CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Teachers at Gloria Hicks Elementary School walked into their afternoon staff meeting on Monday, not expecting anything out of the ordinary. However, a big announcement was made that will have benefits lasting the entire school year, not just for the teachers but for the students as well
An initiative of Subaru’s is “Subaru Loves Learning.” So, thanks to the partnership between the elementary school and Hicks Family Subaru each teacher has been gifted a school supply kit.
Teachers applauded, showing their gratefulness for any help they can get, but they were even more shocked by the second announcement.
With Hicks Family Subaru also partnering with adoptaclassroom.org, Charlie Hicks, president and CEO of the car dealership, said they were originally going to gift $10,000 for teachers to spend for their classrooms. That would have covered supplies for 20 classrooms.
The applause got louder when Hicks announced they raised the donation to $20,000 so all 40 teachers could receive $500 to spend on classroom necessities.
"They've spent so much of their personal money trying to stock these classrooms with supplies. This is just a little bit way of offering some relief. To be able to do it for every classroom and every teacher, truly a blessing," Hicks said.
“It just thrills me to see the teachers so happy," community leader Gloria Hicks said. "How do you pick the 20 you're going to give it to and the 20 who don't get it? So, we talked about it and we decided that we would match what Subaru did and everyone would get equal."
“I was shocked! I was like, wait a second, did I hear that correctly? Surely there was a mistake? $500, that’s huge," teacher Elizabeth Kingsbury said.
Through an analysis last school year by My eLearning World, teachers, on average, spend $820 on their classroom.
Kingsbury said she's typically spent $300 to $400 a year on classroom supplies. Fellow teacher Rachel Berglund said she spends about $400 as well.
Most teachers are spending money outside what's allotted to them by the school if given money by their school.
Hicks Elementary School teachers said the spending is all for the student's benefit. Whether it’s making supplies last longer or keeping students engaged, the money will go a long way.
“Having it at your fingertips is going to be huge for saving the time because a lot of these things that we have to go and make and then it falls apart over time,” Kingsbury said.
“Using money on colored card stock because we have to make everything so appealing to the kids can’t just be a black and white number line. It’s gotta be a neon pink number line to attract their attention,” Berglund said.
Many teachers now have Amazon Wishlists or things of that nature. If you know a teacher, that is one way you can help their classroom throughout the school year.
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