Equipping educators

By Ashley Livingston

Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008 | midnight

The first-time teachers shopped around, loading up bags with supplies such as markers, folders and books with which to fill their new classrooms.

The bagfuls of items, however, didn't take a toll on their bank accounts.

Thanks to the Teacher Exchange, an initiative of the Public Education Foundation, the teachers paid for each item with credits rather than cash.

Business/Operations Manager for the Teacher Exchange Nancy Winters explained that when a teacher becomes a member of the group, which aims to help educators who have to reach into their own pockets for supplies, they get 300 credits to "spend" on items.

The shelves are stocked with supplies from the Tools For Teachers and Stuff the Bus drives, as well as items donated from local businesses.

The shopping takes place in an Enterprise-area warehouse in space donated by Czarnowski Exhibit Service Specialists.

The "store" is open to first-year teachers for the first week following the last day of the supply drives and then opens to all other teachers.

Laura Sheeler, a teacher from Will Beckley Elementary School who was volunteering at the site, said the program supplies a lot of the items that her students would otherwise have to go without.

In addition to putting three of her own kids through school, she said she spent $600 on supplies last year.

This year wasn't looking to be much better.

"With the budget cuts, we're basically told we get half of what we want," she said, even with things like crayons.

By doing some of her shopping through the Teacher Exchange, she said she'll probably save hundreds over last year.

First-year teacher at Helen M. Smith Elementary School Ashley Groneman said the main thing she was looking to find to make her classroom more inviting was books.

"They're very expensive and it's hard to get a large library," she said.

Aside from the books and traditional school supply items, the exchange also offers business-donated items that can be used for arts and crafts such as plates, tiles and fabric swatches, as well as lesson plans and vocabulary lists donated from retired educators.

They also provide teachers with donated office furniture and equipment.

For more information about the Teacher Exchange, visit wwwccpef.org or call 939-6659.

Ashley Livingston is a reporter for the Home News. She can be reached at 990-8925 or [email protected].