Teachers Ensure Poor Kids are Fed on Snow Days With No Free School Lunch

[greatlaurel]

63. It has become needed far more frequently, but teachers in my rural area always did this for kids.

I know a number of elementary school teachers who collected and purchased hats, gloves and mittens at the end of the year sales, so they would have items to give to kids who did not have hats and gloves in cold weather. The little rural school where my kids went to always kept a lot of coats and sweatshirts to give to kids in need. The social safety net in rural areas has been fraying since the Reagan era and it is accelerating. I am sure the urban areas are getting hit just as hard. The good teachers always had granola bars or something like that for kids who did not get food at home could get something to eat first thing in the morning.

A lot of kids come to school hungry. Many of them have to get themselves ready for school, because their parents jobs are a one to two hour commute. The county in which I live had a church run food pantry that has closed it doors, so people have no where to go to get a little something to get them through the month.

Most elementary school teachers buy supplies for the kids whose parents cannot afford or neglect to get the needed supplies. For some it is poverty, others are just neglected. When my kids were in school, I always sent in double or triple the requested classroom items. The teachers would request parents to send in hand sanitizer, tissues, paper towels and other type supplies, since the schools were never funded to provide those things for the classrooms. We always sent in extra so the teachers did not have to spend so much of their own money on supplies.

The suburban schools have enough money to properly supply the schools, but the rest of the schools are severely neglected. Middle class suburbanites never see the neglect and need.