No Student Left Behind: Land Park Community Donates Distance Learning Supplies To Students

LAND PARK (CBS13) - Back to school supplies look a lot different this year with distance learning, and for some parents, adding a computer to the list is daunting.

To help ease the burden of distance learning, one community is going above and beyond to make sure every child is ready for the new school year.

Joseph Ibarra wants to make sure his kids have everything they need, but it's not always easy.

"I see a lot of kids, they have like tablets and stuff to do Zoom with other teachers and students. My daughter doesn't have that. She hasn't got that yet," Ibarra said.

He says it's especially concerning now considering his kids will be home for school doing distance learning.

"That just leaves our kids to be thrown to the wolves kind of, you know?" he said.

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Ibarra's daughter goes to Leataata Floyd Elementary School in Land Park where many students come from low-income households.

"Where we stay at, you know, we don't have a lot of resources, so people like us, we just get left behind," Ibarra said.

Now there's a community-wide push to make sure that does not happen to students like Ibarra's daughter. Neighbors raised more than $7,500 to buy distance learning supplies including desk organizers and whiteboards.

Alexandra Biering donated to the cause.

"I know how hard it is going to be for my family to try to manage this next upcoming school year, I can only imagine what it's going to be like if you are not certain where your school supplies are going to come from," Biering said.

In three days, they raised enough to fill a backpack for every student at the school, something Leataata Elementary principal Michelle Blanton can't wait to see.

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"When they pull up and see their teacher hand them supplies that their community got them, that's gonna be really special," Blanton said. "We want to make sure that every one of our kids have what they need despite whatever their parents can make work."

For Ibarra, the help means his kids will have the same supplies to start the school year like everyone else. We also told Blanton his daughter did not have a device to do distance learning. She's now making sure she gets a Chromebook and said the school has enough for every student.