This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
The head of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers held office hours al fresco yesterday at School District headquarters.
Jerry Jordan had to stay past the two-hour window he allotted to talk to members of the teachers’ union outside District headquarters. He says his members are frustrated and are hoping someone will help.
"I am hearing horror stories. One of the things at the top of the list are the enormous amounts of money that teachers are spending on supplies. They are buying boxes of paper, because as one teacher told me, her principal said we do not have any money in the budget for supplies," Jordan said.
Andrew Guyon, a middle school math teacher in Philadelphia, says the financial demands on teachers are getting worse.