State needs to better support our classrooms

Teachers should have tools to properly do the job

For most of the schools in Yuma County, class is back in session.

This year, as in years past, the Yuma Sun team noticed a reoccurring theme — parents and students lugging bags of supplies into the classroom.

We took a look at the school supply lists for different schools, and there are some common threads: pens, paper, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, colored pencils, markers, dry erase markers, folders, notebooks, etc.

And then, many of the lists have a bonus category: “supplies for the classroom, if possible.” That list includes items like hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, tissues, classroom dry erase markers and copy paper.

Now there are some items that will be needed every single year, such as a ruler. Parents could in theory buy one ruler when it is first needed, and then each year, that same ruler goes back to school. After all, rulers, when used solely for their intended purpose, will last a long time. The same can be said for items such as protractors.

But for parents, the list of new supplies and extra classroom supplies can be quite the hit to the pocketbook, especially when parents have multiple children in school.

We don’t expect schools to meet every single need. Parents should and do expect to buy some supplies.

We question, however, why schools aren’t more adequately funded, so parents don’t have to purchase items like copy paper.

Just as students need the proper tools to succeed, so to do teachers. Imagine teaching a class without paper.

Recently, the Yuma Sun published a story and an editorial about teachers in Yuma County turning to crowd funding to obtain resources for their classrooms, which is a great tool to help teachers meet specific needs.

But it is astounding that teachers have to ask for basic supplies, too.

It’s a strong indicator that the state needs to reprioritize funding for classrooms.

In the meantime, it might help families if schools would set up the list by quarter, so parents don’t have to spend so much right at the start of the quarter. There could be a master list of supplies, which are then broken up by when the supplies are actually needed — that way, parents could choose to buy at the start of the year, or choose to space their purchases out throughout the year, into smaller, easier to pay for purchases.

And readers, write to your legislators, and encourage them to support our schools.

I have lived in Dome Valley for 20-plus years and every morning I buckle myself in and head out to Highway 95. I wait for a break in the cars and then jump out in the opposite direction of the great race of the desert known as the YPG 500. With both hands on the wheel and both eyes on the road I watch for “Jack” — I believe his full name is Jack Cass. He always drives a different vehicle and he is always late for work or just wants to be first to work, not sure which. I usually meet him on a curve with a line of cars impossible to see around trying to pass them all; I break and pull off to let him by. Sometimes it’s at the curve by the brick plant; that’s always exciting because there is very little shoulder to pull onto.

So do me a favor Jack, leave ten minutes earlier. You’re obviously going to get to work at about the same time as everybody else. Yes, that was me in the little yellow POS Toyota pickup you ran off the road again.

P.S. what do your fishing buddies call you, Dumb Bass?