For Immediate Release:
Jan. 31, 2014
Contact:
Verdaillia Turner
(404) 315-0222
Atlanta Teachers Honored for Heroic Effort During Storm
Scores Stayed Overnight in Schools to Ensure Their Students’ Safety
ATLANTA--Whether they are digging into their own pockets to buy school supplies or making sure their students have enough to eat, teachers in Atlanta and throughout Georgia go the extra mile for the children they teach. So it wasn’t surprising that during the recent storm, scores of teachers remained in schools overnight to ensure that stranded students were safe.
“Teachers do great things for kids each and every day,” said Verdaillia Turner, president of the Atlanta Federation of Teachers. “Unfortunately, we don’t always acknowledge their great work until there is a crisis.
This week, teachers put the safety and comfort of their students ahead of the safety and comfort of themselves. They should be honored for their heroic efforts.”
During this week’s storm, scores of teachers and staff remained at schools overnight with stranded children. Likewise, countless school bus drivers, trapped on icy, gridlocked highways, spent the night away from their own families in service to their students.
On Monday, the Atlanta Federation of Teachers will show their appreciation to teachers and school employees at five selected schools throughout the city by providing sweets, coffee and hot chocolate.
“It’s our small way of saying ‘thank you’ to teachers, school staff and bus drivers for their selfless work,” Turner said. “These teachers demonstrated that there’s more to teaching than giving a test. This storm was just the latest example of the devotion Atlanta teachers and other school employees have to their profession, and to the children and families they serve.”
Making sacrifices for children is nothing new for teachers. The National School Supply and Equipment Association estimates that teachers spend nearly $1,000 of their own money each year to help students whose families can’t afford basic school supplies. Teachers routinely help their students in other ways as well—making sure children have enough to eat, adequate clothes to wear, or the medical attention they need.
“We need to treat teachers as the professionals they truly are—not just after a storm, but each and every day of the year,” Turner said.
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Georgia Federation of Teachers