Donate School Supplies to Teacher or Specific School!

A retired CCSD teacher has some good advice if you wish to donate school supplies. Robin Steinberger, writing in Lowcountry Source:

"As the tax-free weekend approaches this Friday, parents are rushing to buy the needed school supplies required by each school.  They want to save money on back-to-school purchases like clothing, school supplies, electronics and more. I taught in Charleston County middle and high schools for 30 years and spent thousands of dollars of my own money for supplies for my classroom.  Almost all teachers I know have done the same. 

"When a student comes to class without paper and pencil, school work is not going to get done until it is provided.  A student can become disruptive until he/she can get to work, so teachers end up providing the pencil and paper. There are several local programs in the Tri-County area for school supplies to be donated to local needy families. I suggest instead of the supplies being donated to individual families, they should be donated to schools or individual teachers.

"In my experience, the donated supplies go missing after a short period of time, and the teacher is left digging into his or her own pocket.  You may ask, what about the school providing the supplies?  The schools run on very tight budgets and barely have enough money for copy paper and ink.  The solution is to give the supplies to the teacher, who will have them on-hand in the classroom when needed.

"Consider contacting your local school to find out what supplies are needed.