HANCOCK COUNTY — As Hancock County schools reopen, teachers are purchasing supplies for their classrooms, from ordinary pencils and paper to masks, hand sanitizer and latex gloves.
They also need special items to work around the restrictions associated with the pandemic: plastic ukuleles for music classes that are easier to clean than wooden ones, or a dissection frog for every student in high school biology so they can practice social distancing while learning about anatomy.
A Facebook group called “Support Our Hancock County (Indiana) Teachers!” is helping take some of that financial burden off teachers themselves. Created as a place for local teachers to post their Amazon wish lists so members of the community can make donations, the page has gained about 1,800 followers, and over 200 teachers have posted requests.
The group was started by Greenfield resident Kali Cooper. She was inspired by a similar group in Henry County, where her cousin is the principal at Knightstown Elementary. Cooper said once she learned about the idea, she immediately wanted to do something similar for Hancock County.
“I thought it was a good time to reach out and show our support. It’s exceeded, really, what I expected,” Cooper said. She said many teachers have told her that everything they requested has been gifted to them.
Among the most common requests from teachers, Cooper said, have been for supplies like markers, crayons, and dry erase board erasers — items students would usually be able to share, but won’t this year due to COVID-19 precautions. Another frequent request was for classroom snacks. Many schools will divide student lunches into smaller groups this year, extending lunch hour over a longer period of time and meaning more kids might get hungry in the classroom.
Other requests are more directly related to the challenges of teaching during the pandemic, like one teacher’s request for a headset microphone that will make it easier for students to hear her speaking through a mask.
Cooper said frogs to dissect, requested by Lynette Huth at Mt. Vernon High School, was the most unusual request. Because students need to stay apart from each other, they will dissect the amphibians separately rather than in groups as they usually do. Requesting Amazon gift cards will allow her to purchase the expensive dissection sets with the help of small contributions.
Cooper isn’t a parent or teacher herself, but she has stayed connected to the news about schools reopening through her three young nieces. She said the responses to the page show how many people appreciate the impact a teacher can have.
“The generosity and encouragement that I have seen has just been really touching,” she said.
Nick Ragan, a high school English teacher at Mt. Vernon High School, said he was impressed by the public response to the Facebook page and teachers’ requests for help.
“I was excited to see that the community cared so much to take the time to be there for our teachers,” he said.
Ragan posted a request on the Facebook page for gift cards he plans to use to reward his students for staying engaged and working hard on their assignments during the unusual school year. He has received several from members of the page.
It’s not unusual for teachers to spend their own funds on supplies for their classrooms; a 2019 study showed Indiana teachers spent an average of $462 per year. Ragan said he usually spends about $200 on classroom supplies, but that amount has doubled this year.
“It has been more necessary this year,” he said.
Jennifer Tucker, a first-grade teacher at Fortville Elementary School, said she was invited to join the Facebook page by another teacher.
“I thought, ‘wow, this is kind of an awesome idea,’” Tucker said.
Tucker added her Amazon wish list to the page and soon received gifts, including from the families of former students and parents who had just found out their children would be in her class. Her requests included some standard school supplies as well as picture books about COVID-19 she can read aloud to help her class understand the need for precautions.
The supplies, she said, will make it easier to jump-start an unusual school year.
“I want the kids to feel safe and secure,” she said.
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About 200 teachers have posted requests for supplies on a Facebook page set up for the purpose. It can be found at facebook.com/groups/HancockCoTeachers. Or you can search for “Support Our Hancock County (Indiana) Teachers!” on the site.
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