The PTA of Ephesus Elementary School in Chapel Hill recently donated $5,000 of unused, yearly funds to students, families and staff in need amid the pandemic.
After North Carolina schools made the switch to online instruction in March, campuses were closed, programs were delayed and events were postponed.
Because of this, money allocated for a school’s normal yearly operations may sit unused. Instead of pushing the funds over into next year’s budget, one elementary school PTA decided to donate them.
Ephesus Elementary is a tight knit community built up around 400 students. According to parent and PTA Co-President Elizabeth Portnoy, in light of the pandemic, it was a ‘no-brainer’ when it came time to decide how to allocate the PTA’s unused funds.
Naturally, Portnoy said the PTA wanted to help their students, families and staff going through difficult times. So it was decided that money originally set aside to be used for spring school events and family nights would instead be given to the school’s social worker to distribute out to those who need it most.
“So it just seems like a better way to use that money than have it sitting in the bank account,” Portnoy said.
Portnoy said their social worker knew exactly which students and staff would benefit from this financial assistance and would do her job well to keep the money distribution confidential and dignified.
“Our social worker has been at our school for years,” Portnoy said. “She’s excellent. She knows the families intimately and works closely with our ESL teachers and is just really attune to those needs.”
The PTA ended up being able to immediately donate $5,000 dollars of their leftover funds and Portnoy said there may be more money following suit.
“There’s a possibility that we may be able to do some more and we kind of decided to stagger it a little bit,” Portnoy said. “We did the bulk of it now but we thought maybe in a month, or in the middle of summer, there might be some more need and we could pull some funds that are earmarked for next year.”
Even the teachers at Ephesus pitched in to help out their fellow teachers and staff who might need additional support.
“Our teacher’s every year are given a certain amount of discretionary funding for extra supplies and things in their classroom through the PTA and teachers joined in the team effort and volunteered to donate their unused discretionary funds back to us so that we could transfer all of that money over to the social worker effort to help families and staff,” Portnoy said.
Ephesus’s PTA raises all their money for the year from a single fundraiser in the fall. Because of this, Portnoy said she’s sensitive to the fact that this fall people may not be able to give as much as they normally do – so they want to be very thoughtful in how they are managing and distributing their remaining funds.
She said, just because this donation process is how Ephesus wanted to tackle their remaining yearly funds during the pandemic, doesn’t mean this is how every school needs to do it.
When asked if other school’s should follow in Ephesus’s example, Portnoy said every school and community has distinctive needs. Therefore, their aid processes will not look the same.
“Oh gosh, I think from what I know of my fellow PTA leaders around the district, every school is unique and I’m fully confident that they are all serving their communities in the ways that they see best and fit and I would trust them implicitly to be rallying around their communities,” Portnoy said.
Photo courtesy of Ephesus Elementary.
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