70 new teachers get help filling their classrooms

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – Teachers across KELOLAND are getting their classrooms ready and gearing up for the start of the new school year. On Monday some first-time teachers in Sioux Falls received a special grant to help them prepare.

At Monday’s teacher orientation with the Sioux Falls School District, new educators received a special announcement.

“There are 70 first-time, first-year teachers in the Sioux Falls School District who are getting a $200 grant from the Education Foundation to buy supplies for their first classroom,” Allison Struck, executive director of the Sioux Falls Public School’s Education Foundation, said.

A gift that these teachers appreciate.

“$200 means a lot,” first-time teacher Molli Tarabelsi said. “Especially, like, once I realized all the things that you have to get for a classroom, I was like, yes!”

Teachers often spend hundreds of dollars of their own money to fill their classrooms, so $200 can go a long way.

“I’m a new teacher so obviously it’s my first job and so I don’t have all the funds,” Tarabelsi said. “But I think it’s very helpful in getting the supplies that I know I would be lacking without it.”

The Education Foundation started giving out these grants in 2011 and this year’s gift marked over one thousand teachers they’ve helped.

“Which is really exciting for us and for our organization,” Struck said. “And when you just think about the number of new staff we’ve impacted over the years, this is just a great way to welcome them to the district and to kind of pay it forward for staff who are choosing to teach in Sioux Falls.”

Hopefully setting them up for a successful school year.

“I really want to put in the effort to have my classroom be the place that students want to be and where I want to spend my time,” Tarabelsi said.

The Education Foundation provides $100 of the grant for each teacher and the Mary Chilton DAR Foundation matches that with another $100.

Monday’s gift marks 1,046 teacher recipients since 2011.

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