Why I'm Not Giving Donuts to Students

Most folks think tax dollars shouldn’t be spent on appreciating teachers and school staffs.

Here’s why they’re wrong.

I ran an ad on Facebook last week giving away donuts to the whole staff at one school.

One commenter wrote this:

Students should get a donut as well.  Seems a little unfair, students work hard, too.

So many possible replies, but I went with “I agree students work hard too”.

Maybe the commenter thought I’m a corporation with deep pockets. 
Maybe the commenter was bothered I chose to recognize teachers and staffs over students. 
Maybe the commenter likes to stir up trouble online.

The reason’s not important.  If you’re going to do work online like this- even giving something away for free doesn’t cost anything to you- you’ll get negative feedback like this.  It’s why we can’t have nice things.

But here’s why I chose to give donuts to a school’s staff and not a school’s students (beside the obvious price difference!): these are challenging months for teachers and administrators. 

• There’s evening parent teacher conferences after full teaching days
• There’s cold and flu viruses running rampant through schools
• There’s teachers missing school because they’re sick or their families are sick
• There’s cold weather keeping students indoors for recess. 
• There’s standardized testing coming up and you’re wondering how you’re going to possibly teach all the curriculum you’re supposed to cover

Those are the reasons I’m giving donuts to a school staff.  Most schools don’t have funds to appreciate teachers or boost staff morale.  If grumpy curmudgeon taxpayers found out public funds were spent on glazed donuts for the teacher’s lounge, watch out!  During a time in the school year when appreciation is most needed, we’re choosing to care for one school’s staff with some donuts.  The school is the one with the most signups by the end of the month.  Over 140 schools are in the running for the donuts and three are tied for the lead:

• Bradwell School of Excellence in Chicago, IL. 
• Laura Wilder Elementary in Sioux Falls, SD
• Maurice C. Cash Elementary in Phoenix, AZ;

There’s still plenty of February left for your school to win these donuts:

• Invite teachers and staff to sign up here 
• Share this Facebook post and tag teachers and friends at your school

And maybe, just maybe, some month in the future we’ll be able donuts to an entire school. 

Because my Facebook commenter wasn’t wrong.