Teachers Pitch in for a Makeover
Hundreds Volunteer to Cleanup School
By GREG BLEDSOE
Updated 2:13 PM PST, Sun, Jun 28, 2009
About 10,000 teachers, aspiring teachers, and retired teachers are in San Diego this weekend for the National Education Association conference.
The event takes place in a different city ever year, and every year, they choose one school from that city to get a much needed makeover.
This year, they chose Balboa Elementary in South San Diego. More than 400 volunteers showed up Saturday morning to mop, scrub, paint, and build. The project included 2,000 new books, and all new furniture for the library, new soccer goals on the playground, a renovated teachers lounge, 30 new picnic benches for the outdoor cafeteria, new landscaping, and several murals painted on the outside of the school.
Organizers say with school budgets being hit hard, this year it may be more important than ever. They say it's important students like the way their school looks.
"They walk in and they think, 'Oh, the school looks kind of shabby. So, they don't really care that much about me.' So, we want to be able to help the states do the things that they can't do," said Kimberly Anderson, one of the organizers.
This is the 14th year the group has done this for a school. Kimberly Anderson said they'll do it as long as it's needed.
"I hope one day I'm put out of business because everybody can afford to do all this, but until then, we have this group that really wants to come in and do this every year."
First Published: Jun 27, 2009 7:19 PM PST
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