Food and Massage Coupons: How Principals Signal Their Appreciation for Teachers - Education Week

[Olina Banerji]

What’s the perfect way to celebrate the hard work and dedication of teachers?

It’s a question that can stump school leaders, especially around the time that Teacher Appreciation Week rolls around. (This year, the week is May 5 to 9, with Teacher Appreciation Day falling on May 6.)

Principals aim to create experiences that both celebrate and reward teachers, but it’s not easy to come up with innovative ideas every year. Most principals fall back on fan favorites: a combination of free food, massage coupons, and hand-written thank you notes from students.

Some principals like to do something extra. Every year, Nysheria Sims, the assistant principal at Henry C. Beck Middle School in Cherry Hill, N.J., comes up with a new theme with her parent-teacher association and student council. The planning starts in February, and teachers are given an itinerary for the week’s events ahead of time.

This year’s theme is “Nurturing Minds, Growing Futures” to align with the school’s sustainability goals and garden, Sims said. During the week, teachers attend lunches and are given small gifts and care packages.

David Jacobs, the incoming principal at the Mainland High Regional School in the Cherry Hill district, has planned for students to give shout-outs to their teachers during the morning announcements this week, accompanied by gift cards sponsored by a local business.

Ann-Marie Gleason, the principal of Harpeth Valley Elementary School in Nashville, said her school takes the opportunity to thank its whole staff, not just the certified teachers.

“All of our staff is working toward the same goal of providing a positive, supportive school experience for our students,” she said. “We want everyone on our staff to know that we see their hard work and dedication, and that it is appreciated.”

Her school’s parent-teacher association sends out a survey to teachers every year to learn which “appreciation activities” they prefer, Gleason said. Staff’s favorite picks include stocking the teachers’ lounge with snacks and notes of encouragement, free breakfast and lunch on professional development days, and lots of school swag.

Another popular idea principals are using this year is “room service,” or rolling around a coffee cart with donuts to individual teachers in their classrooms.

Mike Martin, the principal of Buckeye Central High School in New Washington, Ohio, has relied on lunches from Panera Bread and massage coupons. Martin said he spends close to $400 out of his own pocket and called it a “worthwhile investment in teacher morale and culture.”

Martin isn’t the only school leader using their own money to brighten teachers’ days. Education Week’s weekly newsletter The Savvy Principal polled school leaders on whether they spend their own money on morale-boosting activities for teachers—60 percent said yes. In an era of slimming school budgets, and more tasks being piled on teachers’ plates, the investment feels necessary to principals to celebrate teachers.

Principals also partner with their parent-teacher associations to fund activities and gifts during Teacher Appreciation Week. Student groups are involved, too—they can invite local businesses to sponsor a lunch or a food truck for teachers.

Martin said his whole district gets into the spirit, and schools coordinate reaching out to local vendors to provide catered lunches for teachers.

“It truly becomes a community-wide effort, and that involvement makes the week feel even more special,” Martin said.

What teachers think about Teacher Appreciation Week​

Teacher morale and job satisfaction are intrinsically linked with indicators like how supported they feel by their school’s administration. Teacher morale dropped precipitously after the pandemic, as educators struggled to teach students who had lost out on key academic and social skills. Those effects still linger, even though, on the whole, teacher morale is trending up across the nation.

For Lance Barasch, a math teacher from Plano, Texas, a catered lunch during Teacher Appreciation Week is a great perk. “My lunch is usually 20 minutes and a granola bar,” he said.

Barasch is also happy about the discount coupons for Potbelly sandwiches and thank you notes he’s received. But to feel truly appreciated, he’s clear teachers need more systemic change—better pay, more mentorship, and more resources to teach his students.

Barasch is concerned the recent private school choice bill passed by Texas lawmakers will divert money from public school classrooms—everything from calculators for students to yearly professional development for teachers could become financial strains on public schools, he fears.

Despite his larger concerns, Barasch has been able to zoom into what he’s grateful for: a principal who’s an instructional mentor to him and a supportive PTA. The school hosted a community lunch for teachers, and Barasch said he enjoyed the “sense of camaraderie.”

Other teachers, like Ronak Shah from Indianapolis, take it upon themselves to plan a celebration. Three years ago, at his previous school, Shah, a middle school STEM teacher, organized his own appreciation week when he learned that administrators had made no plans.

Shah bought a game show kit online and invited both teachers and students to pick out activities from it. Some recorded themselves doing a funny dance, while others sang in the style of the reality TV competition “The Masked Singer.” Another activity involved writing notes to teachers.

The game was a great way for teachers and students to foster close bonds, Shah said. The principal joined in, too, picking one activity to do each day.

Shah doesn’t blame his administrators for not planning for the week or planning last minute. Teacher Appreciation Week can sneak up on principals, especially when it comes right around state-mandated testing periods and other obligations toward the end of the school year, Shah said.

“I think administrators want to be tuned into what teachers want, but it depends on how much capacity they have to do that,” said Shah. “Sometimes they’ll get paralyzed by the decision of what to do, and they’ll just buy lunch.”