Teacher Returns After Irma To Find Books Stolen From Classroom Shelter

After returning to work following Hurricane Irma, a Florida teacher found an empty bookshelf in her classroom.  

The classroom had served as a shelter for Hurricane Irma evacuees.

Martha Hereford-Cothron said her heart sank when she saw 80 books and a few board games were gone from her classroom at Highland Middle School in Dunedin. Some books were signed by her favorite authors.

She teaches sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders who test in the lower 25 percent of the school's readers and says it's enough of a challenge to get them interested in books.

She tried to spin the theft in a positive way to students. And she had a message to the book thief... 

"I hope they're reading them," she said, or passing them along to someone who will.

Dunedin is near Tampa on Florida's Gulf Coast.


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content