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Teachers and parents urge Gresham‑Barlow to revisit 1,000‑copy monthly limit, citing classroom harm
Summary
Multiple Gresham‑Barlow staff and parents told the school board the district’s 1,000‑copy per staff monthly limit is harming instruction—particularly for kindergarteners and high‑enrollment secondary classes—and asked the board to allow pooling, rollover, or repeal of the policy.
Dozens of parents and staff asked the Gresham‑Barlow School District board on Nov. 6 to rescind or change a district policy that limits each employee to 1,000 single‑sided copies per month.
"As a parent, I worry that because staff members only have a 1,000 copies a month to make copies that that's gonna affect my child's education," Crystal Slack, a parent and staff member at Gresham High School, said during the meeting’s public‑comment period. She urged the board to permit pooling or rollover of unused copies so teachers with larger classes are not left without materials.
Teachers amplified that point with classroom examples. "I teach 149 freshmen students," said Sopha Strange, a Gresham High physical‑science teacher, describing how diagnostic worksheets, labs and required college exam materials quickly exhaust a teacher’s monthly allotment. Strange said assignment design and accommodations for students with IEPs are being constrained by the cap and cited published research on how resource scarcity harms learning.
Chemistry teacher Cyrus Harshfield outlined the math: a single AP Chemistry test and associated labs can consume hundreds of copies in one week for a full class, leaving little or no balance for the rest of the month.
Board Chair Blake Peterson acknowledged the testimony and told attendees the board would ask district leadership to compile supplemental information and bring it back. "I'd ask the superintendent to take that and board communicate directly with the superintendent if you have a specific piece of information that you would like, and we'll try to get it onto a work session here soon," Peterson said.
Why it matters: Teachers argued the policy treats all staff the same regardless of class size or role, producing inequitable access to printed materials and placing pressure on instruction for early learners and students who require paper‑based accommodations. District staff did not announce a policy change at the meeting; instead, they agreed to gather data and discuss options at an upcoming work session.
What the district said: Superintendent Tracy Klinger and other staff signaled readiness to follow up with the board and provide data. No formal motion on the copy policy was made during the Nov. 6 meeting.
Next steps: Board members invited specific follow‑up requests to be sent to district staff and indicated the issue could be brought to a work session for a fuller review and possible policy recommendation.
