One of my primary functions as the school principal is to ensure that all of my teachers have access to adequate classroom supplies. It kills me when I am unable to provide this support. As a new school we simply aren't given the resources we need. We don't have enough books, teaching supplies, computers, furniture, or teaching aids. I am always on the lookout for resource donations and for creative ways to recycle materials.
Yesterday afternoon following the PTA meeting, my brother and I rented a truck from Home Depot. My brother is a social worker, and like me, understands how important volunteerism is to a school like ours. Together we drove to Manhattan to pick up a donation of 5 bookcases for our classrooms. Drove back to school where he and I unloaded them and moved them up to our floor. Cost us $100 in gas and truck rental with our four hours of labor for free. Got another bookcase today, stashed in my car. Why should my teachers have to put their textbooks in piles on the floor? Why should we have to wait years for bookcases while we allocate our budget for other more pressing needs? You do what you have to in order to keep the school afloat. (You can see a picture of my brother and the truck full of bookcases in the attachment below this blog.)
Transporting donated goods is often the most difficult part of receiving a donation. The goods are out there; but the manpower, the vehicles, the muscle, and the money to finance the move, these are often impossible to coordinate. I am lucky to have a brother like him, and to have PTA parents who are very giving of their time and energy. Next week, a parent is volunteering to help me move 14 computer monitors from Brooklyn to our school.
If anyone reading this blog has access to a truck or a van or would like to pay gas money for donations like the above, please let me know. bsherman@ewsis.org
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This is the middle of a rare three-day weekend. I rented the video "Children of Men" from Blockbuster. Last year it was the one movie that I really wanted to see on a big screen in the movie theatre but never had the chance to. I had heard that the movie was filmed using very long shot sequences without many cuts. It paints a very bleak picture of a near-future world in which people can no longer have children, the climate is changing, there is mass migration of humanity, and one man is contacted by the underground to help spirit the first pregnant woman in 18 years to safety.
Afterwards I watched the extra films on the DVD about the movie. There was one which interviewed several European thinkers about global warming, human migration, and borders. Fascinating topics to ponder.
