By Maddie Kunkle

Staff Writer

    Students at R.J. Reynolds High School are facing a change in assignments as teachers are forced to adapt their lesson plans due to a paper shortage that occurred due to budget cuts. But what is the reasoning behind this occurrence, and how are teachers planning to adjust their teaching style to address this issue? Susan Annas, the financial secretary at Reynolds, is most knowledgeable about the financial issues that have resulted in this paper shortage.

    “We don’t necessarily have just a paper shortage,” Annas said. “We have a shortage of all of our construction supplies. As far as funds, we only have half the instructional allotment that we usually have for instructional items.” 

    Annas explained what the school was doing in response to this issue. 

    “We encourage teachers to come to me and let me know what supplies they need,” Annas said. “ But the Title I funds that pay for these materials have been cut back, too.” 

   Ever since the budget crisis began, staff have been trying their best to make do with the supplies they have. Hampden Kenan Jr., the social studies and economics & personal finance teacher, has addressed this issue and how teachers have been asked to respond to it. 

    “With consideration to budgetary issues this year, we were asked to try to refrain from using paper and to only use it when necessary,” Kenan said. 

    Kenan explained that he is a large user of paper because he likes to make packets for his students so they have something to look back on. Yet, with the cutback on supplies, most of his activities have been switched to a digital format. Unfortunately, this can be difficult at times because it requires students to have a charged and ready-to-access computer to participate. 

    Kenan attempts to be mindful of this when creating lesson plans and prints out a few copies for the students who don’t have a readily accessible computer. 

    Even though this may seem like a major issue, Calvin Freeman, the principal at Reynolds, says that he would not define this as a tough time for the school. 

    “I think of our tough times in terms of the human capital that we lost, and working through the voids that losing people has created has been hard,” Freeman said. “But at the same time, we still have a job to do, and so we have to be creative, we have to be thoughtful, we have to be collaborative. It is a collective of us now.” 

    Freeman explained that the staff has rallied together to face issues such as the paper shortage as one body. Teachers are pitching in by covering classes for one another, standing in the hall for a couple of minutes, and doing anything else that helps to fill the role of teachers lost due to district funding matters. 

    “We’re going to continue to lean on each other,” Freeman said. “We’re going to continue to be creative and thoughtful around the things we can and can’t do. We have to ensure our folks feel like Reynolds is the place where everyone wants to be and can come to work every day.”  

    Overall, what this budgeting crisis requires is full cooperation from everyone. Teachers are helping each other out and doing their best to avoid overusing materials.  However, students can also work to make things easier. Showing up to school every day with a computer charger and your computer fully charged could work wonders for the school and help to eliminate unnecessary paper usage. Be Reynolds ready, and we can make today, and every day, a good day.