NEA: Tennessee Education Association Members Help with Katrina Recovery





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Tennessee Education Association
Members Help with Katrina Recovery

gathering supplies in Tennessee

Franklin Special School District member Dr. Mary Gist, assistant principal at Freedom Middle School, helped load supplies for those hit by the storm in the Pascagoula, Mississippi vicinity.

"Many families can't afford to do a lot, but our members want to know they have done something to help." These words of Monroe County EA member Rachel Boshears tell the story of TEA members throughout the Volunteer State as they mobilize to provide whatever assistance they can to the thousands of victims left ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Teachers in Monroe County are asking their students to bring $1 each in hopes of raising $750 in this rural Tennessee area to donate to relief funds. No sooner had they learned that their fellow Americans in the Gulf area (including Association colleagues and members of their own families in some instances) were in need did TEA members begin their efforts.

Franklin Special School District member Dr. Mary Gist (at right), assistant principal at Freedom Middle School, joined with colleagues and students and members of the Franklin community to collect and transport bottled water and other supplies for hurricane victims in the Pascagoula, Mississippi vicinity. The fact that FSSD Director of Schools Dr. David Snowden and husband and wife FSSD administrators Anthony and Sharon Ladner are from that area gave them added impetus. A semi-trailer and several vans full of supplies departed at 4:00 a.m. Sept. 2, long before official disaster relief efforts even began.

"Educators are always at the front of the line when it comes to offering assistance," said TEA President Judy Beasley," and many of our local associations are collecting essential school supplies or making a monetary contribution earmarked for education needs. Several school systems are taking Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida students into their schools."

When this article was written, Blount County schools had enrolled 15 evacuated students, with 10 in Maryville and six in Alcoa. In Franklin, site of a large Red Cross shelter, more than 70 hurricane victims had enrolled in the city's chools, with officials bracing for more. In Johnson City, TEA member Cathy Parris welcomed Slidell, LA native Sheldon Kappel into her second grade classroom.

"My main objective is to make him feel like he is part of our school family."

Eleven new students have enrolled in Johnson City schools, with four in Kingsport and three in Bristol. Clarksville-Montgomery schools have enrolled 48 evacuated students, and in Hamilton County, enrollments doubled from 31 to 75 in one day. Metro Nashville officials expect more than 300 enrollees. "TEA members always put students first, and have never nor ever will leave a child behind," said Beasley.

--Bill Guy, TEA

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