If Nurses Don’t Buy Medical Supplies, Why Should Teachers Buy School Supplies? by Ann Marie Patitucci
I have a friend who will be teaching fourth grade for the first time this school year. This means that she needs a lot to set up her classroom: books, curriculum resources, supply caddies, posters to decorate the walls, school supplies for kids who will come to school without them and more. Her school isn’t going to pay for these items; the county won’t supply them; the Department of Education won’t supply them. I’ve noticed that well-meaning family and friends (myself included) have pointed out sales and teacher discounts to her and other teachers in their lives.
But lately this hasn’t been sitting well with me.
When I see a good deal on surgical masks or medical gloves, I don’t alert my nurse and doctor friends, because they aren’t required to supply such necessities. And yet teachers are expected to provide very basic items for their classrooms to function and their students to learn. New teachers in particular must start from scratch. I’ve noticed teachers using crowd-sourcing sites and Amazon wish lists to raise money for classroom needs.
One teacher friend shared with me: “It’s hard to ask people for help when you know everyone is working hard for their own needs. It doesn’t feel good to ask. It’s embarrassing. But we either ask or buy everything ourselves or go without.”
Another teacher posted on social media: “One of the interesting things about being a teacher is trying to explain to your S.O. why we’re sitting in a Target parking lot waiting to buy math and literacy centers from a stranger. The best part is when he asked, ‘How can they require you to have them when they don’t provide them?’ which sums up a lot about teaching.”
I can’t help but wonder: How did we get here? Is there a creative way to address this problem? How can we be a part of the solution? How can we support our teachers and schools? How can we hold policy makers accountable? I don’t have all the answers but I think we can start by asking questions. And for those of us who can afford our kids’ school supplies, maybe we can stop complaining about buying them. Maybe we can skip a latte at some point during the school year and buy a book or a pack of pencils for our child’s classroom instead.
If there was a shortage of surgical masks and medical gloves at our local hospital, and if nurses (another group of amazingly angelic, hard-working people) were required to buy their own, something tells me that we wouldn’t stand for that; we would do something about it. But our teachers don't have enough pencils. Or paper. So they provide it themselves. And we have come to accept this. We have become complacent. I think we need to ask ourselves why.
Our teachers, and our kids, deserve better.
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My first few years as a teacher in California - I was POOR. I bought a lot for my classroom, gave a lot to my students; I was living in an expensive city and working in a very underserved area. I was blessed to have friends who had high paying jobs and were willing and able to buy books for my classroom library.
Great tip Ann Marie!
But something stuck out to me this past year that really bothered me enough that I can't stop thinking about it. E told me last year while standing in Home Depot that her teacher worked a second job there. Then I made a comment about how it makes me so angry that teachers don't get paid enough so they sometimes get stuck working a second job on top of everything else they do and my son chimed in to say he has 2 teachers that work second jobs as well. Add that with the fact that you guys already take so much out of your own pockets it has me wondering why are people not upset enough to make noise and start doing things to collectively make a difference? There are so many things that people are freaking out about that don't warrant the response given but everyone sits silent as teachers give everything they have to provide the best possible learning environment for our kids even though they may be going without at home because of it or over extending themselves just to stay afloat.
I'm not sure what teachers in the US are paid, but here in Alberta, Canada, our teachers are unionized, with their salaries dependent on their geographical location. Salaries range from $25.04/hr to $52.06/hr. They calculate the total # of teaching hours/year & divide by 12 so that teachers are getting paid for the 2 months of summer vacation, as well. Unfortunately, here it boils down to politics. Our not-so illustrious Premier decided to slash the Education budget. She can't do anything about salaries, but put a semi-freeze on hiring, and has cut back on classroom aides for the Special Education students, who are in mainstream classrooms. This, of course, puts an enormous strain on the teachers, causing ALL the students to get less than they deserve.
Our teachers have also been supplying many of their materials for years, especially if for a special project.
Fortunately, my city of 25,00 has many community and corporate folks that are willing to step up to the plate. Any of the stores that sell school supplies of any kind have huge boxes for supply donations, with the aim being to provide a fully stocked backpack for anyone in need. Even the churches collect - & boy - do we have a LOT of them! 25, last time I checked 🤯.
And our nurses? Yikes! Starting salary for an LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) is just over $30/hr, plus shift differential, time and 1/2 and double time on holidays... And we've got a severe nurse shortage, post Covid.
We had FIVE registered nurses that made between $450 & 522 THOUSAND last year, because of massive overtime. The majority of the R.N.s make about $100k.
But the poor teachers... It seems to be an endemic problem. The politicians, from local to federal need to do better. Today's children are the next generation's leaders. Education is paramount. It is EVERYTHING!
And now that I've had a bout of word vomit 🤗 Ann Marie Patitucci, I ❤️ your article. It's a shame that we're having to revisit it again, 5 years later. Who was it that said "The more things change, the more they stay the same. "? I think whomever was indeed a very wise individual.