BURIEN, Wash. — Some local teachers are getting unexpected financial support from students.
Only these students are adults training at the police academy in Burien.
King County Basic Law Enforcement Academy Class 836 decided to launch a unique “class project” to support kindergarten teachers around King County by raising funds to purchase school supplies.
Bellevue police recruit Ally Manns said her sister is a teacher. She knows all too well how challenging it has been for teachers over the past few years.
“As a class we decided we wanted to focus our class project on helping kids with education. We know how important it is that every child is offered the opportunity of success while in school, and want to do our part to making possible for those in need,” Manns said.
Class 836 is comprised of men and women from King, Skagit, Pierce and Island counties and train for 20 weeks.
“We chose to work with several charities because we all come from different cities and are excited to support our teachers. We are all here because we were successful in school and it starts with kindergarten so we want kids to have the same opportunities.” said Manns.
The group of aspiring officers and deputies are supporting several programs, including Adopt-A-Classroom that’s raised more than $35 million for over 175,000 classrooms.
“We just pick our area code and connect directly with teachers who have requested aid.” said Manns.
Her class is also working with United Way and their ParentChild+ program that boost resources and helps families prepare for Kindergarten.
“It’s been proven to boost graduation rates by 30% so it’s important for us to help the underserved families in our community.”
King Country Basic Law Enforcement Academy Class 836 set up a GoFundMe page with an initial goal of $7,500. The class is set to graduate on June 30 and hope to boost their local teachers before they return to their agencies. Officer Manns said this fundraiser is simply an extension of the candidates' mission to serve and protect.
“We want to make sure these kids have the same opportunities we were given and any little way we can help means so much to us.”