‘I am a scavenger’: The sometimes desperate things teachers do to get the classroom supplies they need - The Washington Post

‘I am a scavenger’: The sometimes desperate things teachers do to get the classroom supplies they need - The Washington Post

‘I am a scavenger’: The desperate things teachers do to get the classroom supplies they need

Like nearly all teachers in America, Becky Cranson spends her own money to buy supplies for her students. Working in a rural school district in Michigan, where 70 percent of her middle school students come from low-income families, she shells out at least $1,000 a year for pencils, books, journals, glue sticks, tissues and much more.

But opening her wallet without reimbursement is only a small part of what she — and many others in America’s corps of 3.2 million teachers — do to secure classroom supplies they can’t get from their schools or from students’ families.

“I am a scavenger,” said Cranson, who teaches English at Bronson Jr./Sr. High School in Bronson, Mich. “My friend who works in the Michigan [Department of Natural Resources] office gives me their used binders, and my husband brings me furniture and supplies that the hospital he works at is throwing away.”

“I love my district and the families it serves,” Cranson said. “This is my 31st year, and I have many former students trusting me with their pride and joy. I refuse to let a family’s financial challenges be a stumbling block within the four walls of my classroom.”

The Washington Post asked teachers throughout the country how much they spend on supplies, what they buy and why. Teachers — mostly in public school districts but also in charter, private and Catholic schools — sent more than 1,200 emails to The Post from more than 35 states. The portrait that emerges is devastating — and reveals that the problem has existed, without remedy, for decades. And it has gotten worse over time. (You can find some more responses here.)

‘In most professions, you steal office supplies from work to bring home. But teachers steal office supplies from home to bring to work.’

Federal data show that more than 9 in 10 educators spend an average of nearly $500 a year on supplies, but The Post review revealed that the problem is deeper, with teachers going to great lengths to secure CONTINUE READING: ‘I am a scavenger’: The sometimes desperate things teachers do to get the classroom supplies they need - The Washington Post

‘In most professions, you steal office supplies from work to bring home. But teachers steal office supplies from home to bring to work.’ - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/11/08/most-professions-you-steal-office-supplies-work-bring-home-teachers-steal-office-supplies-home-bring-work/