AUSTIN (KXAN) — Bill Hutson knows there is power in a pencil, so when he saw a message from a fifth grade teacher asking for supplies, he jumped into action.
“The last thing a kid should have to worry about at school is whether or not they have a pencil to learn with,” Hutson said. “It’s the basic need of education: the ability to write and do work.”
He doesn’t have a child enrolled in a Manor ISD school, but he saw a parent post the message on a popular Manor community Facebook page.
The message from the teacher read: “Now that we are in the last stretch, students are needing to replenish supplies. Right now the biggest need is pencils. Students are currently using pens, markers and colored pencils, making it difficult for them to do their work. I’m reaching out to everyone to ask for donations for the class.”
Hutson said a lot of the commenters expressed frustration that the district wasn’t supplying these needs.
“I think social media allows a platform for people to complain about problems that aren’t really problems, without just looking for solutions,” Hutson said.
His solution?
Start buying boxes of pencils.
The community caught on and starting buying boxes, too. By the end of the day, he and other volunteers had delivered more than 6,000 pencils to around eight elementary and middle schools.
A spokesperson for the school district said there was a “basic expectation” that parents provide supplies for their kids.
They explained that when the district received their nearly $91 million-dollar operating budget at the beginning of the year, money was allocated to each campus. The principles of those campuses then designate what the funds will be used for.
“As a school district we provide opportunities and community events for students to get supplies,” Director of Communications Angel Vidal said, mentioning a ‘Back to School Bash.’
He went on to say, they “hold the parent responsible” for their child’s basic supplies for the entire year, as laid out in the school supply lists sent out at the beginning of the year.
As a longtime Manor resident, Hudson said he could imagine a situation where a family couldn’t afford those basics.
“At the elementary level, a kid doesn’t have what he needs, and if he doesn’t have someone to ask, he just shows up to school without it,” Hutson said.
He said they hope to provide pencils to every school in the district by next week.
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