Out with the Old Tubes, In with the New Flat Screens

The Home and School Association of School 3 recently donated 18 brand new television sets and 18 DVD players to the institution, one set for each classroom.

The HSA is a group of volunteer parents who regularly organize fundraisers for the students and the school. In previous years, they’ve donated die-cutting machines and a refrigerator.

“We’ve always wanted to do something special,” said HSA president Gaby Meany. “We just never thought it would be something in this scale. This is the biggest project we’ve done for the school so far.”

Meany recounted how they came up with such project. She said that when they went through their budget and saw how much they had made (after all of their bills were paid), they were really ecstatic.

“When we thought long and hard about what we could do with the good amount of money we’ve raised ($5,000) from the 2010-2011 school year, technology came to mind,” said Meany.

“In School 3, each classroom had a 15- to 18-year-old tube TV and VCR player. You have a classroom of 25 students and they all have to watch from one 17-inch TV. Not even high definition. And we all know that today’s movies, curriculum, are all on DVD. It’s all about the LCD and the HDTV and everything we have today is compatible with that technology.

“So we said that’s it, we have to bring these classrooms and these kids up-to-date. Each classroom has to get a nice, new, flat screen TV mounted right on the wall. Now the teachers can have their curriculum on DVDs, and during their free periods the kids can watch one of their Disney movies, and the laptop becomes compatible with airing things on the screen."

According to Meany, the HSA really did everything they could to get the best price, squeezing all of their money and really negotiating.

“That’s what you have to do these days,” stressed Meany. “We would all do it for our own families and our own homes, so I think we have to do the same thing when it’s somebody else’s money.

“We all know that everybody’s strapped for money these days: the BOE, the community, so it’s just one way we can do our share and help out.

“At School 3, our parents are phenomenal. They are always willing to do whatever they can, whether it’s donating their time or helping with the fundraising or any of our programs. And when I say we have great parents, I mean we’re the most frugal parents. We’ve even argued over where you could get a gallon of milk cheaper (like during our Back-to-School coffee and cake night).

"For all our other events, we make sure we get the best price. We manage the money as if it was our own. To me, this is a great example of how a school can really manage its money and end up doing something really good with it.

“And that’s just the springboard. We’re all hoping that our fundraising efforts for this year will raise enough money to do something similar, because it’s a direct indication that people really do believe and support their children and their school.”