That New School Year Smell Comes with a Price

Elementary school classrooms have always had that distinctive aroma on the first day of school. Memories of glue, cut up construction paper, magic markers and pencil shavings are the ‘eau de classroom’ each September. That scent will ring true again September 4 for students in the Utica Community Schools (UCS), but a little known secret is that the much of the smell and materials they will experience come from the investment of their own teachers.

It’s a fact of life in today’s school budget cut environment that teachers just expect each year to have to dig into their own purses and wallets to make sure their classrooms have what they need for students beginning a new school year.

“Each year I try and limit myself to a $200 budget but I’m closer to paying $500 to get my classroom ready this year,“ said 25-year teacher Charlene Sonnenberg, who teaches a split first and second grade class at Sterling Heights, Messmore Elementary. “It’s certainly gotten worse the last 10 years when we used to go to the supply closet to get copy and construction paper and glue. Now it’s empty.”

Down the hall, Messmore second and third grade teacher Melanie Braley, is getting a first-year lesson in getting her own classroom ready. Being a first year teacher is daunting enough, but on an entry level salary (of which she has not received a cent as yet), Melanie was made aware early in the process that if she didn’t pay for classroom supplies, her students would go lacking. “I’ve bought colored pencils, scissors, glue. Some of the kids will come in with their own, but there’s nothing available for them when they will no doubt run out. I’ve already spent nearly $1000 to get ready because I had nothing to start with. I’m hoping it will be less in future years.”

For UCS teachers, contract negotiations and budget cuts have made it even tougher to get through the year on salaries that are going anywhere but up. “Our teachers took a pay cut last year and will have another this year with more on the horizon, according to the District. With that financial stress facing them, our teachers are still going above and beyond for their students to make their classroom a special place,” said Utica Education Association President Liza Parkinson. “For some it’s come down to their making a decision to financially support their students or their own families.”

That sentiment was echoed by Burr Elementary (Shelby Township) 4th grade teacher, Jonathan Marceau. “Honestly for most teachers it’s a choice of the classroom or our own livelihood, retirement, and paying our own bills. Many of us just can’t afford to do this anymore,” said Marceau. “In my 15 years of teaching, I know I’ve spent well over $5,000 out of pocket on books and supplies. It’s almost at the point now where all the schools give us is chairs and desks and even there, I’ve personally purchased some of my own furniture. Teachers are now forced to say, no more.”

One teacher in the district is not only investing in her classroom, but is in the process of documenting the entire process on video. Fifteen-year teacher and former Michigan Teacher of the Year finalist, Casey Joss, who teaches at Burr Elementary in Sterling Heights, is producing a video to better explain what her classroom would look like if she didn’t pay for classroom materials herself. This year she expects to contribute at least $250 and “probably more” to get ready for the launch of the new school year. “It’s not just supplies, but our kids expect parties during the year and if I don’t contribute, they don’t happen,” said Joss. “We used to go into a huge supply closet and get glue, scissors, binders and notebooks. Now we can’t even go in there without permission. We consistently make requests and get ‘sorry, what you want is not available.”

Joss, who will be entering a classroom this year which has just completed summer construction, will be videotaping the class “after construction and before I get the class ready, then what it looks like after the school gives us our supplies and finally what it looks like when I add the materials I buy out of my own pocket.”