A paper shortage at a Pennsylvania school district is revealing important questions about the priorities in public schools, and it’s exposing issues in a broken system that have gone unresolved for years.
The story started with a post to Twitter by Sto-Rox school counselor Katie Couch, who alerted that the district will “completely run out of paper for the rest of the year.”
I am a school counselor at Sto-Rox, a low income school district in the #Pittsburgh area. We have completely ran out of paper for the rest of the year. Any #businesses willing to #donate paper to us?! @HeinzKetchup_US @PPG @dickssportingss @Alcoa
— Katie Couch (@Couch_Kitten) February 14, 2020
Superintendent Frank Dalmas told the Pittsburg Post-Tribune the “surprising” paper shortage is the result of a “conservative spending budget.” The district received $19,011 per student in funding for the 2018-19 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Couch’s Twitter post sparked a strong response from the community and local businesses, who donated about 100 cases of paper to get the district through. Couch and Dalmas celebrated the generosity, on social media and comments in the media. – READ MORE
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