TFAE Helps Terrebonne Teachers through Adopt a Classroom Initiative

The Terrebonne Foundation for Academic Excellence (TFAE) has launched an initiative for Adopt a Classroom in Terrebonne Parish to help alleviate the extra expenses teachers are occurring due to the loss of items in the classrooms from Ida.

TFAE Executive Director Ashlee Barahona said they have identified long before Hurricane Ida that teachers pay for items in their classrooms from their own pockets. Not only have they spent their own money on supplies and items, but Ida took away many of those much-needed items such as supplies, bulletin boards, technology, and more. Barahona said they’ve always understood this and is the reason TFAE has a teacher grant and innovative ed grant to help alleviate those expenses at a normal time. 

Barahona said after Ida hit, they took a step back and recognized they had to do more because their normal grants will not be enough to help replenish items lost in the storm. TFAE applied for many grants to help the initiative, and the Bayou Community Foundation granted them $100,000 to start the Adopt a Classroom program. Barahona said their goal is to reach 250 classrooms at around $1,000 a teacher. The amount does vary depending on the damage the individual classrooms have received. Barahona announced that they have adopted three schools so far with a total of 31 classrooms adopted, and a total of $25,200. The schools that have been adopted so far are Acadian Elementary, Bayou Black Elementary, and Bourg Elementary. She shared that the three schools have received catastrophic damage including Pre-K and Kindergarten portables.

They are planning to continue adopting classrooms school by school and the next round will be looking at middle and high schools. They work along with the school principals to identify teachers that received the most damage and are working with the Terrebonne Parish School District to make sure that they are not duplicating services and to make sure the donations go to those who need it most.

Barahona is so grateful for the commitment from Bayou Community Foundation and said they stepped in a big way not only with their initiative but the community as a whole. She urged that to meet their goals and the needs of the parish’s teachers, there must be a call to action for community support. They have an overall goal of $350,000 and have a long road ahead of them.

Donations are accepted on their website, www.tfae.org. Barahona said any amount is greatly appreciated and goes directly to those teachers in need. She also shared there are corporate opportunities to adopt classrooms that include a plaque so those students and teachers can acknowledge who has helped them get back to a creative and healthy learning environment. For corporate classroom adoptions, email Barahona at info@tfae.org.

The resilience of the teachers is noteworthy; they’ve managed to get through the beginning of a pandemic, switch from virtual to in-person, go through the changes of protocols, all with taking in the community youth with open arms and smiles on their faces. Ida brings another bump in the road and it’s time for our community to help our teachers that in turn help our youth. Teachers are going into the classrooms and coming back home to deal with the devastation, insurance calls, and many more personal to-dos. To create a creative environment, tools that aid learning and supplies in the classroom after a storm like Ida will take a village, and Barahona said any amount helps the teachers get back on their feet. “It really makes your heart smile to know that regardless of what educators are going through in their personal lives,” Barahona said, “they’re bringing that love and passion into the classroom, even if that classroom has been demolished.”