Chicago middle school tosses thousands of dollars in supplies

A Chicago middle school has allegedly discarded thousands of dollars in school supplies, some of them unused, even as the district grapples with budget cuts.

WFLD-TV in Chicago reports that Northwest Middle School tossed books, chalk, glue and reams of paper, among other items, into a trash bin.

Principal Marilyn Strojny says the school was “conducting inventory.” She says she tried to get another area school to take the supplies, but no one accepted them.

She said she didn’t know if there was a way to return the supplies to Chicago Public Schools’ central office so they could be redistributed.

In a statement, CPS said it found the station’s account of the situation “very troubling.”

The district encouraged anyone with school supplies to donate them to its back-to-school hotline.