Local teachers need your help with classroom expenses

CLANTON, Ala. (WBRC) - Teachers across the state are busy getting their classrooms ready for the upcoming school year…and many of them are finding that it costs a lot more than in previous years.

Chasity Maxie spent the afternoon with a first-year teacher in Clanton who needs a little help getting the necessities.

Lakelyn Botts has a lot to be excited about.

She graduated from the University of Montevallo in May and was offered her first teaching job a few weeks later.

“I will be teaching fifth grade this year, which is actually what I prefer. I love my little babies, but my older babies have my heart too. So, I’m super excited about it,” Botts said.

The kiddos will be walking into her classroom in less than four weeks, so she and her daughter, Kennedy, are working hard to get everything ready.

“Set up is going good. I don’t think you realize how much goes into it until you’re doing it because there for a while, I was like, ‘Oh, we can get in there and get it set up. No big deal.’ But then when you have to cut, and laminate, and paste things to the wall, you’re just like, ‘Wow! It’s so much more,” Botts explained.

And she’s paying a lot more too.

According to adoptaclassroom.org, teachers spend an average of $750 of their own money each year for school supplies and with inflation, that dollar amount is expected to grow.

“People will tell you as teachers we don’t make a whole lot anyway and so, when we’re taking our money out to supply our rooms and make our rooms cute, it’s because we want these kids to feel safe and know when they come in this door everything’s fine,” Botts said.

She wants her classroom to feel like a home away from home, so she’s turning to social media for help.

“It would be a blessing…a total blessing to have my wish list cleared because that would literally take from now until May. I get chill bumps thinking about it. I want my students to have a good year. And to know I can’t provide everything is emotional,” Botts said.

She’s already spent about $600 on her classroom and said it’s nowhere near where she wants it to be.

She and many other Alabama teachers are using the hashtag #ClearTheList, a social media campaign designed to help educators with out-of-pocket costs.

For more information about #ClearTheList, visit getyourteachon.com.

If you’d like to help Mrs. Botts with her classroom, you can visit her Facebook page @lakelynbotts21.

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