Northwest ISD’s mobile school supply truck helps teachers for free – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Northwest ISD’s Education Foundation has been trying to help teachers deal with the mid-year drop in offerings for some time. Even though the pandemic is behind us, they have continued with Neffie, a free resource store and library on wheels that serves more than 900 teachers.

Kevin Barrey is looking for notebooks. The Leo Adams Middle School science teacher is running low on supplies and usually has to restock midway through the quarter.

“I get journals from my kids, but a lot of them don’t, haven’t brought them yet, and we’re six weeks in, so just supplies to help them be more successful in science class,” he told Barrey.

During the pandemic, we were there when they opened a school supply store in their office where students and teachers could get free school supplies for home learning.

“For us it’s not just about a starter pack for back to school. “We’re looking at the things that teachers need so that kids can play games in the classroom to make learning fun,” said Jennifer Burton, executive director. the Northwest ISD Education Foundation. “One of the things we learned, one of the last Neffie outreaches we had, was that even our middle school teachers take whiteboards and have the kids hold them over their heads. They play games or study, you know? Classroom Essentials to Succeed in Exams.

The only problem is that Northwest ISD is huge, stretching from Trophy Club to west of Rhome, 234 square miles. It’s not always easy or convenient for their teachers to get to a central location to get supplies. This is where Neffie, the name of the supply truck, comes into play.

“The real goal was to make life easier for our educators, and so it doesn’t make it any easier for them to drive 30 minutes from their campus to us and drive back at the end of the day. So why not take over the store? Wheels?” said Burton.

The district packed up the supplies, brought them to campuses across the district and parked them right out front to make it easier for teachers to get out during their lunch or free periods, quickly restock supplies and get back to work.

“As an art teacher, I was able to get rulers and pencil sharpeners. “I don’t have many of the same needs as other classroom teachers, but it’s really great to have the ability to go through and still get things that I can use in my class,” said Shelby Klasel, an art teacher who runs the cell phone store visited.

Neffie plans to visit various campuses around Northwest ISD throughout the school year, but as district headquarters, teachers can visit the brick-and-mortar store at any time to receive free supplies.