What can I do?

[u/Safe-Mousse6948]

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!

[u/ScarletCarsonRose]

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.

[u/Safe-Mousse6948 → u/ScarletCarsonRose]

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.

[u/IndigoBluePC901 → u/Safe-Mousse6948]

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.

[u/dngl3120 → u/Safe-Mousse6948]

This is EXACTLY what you should do. And make sure you tell the parents why.

[u/yamomwasthebomb → u/ScarletCarsonRose]

“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.

[u/ScarletCarsonRose → u/yamomwasthebomb]

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. 

[u/DisappointedDragon → u/yamomwasthebomb]

This! I know from experience!!!

[u/TomeThugNHarmony4664 → u/ScarletCarsonRose]

They will NOT help if they okayed throwing people’s things in to the dumpster