Help San Francisco schools!

[azurite]

Here's a story you may have heard before: I went to school in San Francisco. My elementary, middle, and high schools were all within 10 or so blocks of one another. I went to school with many of the same people, and was in many of the same classes with them. Over the years, very little changed, including the lack of funding for classrooms.

It wasn't just journalism, my favorite class, which cost a lot of money to run (after all, you need money to print a paper!)-- it was science, it was history, it was world lit. It didn't matter whether it was elementary school, when parents seemed to have more time, energy, and money to donate to classroom expenditures and events; it was middle school and high school, too.

I've been in classes where teachers had to pay for their own materials, in classes where the teachers had to ask parents for help with funding, and in classes where the students didn't GET to use modern technology, go on field trips, or even use basic, new equipment.

I've had to use books more than 20 years old, falling apart at the seams. I've had to pay out of pocket to keep my school supplies in shape, because I can't rely on the ones provided at school. Early on, I started to assume that I had to bring supplies that normally, people would figure students wouldn't HAVE to-- things like construction paper, scissors, glue, or markers. That's why I have so many art supplies NOW-- because I've kept them over the years, made sure they've stayed in good condition, and shared them with my fellow students.

It's a sad situation, when you think about it. Out of all the high schools I visited in San Francisco (mostly when I was at a JROTC event), only ONE really looked like it had everything it needed, and that all their students could really be happy, motivated, and productive in their classroom. San Francisco is a major metropolitan city. There are six
"big" high schools with thousands of students each, and lots more charter and alternative schools. That's not even going into the elementary and middle schools that need help.

Now, thanks to SixApart and DonorsChoose.org, I'm participating in the Bloggers Challenge to help raise money for a variety of projects (proposals started by teachers at San Francisco schools!) in San Francisco. Unfortunately, none of my alma maters are listed, but that doesn't mean I want to help any less.

Whether you're from San Francisco or not, once you read some of these teachers' proposals (and often impassioned pleas), you'll want to help to. Whether it's a dollar or ten, every donation can and DOES make a difference. Not only will you be recognized for your donation, but it's tax-deductible as well.

* This is a regional challenge, for San Francisco-based schools only. Why? Because San Francisco is my hometown, and when I go back for a visit, I would love to see my few dollars making a BIG difference for kids that were just like me five, ten, fifteen, or eighteen years ago.

* I'm adding several teacher proposals (as of 4:48pm on 9/28, there are 8 to choose from, ranging from PreK to high school) to my Bloggers Challenge, because there are a number of schools in need for a variety of different reasons. I don't think any one project has priority over another, so I want to include as many as I can. If you have a suggestion for a proposal to add to my challenge, send me the link to let me know! Some of the proposals I've added have a greater target goal than my challenge does; that's because I believe EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS.

Click on this link to see all the proposals I have currently added to my challenge. You can click on each individual proposal to read more about that teacher's particular situation, as well as see their target goal, how much they've already raised, and how many students are impacted by the efforts made so far. Then you can click to fund one proposal or all of them.

* SixApart has already graciously given me a $30 gift certificate to donate to one of the proposals on my challenge, and I've chosen the "Books That Add Spice" one. I'll match that $30 with money of my own for another one of the proposals on my challenge, and I hope you can, too!

Comments

[kitesareevil.livejournal.com]

You know what my thought was while reading this?

"There are schools out there where buying your own art supplies isn't a normal thing?"

[azurite]

Isn't that messed up, though? In any given city, there are going to be families that genuinely can't afford to buy the newest Crayola markers, and I've never thought it's unreasonable for the schools to supply them. In fact, it's always been an expectation of mine, at least partially based on my parents' expectations.

It's one thing to need to buy a binder, paper, and pencils, but a full art set, construction paper, glue, etc.-- these are things classrooms (especially elementary school classrooms) should have standard. And in today's day and age, a lot of the other things teachers are requesting should be standard as well, whether it's projectors, computers, or plastic bins. Hence this.

[svelterose.livejournal.com]

I have to say something and it comes with being the Student Association Treasurer at my university. Just a brief overview of what I do: I basically divvy out money to 180+ groups and the amount they receive is dependent upon how well they will use it in regards to planning activities for the student body.

I'm going to parallel that with this in that when people give donations, it's nice to be able to see in the proposals what we're donating the money for. However, I have a huge problem with one of the proposals and it got me perplexed enough to reply. Otherwise, I would've just left it alone.

I noticed that all the other proposals had a focus on giving out to the general student body. Even with proposals as small is $500, the donated money would be used to buy stuff for the kids.

"A Notebook for the 21st Century" - I read this proposal not once but twice. The amount is almost three times as much as what some of your lesser proposals are and doesn't benefit the children as much as the $500 would. Why would we donate money to buy a LAPTOP for one single teacher when she is at a school where there are *several* computers? She has concerns with spending 10-15 minutes pulling up a website for her class and how simple processing takes work- that's not dependent upon the computer. It could be a fault of the server but considering schools are usually better wired than that - especially if their computers were just updated - I'm going to go with the fact that even if she had a laptop, it would be going the same speed and she would be spending the same amount of time pulling all those websites up. Even she admits she doesn't fully utilize it but she's saying it's because of the time it takes to prepare the room, yet I find myself wondering if it's because she might not have spent enough time familiarizing herself with the system, perhaps even strategize on how she might be able to save time.

Regardless, a laptop is a luxury item due to it's portability and other such values. I just feel like it's proposals like that that harden me to the fact that other people do have problems funding for school.

Please tell me if I'm missing something? Because I feel like you wouldn't have chosen it if it wasn't without it's merits.

[azurite]

You're right-- and make a very good point. Part of me was a little gung-ho about picking schools and projects that I wanted to help, and while I did read every proposal, some of them did shock me in the amount they were requesting. I'll reconsider this one and find one more suited.