who show up empty handed. And you won’t believe the most common request: copy paper. Across the district, teachers say their allotment from RISD just isn’t enough for all the handouts, worksheets and tests they have to administer.
Think you might want to help by slipping your child’s teacher a check in her Christmas card? But what if she (gasp!) spends it on herself instead of the classroom? So what? Chances are good you’ll never get her back to level for what she’s spent on your kid and his classmates so far this year.
The best news? Chances are also good she was happy to do it.
