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PENCIL Box opens second school supply store for MNPS teachers





Denine Torr, Dollar General vice president of corporate social responsibility and philanthropy, cuts the ribbon at the PENCIL Box store in Antioch.Zach Hill / Main Street Nashville

Denine Torr, Dollar General vice president of corporate social responsibility and philanthropy, cuts the ribbon at the PENCIL Box store in Antioch.Zach Hill / Main Street Nashville

PENCIL Box, the free school supply store for Metro Nashville teachers, cut the ribbon on a new satellite store in Antioch on Wednesday.

Doors opened at 5 p.m. for the new store at 5380 Hickory Hollow Parkway. Teachers collected free pencils, bookbags and other school supplies to bring back to their classroom. The store was lined with shelves of other classroom necessities, including pandemic essentials like hand sanitizer and anti-bacterial wipes. The variety and amount of free supplies let teachers imagine new possibilities for their students.

“The best thing is that you come into these PENCIL Box stores with nothing in mind, then you see the opportunities for classroom learning,” said Austin Agee, a second grade teacher for Smith Springs Elementary School. “You can see something and say, ‘I can use these supplies this way, or that way, to create a new learning experience for my kids.’ ”

Others in attendance included Metro Schools Director Dr. Adrienne Battle and school board Chair Christiane Buggs. Buggs made brief remarks before the ribbon-cutting.

 

 

“We tend to forget how difficult it is to get resources for our kids. Teachers, this is for you,” Buggs said.

Mayor John Cooper closed the period of brief remarks. He spoke on the importance of fully funding classrooms and said “politics can’t stop the progress in serving our community.”

“Teachers come willing to get it done no matter what it takes,” he said. “Funding for students is important, especially now that everything is getting more expensive.”

Cooper said because of Metro Nashville Public Schools teachers, Nashville’s future is “extremely bright.”

“We appreciate you all. Here in Nashville, we have something special,” he said.

This is the second PENCIL Box store in the Nashville area, targeting the southeastern region of MNPS schools. The main location is at 7199 Cockrill Bend Blvd. in West Nashville.

Opening the second store was an 18-month process that saw several waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We joined everybody’s journey through the pandemic,” said PENCIL Chair Norman Merrifield. “Like the students, teachers didn’t have a choice on whether or not they could engage in learning. They had to.”

The last two years have been difficult for MNPS teachers, who, like many teachers across the country, were paying out of pocket for basic supplies before the COVID-19 pandemic. The nonprofit organization Adopt-A-Classroom surveyed teachers nationwide and reported they spent, on average, $745 on school supplies during the 2019-2020 school year. During the height of the pandemic, 45% of the surveyed teachers said their spending increased.

“You can never have enough,” said Molly Murrell, a first grade teacher at Paragon Mills. “You have to use your own money or (students) go without supplies.”

Teachers like Murrell used their creativity to create new experiences for students. She and fellow teacher Lea Bermudez found a pallet of unused cardboard boxes, which they requisitioned and turned into an arts and crafts project. They taught their students to build mailboxes for Valentine’s Day. Students could “deliver” cards and notes to their classmates. Murrell said the pandemic put a spotlight on resource issues beyond the classroom.

“I’ll have students ask me if they can take an extra carton of milk home for their sister, their brother or someone else in their family,” Murrell said. “It’s already difficult when half of my students can’t bring in their own supplies. They’ve got enough to worry about at home.”

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