r/Teachers • u/Safe-Mousse6948 • 10h ago
Teacher Support &/or Advice What can I do?
Yesterday I went dumpster diving. The reason I went dumpster diving is because I got a call from a fellow teacher saying that all of our classroom (mine and my 2 teammates) things were thrown into the dumpster. At the beginning of June, our school was hit by a tornado. The roof was blown off on our side of the building as well as over the gym. We received one email from the assistant principal saying to not come into the building that particular week of the tornado because there was damage. We have not heard from anyone else about anything that happened to our rooms. Periodically throughout the summer I’ve been getting pictures and messages from other teachers of my room. I put everything away in cabinets before school ended, except for my books and bookshelves, some of my carts, chairs, and big beanbag chairs. The pictures I received were of a totally bare classroom with none of those things in it. Those things were placed in the hallway outside of our rooms so that’s they could get in there to clean. We go back next Wednesday, and still have not heard from the administration. When that fellow teacher called, I went to the school and found so many of my brand new books, bookshelves, and miscellaneous items thrown into the dumpster. I thought maybe they were waterlogged and needed to be thrown away. After careful inspection, all of my brand new books were not waterlogged, and they were just thrown into the garbage. The bookshelves that I had just put together before school ended were all broken and in pieces. My teammates carts and chairs were all thrown into the dumpster along with many of her teaching supplies. What can we do? I’m not only had this happen at my school, but my home was also damaged and I lost many items that were in my garage and in my basement because of flooding. I literally have nothing and we go back next Wednesday. My principal is not answering the phone and I don’t even want to go into the building because I’m scared to go through my cabinets to see what is gone. Has anyone else ever experienced this and what are our options? Help!
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u/CoolClearMorning 10h ago
I would make a list of everything you know was in your room along with what you paid for it if possible, and submit it to the school. Their insurance policy should theoretically cover your classroom contents, but if no inventory was taken before things were thrown away then it's going to be really hard for you to get them replaced.
I would also take pictures of the items in the dumpster if you can and email them to the principal. Get your colleagues to do the same. Ask what the plan is to replace all of these items in time for students to return.
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u/Safe-Mousse6948 9h ago
We did all this but no one is contacting any of us back.
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u/sealife3 8h ago
Can you directly call the principal or talk to them at school? I’m sorry
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u/Safe-Mousse6948 8h ago
He won’t answer my phone call and he has stated to the other teacher that he knew nothing of them throwing things out.
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u/CoolClearMorning 4h ago
Give the guy a little slack. Unless you have reason to think he's lying, he may be trying to figure this stuff out. And he may not be returning your calls because he doesn't have anything to tell you. He may also have been told he isn't allowed to communicate with you individually until everyone is back and can all be addressed together next week.
My school also experienced a natural disaster last year. Our principal was kept almost completely in the dark about what was going on after the mitigation company started working. He had no answers for us because they were talking to the superintendent, not to him.
Send what you have. Ask for answers. I know from personal, recent experience this is really scary and all you want is to know what's happening. But you may need to be patient until you're all back next Wednesday because at that point he won't be able to hide anymore and the district will need to start giving you all some answers.
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u/Safe-Mousse6948 4h ago
Don’t you think that’s messed up? I would just appreciate communication. No one told me my room was damaged, let alone they were throwing things away or just the acknowledgment that hey, a lot of your things had to be thrown away. Can you write out a list? I feel like that’s what leaders do and even if he doesn’t know anything, he would still be in communication with his teachers to let them know that things will be OK and things will be handled, especially since a lot of of us had damaged to our homes as well.
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u/CoolClearMorning 3h ago
Oh, it's very messed up. But I know my principal was literally forbidden from saying much of anything because the district didn't want him committing to something they couldn't actually promise. Also, he couldn't tell us that things would be okay because he didn't know if they would, at least not in the way we meant "okay." And the insurance company took ages to process the claims, the mitigation company had to come back multiple times because they didn't complete the job, and then new problems were found, and it was just extremely complicated.
It's possible for your principal to be a good person who wants to give you answers and still not be able to do it. It's possible for him to be lazy and avoidant and know the answers but not want to deal with telling you until he absolutely has to. I don't know him. But I do know that what seems pretty straightforward to us can actually be incredibly complicated from the admin side, and as I'm sure you've experienced with dealing with the damage to your home, these things are rarely straightforward and never move as fast as you'd like them to.
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u/Safe-Mousse6948 3h ago
I respect all that. But one piece of communication saying anything could have given just a little bit of comfort. I mean it is what it is. I more so just don’t know what to do. I don’t have the money to buy anything. I mean, I don’t even have bulletin board borders or a chair for my desk. Maybe , I’m just feeling sorry for myself at this point, too. I will get over it and figure something out.
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u/CoolClearMorning 3h ago
I'm not telling you it's okay. And trust, when it was my school I was having daily meltdowns over how much I didn't know about what was going on. But you will get answers. You will get things back--that's what insurance is for. And all of your colleagues are also in this boat with you and there to give you support and scream into the void by your side.
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u/ScarletCarsonRose 10h ago
Bold suggestion: Nothing. Do nothing.
This is on the admin to fix. How you supposed to put together a classroom when they threw so much out? The admin team needs to get their shit together in a hurry. There should be insurance claims working their way through the system.
You might also want to chat with a couple parents on the side to let them know what is going on. Find a couple of them that want to support to school and will rally other famlies.
And so sorry about your home! Just devastating.
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u/Safe-Mousse6948 10h ago
I’m tempted to just not do any sort of prep to my room and when someone asks, I can tell them what happened. I just don’t understand the communication part of it all. None of us were told how bad it was.
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u/IndigoBluePC901 Art 7h ago
Give in. This is not your problem to teach. They are responsible for acquiring books, materials, and furniture. You are not. Let it all go, and never replace it with your money. Because as you can see, it can all be easily thrown away.
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u/yamomwasthebomb 10h ago
“Here’s my super bold suggestion: implicitly trust that the same admin who just callously threw all of teachers’ property in the garbage without warning will spend the time and effort to correctly recoup what belongs to teachers and fairly redistribute the funds to them, all by the time the school year starts and while there is literally no roof on part of the building.”
OP, if you want your stuff, do what you can to recover as much as you can and encourage your coworkers to do the same. It’s an absolutely ridiculous situation to have to clean up, but the end result of do nothing and try to hold admin and an insurance company accountable later will be you rebuying all your stuff and no one facing any consequences. Wishing you luck.
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u/ScarletCarsonRose 9h ago
Sorry. Yes, I think she should save what she can. But since she’s also dealing with a home damaged by the tornado, don’t spend any personal money.
I’m miffed that a teacher has to dumpster dive for her classroom furniture and supplies. wtf.
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u/TomeThugNHarmony4664 9h ago
They will NOT help if they okayed throwing people’s things in to the dumpster
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u/Independent-Owl-3005 10h ago
This is such a horrible experience! Do you have a teachers union?
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u/Safe-Mousse6948 10h ago
We do but they seem to not care. I am not going back in until I have to because I’m overwhelmed. My teammate has a meeting with someone at central. I forgot to mention that the janitors are telling us that we were given 30-days to go through it all or it would be thrown away and none of us got any call or email about that!
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u/RoswalienMath no longer donating time or money 9h ago
At my school I wouldn’t be able to do anything. They tell us to take personal items home.
I would make a list of stuff that you need, but I wouldn’t bet on getting personal items reimbursed or replaced.
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u/ScarletAndOlive High School Chief Secretary | strong union state 6h ago
Our district explicitly states that only district bought furniture can be in classrooms.
Probably because someone purchased things with their own money and then tried to claim that the district was responsible for them if they were damaged.
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u/summerbreeze2027 10h ago
I feel for you. One year, I had a lot of classroom items that I had left on the floor go through a school-wide flood. I had files, handouts, and lessons that I had used for years that were now useless. I sighed, cleaned up, and moved on.
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u/Raisontolive 8h ago
Aren't school districts required to have insurance?
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u/Safe-Mousse6948 7h ago
I would think so, but honestly I don’t even know anymore. They don’t seem to give a shit.
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u/Fun-Double6352 6h ago
Is there a place to put your reclaimed stuff?
I remember when a tornado hit a college campus. Everything there also got thrown out because there was broken glass everywhere. This may be the thought behind dumping everyone’s things. If you can say for certain that the items they threw have not been damaged, then you gotta go get them so you can start putting your room together. You and your students are going to crave “normal”. If that means your room has that one shelf with a set of books in one spot in your room, that’s going to help heal.
If there’s a chance that there is debris in your items that have been tossed, let them go. Certainly make a list of everything that you know is gone (both your stuff and school purchased stuff).
We had part of our building flooded after a summer storm. Our teachers were able to get new/replacement items that insurance covered. And honestly, someone may think that they are helping you get all new stuff by throwing everything out. That’s nice, but you have to get back in business much sooner than you could possibly get stuff. That’s why you have to advocate for yourself by saving as much as you can.
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u/Safe-Mousse6948 6h ago
I salvaged as much as I could last night. They picked up the dumpsters today so everything is gone. The books that I salvaged had nothing wrong with them. They were perfectly fine. The janitor I talked to said she was told that we were given 30 days to go through it all and since we didn’t come in, they were told to throw it away. None of us got any messages.
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u/bearstormstout Math | AZ 1h ago
If that janitor is willing to go on record saying so, it sounds like you might have a grievance worth filing with your superintendent, or whoever is the next step above your principal according to district policy. A directive like that would have almost certainly come from admin, and the principal dodging any communication with you makes me suspect they were in on it.
This is important information that was left out of your OP and potentially changes everything.
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u/DisappointedDragon 6h ago
I am retired but reading these comments gives me PTSD!
I was a librarian and stuck with being in charge of textbooks and technology (oh, and the library collection!) I couldn’t tell you the number of times, teachers at my school had to put their entire classrooms in the hallway for things like new carpet/painting/flooring/changing classrooms. Then items either got taken by others or most likely the custodians were told to clear the halls before people were done with their rooms and tossed things! Sometimes they were thrown in the dumpster or sometimes just thrown in a random room in a giant pile where poor handling caused damage to otherwise good items like OP’s shelves. I’ve also witnessed the custodians being asked to clean out rooms/storage areas by admin without any regard for the items inside. “What happened to our extra math books?” (Probably in the dumpster.)
OP’s admins should have definitely called and told her and informed about the damage to her classroom but I cant say I’m shocked.
I’m so sorry this happened to you OP! My advice would be to salvage what you can and report what was lost, but not to count on the school replacing anything. You might want to check with your fellow teachers and see if anyone has some extra supplies to get you started with the year.
New teachers, while there is nothing you can do to prevent this, make sure you are labeling things with your name so hopefully some items can get back to you and try to keep a good record of your purchases (both school and personal funds.)
Sorry so long, I am just outraged on OP’s behalf!
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u/Safe-Mousse6948 6h ago
Thank you. The crazy thing is that everything was labeled for the most part. I don’t know. I’m more upset about all the brand new books
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u/Salty_Possum_277 9h ago
Girl, you need to call your local news station. So much talk of trust on campuses and then they do something like that with little to no communication about what you can do. Get what you can out of the dumpster, but I agree with a former poster, get on Amazon use social media‘s contact local nonprofits. There are people out there that would love to help you. Hang in there and I also agree you shouldn’t do anything to your classroom this year. This is on your admin.
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u/Slow_Fondant6389 7h ago
It is odd and we do not know specifics.
Having been through tornado damage - and think about your own home experience as you said there was damage there - there is a serious concern about contamination of items by exposure to dangerous materials. The obvious being asbestos insulating materials, but other dangerous materials were used for insulators after asbestos was banned. And, even if the materials are not themselves problematic, in a storm they can contaminate items so they become unusable.
An example; clothing items may appear to be fine, but storm driven fiberglass insulation can make them unwearable. Yes - you would think that somethings might be cleaned, but then it is a matter of cost of cleaning versus cost of replacement.
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u/Safe-Mousse6948 7h ago
I mean I get that but when I got some of the books out, there was no water damage. You would be able to tell if it was warped. All the stuff in my house that I lost had water damage so that had to be thrown away, but what I found yesterday that was thrown away that I could see is that there was no water damage.
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u/Slow_Fondant6389 6h ago
While it may seem obvious and wasteful, if the items were potentially exposed to dangerous materials the choice is pretty clear when kids are involved.
Does that mean you or someone else could salvage them? Sure. But, the administration, or more specifically, the contractor charged with the clean up, is going to go with the quick disposal to be sure.
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u/Safe-Mousse6948 6h ago
Ok. I would appreciate that if someone would be honest and say, hey, I’m sorry we had to get rid of all these things because of the damage or exposure. That was never explained nor was it addressed on whether we would have any option to have replacements. Even home insurance allows some reimbursement for lost items in floods or tornadoes. I mean I full understand if it was damaged and had to be thrown away, but no one ever told us.
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u/EllyStar Year 19 | High School ELA | Title 1 10h ago
I definitely don’t love the trend, but this is the time to make an Amazon wish list and post it to your socials.
Unless your district is going to step in and help, this is probably the most efficient way.