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Every year she shells out for the things she uses in her lesson: Duct tape is a big expense, and she needs eggs for an experiment in which students engineer a container that can protect an egg in a long fall. She is supposed to use board-approved vendors for all of her purchases, she says. But the vendors on that list often don't sell what she needs. "We do have the option of using other ven- dors, but there's a massive amount of paper- work that goes along with that," McCoy says. "If I want something not available from any board-approved vendors, I can get three pric- es. To find and compare prices, sometimes that can be so cumbersome. . . . It can cost two dollars, and if it's not handled by board- approved vendors, you have to do that." So she skips the hassle and spends her own money, usually no more than $10 or $20 at a time, though sometimes as much as $50. But Dewey Hensley, JCPS chief academ- ic officer, says teachers don't need to get a comparison prices for low-cost items. "She shouldn't need to do that," Hensley says. Somehow, the word hasn't gotten to her and other teachers. Athletic directors at several schools say they have occasionally kicked in $20 to cover the accident insurance a child needs to par- ticipate in sports. "If someone can't pay the insurance, we will do everything that we can to make sure that money is not an issue," says Tim Chapman, athletic director at Meyzeek. Sometimes, they can find other parents who can help, or dollars from other funds. "If they don't have the $20 for insurance, I'll just pay it," said Leeann Gooch, athletic director at Olmsted Academy South, where some 96 percent of the students are in the free- and reduced-price lunch program, al- though Hensley says that at high-poverty schools, those costs are covered if the child is in the free- and reduced-price lunch program. "We pay for that," he says. Again, it looks to be a case of either avoid- ing red tape or faulty communication be- tween JCPS and its teachers. Several of them talked about stocking up on pens, notebooks, folders and other school supplies for students who don't have supplies themselves or forgot them. "I always have pencil and paper and folders that I buy at the beginning of the school year at Target, when they're a quarter," Gooch says. "At the end of the first six weeks, I'm totally out of those folders, spiral notebooks, everything." "We all do it. We all spend personal money," says Chapman, also a social studies teacher at Meyzeek. "My ex-wife would al- ways tell me, it's not your job to feed all those kids, but if we go on a picnic and a few forgot their money, what are you going to do?" At his school, as at many others, they fund-raise to cover costs whenever they can, "but some- times, you just lay out the money." "I think a lot of parents feel it's the school's responsibility to supply pencils and paper," McCoy says. She recalls a conversation she overheard at the hairdresser, where a woman talked about bawling out her son's teacher. If her son didn't have a pencil, she said, that was the teacher's responsibility. "It's really frustrating," McCoy says. In fact, she and several teachers take on respon- sibilities that aren't strictly educational. "One of the things I buy and I keep in my class- room are granola bars," she says. "Sometimes the kids come to school late; they haven't had anything to eat. . . . then you've got a kid who just isn't functioning." Allison Hunt, who teaches advanced-place- ment human geography at DuPont Manual High School, buys the advanced-placement textbooks for some of her students, at $10 to $15 apiece. While the costs of her basic sup- plies are covered by JCPS, sometimes she has to spend her own money, especially when it comes to extracurricular activities. Hunt used to be the adviser for school Quiz Bowl competitions. "Tere was lots of driving of kids all over, but I normally didn't put in for a mileage reimbursement," she says. "If you did, they would divide the costs ents simply don't have the money for gasoline to make extra trips. "Te coaches end up taking the kids home," Gooch says. "A lot of our parents work third shift," she says. "I had a young lady come in today and say, 'I can't go to the game today. I don't have a ride home. My mom can't come get me.'" Te team was playing in a tournament. So Gooch drove the child, even though it meant adding several more miles to her commute. Often extra-curricular activities mean that someone has to feed the kids, teachers say. "I feed the kids a lot before after-school athletic events," Gooch says. "For example, we have volleyball going on right now, and they don't play till 5 o'clock. At a lot of schools, the kids go home and the parents bring them back for the game. If I send them home, we'll forfeit." Tose kids have to eat. While parents are asked to contribute, participation isn't 100 percent. "A lot of times the coaches and myself are buying pizzas for them or bringing cheese and crackers and healthy snacks for after school," Gooch says. By early October, she says, she'd brought snacks for teams three times, and the coach had also brought food three times. "I wish that none of the money was coming out of my pocket personally. But the reality is, everyone spends their own money." —Steve Weber, athletic director, Noe Middle School among the kids, and charge them to represent the school." Tat didn't seem fair, so Hunt picked up the tab herself. But again, says JCPS's Hensley, teachers should not use their own money. If it's an official recognized club, he says, "Tey should get mileage reimburse- ment, and it doesn't come from the kids. Te kids never pay that." Hunt says that when her academic teams traveled to out-of-state competitions, the kids paid for their transportation, accom- modations and food. While some of her costs would be covered, she paid for her own ac- commodations and food. Most of the stipend she made for taking on the activity went right back into the program, she says. Transportation costs are killers, teach- ers say. While a bus may take children from school to their sports matches and games, the parents may not be able to pick up their chil- dren when the bus drops them back at the school. Te kids may live far from the school, and it may already be dark. Sometimes, par- Most teachers say they have no idea how much they spend, although many said they took the $250 federal income tax deduction available to teachers. "If I really kept track of it, I would probably throw up," Gooch says. "I will, out of my pocket, spend $500 to $600 easily," says Steve Weber, athletic direc- tor at Noe Middle School. Although Weber praises school administrators for coming up with ways to cover costs, "I wish that none of the money was coming out of my pocket per- sonally," he says. "But the reality is, everyone spends their own money." He says there is a coach at Noe who makes sure his kids all have matching warm-up out- fits. Another will buy some kids shoes, so the whole team can have matching shoes. Chapman says he wishes more people who engaged in teacher bashing — particularly politicians who "make sound bites about very complicated issues" — really understood how much teachers give — in the classroom and outside. 11.12 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE [77]