TUCSON, Ariz. — It’s an entire warehouse filled with safety supplies. They’re not for the students — that need is more than Pima County could handle.
The thousands of items will be used by staff.
Boxes stacked up labeled with items that help stop the spread of COVID-19. Items, like masks and gloves, are going to Pima County districts and a few charter and private schools.
The Pima County Superintendent’s Office searched relentlessly for the supplies over the past few months.
Superintendent Dustin Williams said, "It call came together. We got to see it in the warehouse. The thousands of masks, gloves and everything put together. And schools can start to pick up their shipments. It's a nice win for Pima County."
The supplies have been divvied up based on school staffing levels.
Every employee at every school will be provided a mask.
Flowing Wells has 620 employees, so the district will get 6,200 gloves, 155 hand sanitizer bottles, and 340 faces shields.
TUSD employs 7,700 people, so they’ll receive 77,000 gloves, more than 19-hundred hand sanitizer bottles, and about 15-hundred face shields.
"The smaller percentage of face shields which is kind of the open shield where you can see the face, and schools have a certain group of teachers that will need to use those," said Williams.
The money for the supplies came from the Pima County Emergency Operations Center through the Cares Act Fund.
Cavazos: Is this the only round or could there be more down the road?
Williams: That’s a great question. Obviously we’d love to supply as much as we can and ongoing, but unfortunately, this is going to be the first and only major round.
Williams said they may continue on a case-by-case basis. Districts and schools have also bought PPE items using federal aid. "They’re already started. This is going to be a nice good lump sum to help them get through this first semester,"
And hopefully, he said, the rest of the school year.
