Each month ABC7 News focuses on classrooms that lack resources. Through a website called DonorsChoose.org, we want get viewers involved in helping teachers get the supplies that schools often lack.
Room #203 at Leonard Flynn Elementary functions like any other classroom. However, if you take a closer look, you'll see how these kids rock back and forth in their chairs. The legs are uneven and some have missing parts.
"I would say that our chairs are miserable and decrepit and embarrassing and our children deserve better," says Wendy Cram, teacher.
"When I try to do my work, my chair wiggles," says Daviaunna Milburn, 2nd grader.
"I do not like a wobbly chair. I would like a clean still chair," says Vyncent Guerra, 2nd grader.
Some of Wendy Cram's students already have attention issues. Cram says the chairs are just another distraction that makes it difficult to teach.
"Yeah, it's hard to concentrate on your work when you have other things distracting you from what you are supposed to be doing. I have a lot of kids who have attention issues and if they are busy concentrating on their chairs, they are not paying any attention to what I am teaching them."
Most of the chairs are at least 20 years old. These second graders are careful not to pinch their rear ends when they sit down on the wooden chairs.
"When the chair pinches you, it kinda' feels like an ant biting you," says Kaitlyn Letourneau, 2nd grader.
Cram wants to buy 32 new chairs. They would be wider, more comfortable, and ergonomically correct. The total cost comes out to $2,000 dollars. She's relying on DonorsChoose.org.
DonorsChoose.org is on online site for teachers. They post their projects, with the hopes of getting funded by viewers and readers like you.
"I think kids come to school and see their classroom and they feel like they don't get the best. These kids deserve the best. I want them to feel that there are people out there that care about them and know that they deserve what everyone else in the district gets," says Cram.
Wendy Cram Chairs project:
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=93733