Several days last week I was able to sub while students were cleaning out their lockers. Some of them think nothing of throwing away perfectly good school supplies.
If you look closely in the photo above you will see a stack of brand new notebook paper. I stopped a student from throwing this away and then put it on the desk of the teacher I was subbing for that day.
They will always use this notebook paper for students who don't have any during the year. I also pulled multiple pencils out of the garbage can as well.
Another student threw these five notebooks in the garbage can, so I rescued them. The first notebook (the purple one) is filled with brand new notebook paper!
All of them look like they hadn't even been used this year. Someone will definitely need one of these come August and the teacher can hand them one of these for free.
Some students ask for pencils and paper regularly during the school year while others think nothing of throwing them away come the end of the school year.
One day I was standing next to the garbage can while students were throwing away snack packs filled with food! One of them hadn't even been opened.
I pulled about twelve of those out of the garbage can while the teacher who makes the snack packs was reaching into the garbage can to pull out spiral notebooks with loads of paper left in them.
I showed her the snack packs and she sent a student to get a box out of her room so they could be rescued.
It hurts my heart to see perfectly good food and supplies just thrown away like this. I'm glad some of us are there to rescue these items, although I'm sure we aren't getting all of it.
Great minds think alike today!
ReplyDeleteAMAZING the waste. Thank you, thank you, thank you and the other teachers for saving all those things from the landfill. You are so right, they will help a student this fall when school resumes.
I'm with you - it makes me sad and makes my heart hurt. Such disregard.
Thank you!
Thank you, Cheryl. Kindred minds think alike.
ReplyDeleteBeen there and been you. :) Finding books from public library and school library left in lockers bothered me more than anything. Never found junk food, though. Worse than end-of-year locker clean-up was removing contents of a student who committed suicide over a weekend. She had planned her action removing everything personal and leaving only books.
ReplyDeleteOh, that is so sad, Anna.
DeleteOh Belinda. You and I are cut from the same cloth!
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in PA there was a university in our town. At the end of the year the students would throw out dorm refrigerators, microwave-all sorts of items in excellent condition. They just did not want to be bothered taking them home.
Wow, Susan, that is unreal! I would definitely be trash picking those dorms. We are definitely cut from the same cloth. :)
DeleteThank you, crunchycon. I hope it does as well. :)
ReplyDeleteI worked in the Communications dept. at a bank's head office so we always had presentations to do and reports etc. Once a year I used to go through all the binders (shredding anything confidential) - all the reusable file folders and anything that could be used for craft projects, bundle them up and then ship out boxes to various schools. We also got people to bring in old Birthday & Christmas cards, old wrapping paper etc. which we sent to Day-Care Centres for craft projects - it's ridiculous what people will just discard!
ReplyDeleteOh, that is so neat, Margie. I'm so glad you did that as those can be used for so many things. It is ridiculous what people throw away. I have even found stamps thrown away before. Sheesh!
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