FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 12, 2001
For more information contact:
Kathleen Carpenter, Director of Promotions
E-Mail: kathleen@teachers.net
SAN DIEGO, CA -- A survey conducted recently by Teachers.Net web site revealed that many classroom teachers feel compelled to hoard or stockpile supplies and materials considered basic to conducting classroom activities. When asked whether they feel it necessary to hoard classroom supplies, educators vented about the lack of access to supplies.
"It frustrates me to no end," one elementary teacher wrote. " I am responsible for teaching my kids but do not always have what I need to do the job."
Some educators described having to justify to office or custodial staff their requests for basic supplies such as crayons, paper, pencils and markers. In some settings, teachers reportedly feel the need to cultivate relationships or "get on the good side" of the people in control of access to supply closets if they hope to obtain items from the shelves of what one teacher referred to as "Fort Knox." One teacher described a situation in which the supply clerk "will throw in a few 'extras' when you request supplies" if teachers have done favors for her.
Many teachers reported using their own money to purchase materials they need because they are in short supply or requisitions are denied. One respondent wrote that she spent $2000 of her own money to supply her classroom last year, and estimates a similar expenditure this year. As a result, educators have learned to hoard or stockpile supplies, becoming resourceful and cunning in their pursuit of what they need from storeroom shelves.
Some teachers revealed that they request the maximum allotment of each supply item as often as they can get away with it. Thus, whether or not they have a current need for the materials, they develop a stockpile which may help them get through lean times in the future. Requesting 5 bottles of glue every month whether she has used it up of not helps one teacher build up a supply that will last into the next school year. She does the same with scissors and pencils after requesting 24 pencils, one for each student, and receiving only 12.
One teacher summed up the reasons behind whatever actions it takes to obtain materials needed in the classroom. "We don't hoard because we're greedy or wasteful, but because we want to be prepared."
Teachers.Net, a sprawling family of web sites serving educators from all over the globe conducts informal surveys among its tens of thousands of readers for publication in its monthly online magazine, The Teachers.Net Gazette, http://teachers.net/gazette.