Shortages of basic classroom supplies are hindering efforts by teachers in the Harrisburg School District.
Sherri Magnuson, president of the Harrisburg Education Association, told the school board Monday night that teachers are buying their own supplies, including pencils and paper.
"It's every man for himself," she said.
"A friend of mine actually asked her parents to buy her copy paper for her birthday," she added.
How bad is it? Some Harrisburg High School students scheduled to take a benchmark test today in preparation for the state assessment exams might not be able to fill in the answers, Magnuson said.
When you proctor an exam, you usually get boxes of pencils, scratch paper and highlighters, she said. But in advance of the 4Sight Assessments for ninth- through 11-graders in reading and math, teachers have only been provided with the exams themselves, she told the board.
The results of the exam will enable teachers to mold their curricula based on where students need more instruction in advance of the state assessment tests, Magnuson said.
Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney responded that she planned to address the shortage of supplies late Monday night to ensure that students taking the test would have the necessary materials this morning.
Magnuson said that, as a ninth-grade general science teacher with 150 students, she is allotted one ream of paper each week, and only if they have it.
Although teachers have access to a copy center, many of them could not plan ahead and make photocopies in bulk because of the last-minute changes in teaching positions in the district.
But Magnuson said she believes there are supplies out there. She pointed out that shuttered schools in the district, such as Lincoln and William Penn, likely have unused materials stored away.
Jeff Bader, the district's business manager, said every school administrator was provided with a list of supplies that were available at the beginning of the school year. He said it is the administrators' responsibility to allocate the resources necessary to each classroom in their building.