Oklahoma teachers sell fireworks for school supply funds

RIPLEY, Okla. (KOKH) — Teachers from a small-town school near Stillwater are at work during what should be summer break, all to raise money for classroom supplies.

The teachers are putting in long hours selling fireworks. Ripley is a primarily low-income area and a lot of kids don't have money for school supplies.

Teachers said they've gone door to door in their community for years, and just couldn’t make enough. Now that they've started selling firecrackers, their sales are exploding right along with them.

"We've sold lots of things before this, and really it just wasn’t enough," Lisa Pritts, the elementary school principal said.

She added, the amount they make here at Jakes Fireworks varies year to year. In the past, teachers have taken money out of their own pockets to buy the students what they need. Their firework sales are enough to cover the cost of classroom supplies, and then some.

"This enables them to buy larger technology, larger programs for the classroom, really things that we wouldn’t get otherwise," Pitts said.

The teachers run the stand from 8:00 a.m. until midnight, leading up to the Fourth of July holiday.

"Every bit of this will go straight to our classrooms, so we hope you have a wonderful fourth," one teacher told a customer.

The extra money is much needed, according to former students who say an update for the technology is long overdue.

"With the budget cuts and everything like that our school's really suffering,” former student Mason Pitts said. “We've cut corners."

This is the school's 11th year to sell fireworks but teachers say this year was highly anticipated, as it was their first time in an air-conditioned building.

"This is a blessing,” Pitts said.