School supplies thrown in dumpsters at Fuentes Elementary in Avondale
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CHICAGO (WBBM) — Thousands of dollars of new and unused school supplies – including books, beakers, and maps – were thrown in the trash outside an elementary school in Avondale ahead of the new school year.
Now neighbors want to know why this happened as others try to salvage what they can.
It might be that one man’s trash is another’s treasure, but some are questioning why these items are in the trash at all.
“What you don’t see is there’s really good stuff on the bottom too,” Ashley Di Bella said.
Hundreds of items – likely worth thousands of dollars – were salvaged from the dumpsters outside Carlos Fuentes Elementary School in Avondale, on the city’s Northwest Side; some still brand new in packaging.
“I called some of my other daycare colleagues and was, like, ‘Child, come on up out here. They got stuff for third graders, they got stuff for first graders, they got stuff for kindergarteners,'” Parish Banks said.
Banks drove 30 minutes to Fuentes Elementary to get supplies to open a new daycare in Greater Grand Crossing.
“Worth it. Look, I’m still digging,” Banks said.
People in Avondale were especially concerned that the items thrown in the dumpsters outside Fuentes Elementary could have been reused, because many are brand new, and come in multiples, including textbooks in sets by the dozen.
“My understanding, based on what I talked with them this morning, there still will be stuff thrown out. How much I’m not sure,” Di Bella said.
Fuentes Elementary is one of five former charter schools run by Acero that were set to be closed at the end of the 2025-26 school year, but instead are being taken over by the Chicago Public Schools.
A CPS spokesperson said the district “is dedicated to being a responsible steward of public resources and supporting our schools, families and neighborhood communities.”
“As Carlos Fuentes Elementary School prepares to become a District-managed school, District staff were charged this summer with clearing out legacy materials left behind by the former operator,” a CPS spokesperson said. “CPS expects all transition teams to prioritize donation and recycling whenever possible. It appears that some of the disposed items at this school included textbooks that do not meet approved learning standards for CPS classrooms. We will continue to evaluate the disposal process at Fuentes Elementary and other schools to ensure usable supplies are redirected to community partners, families, or local organizations moving forward.”
It’s unclear if the same process is playing out at the four other former Acero schools being taken over by CPS.
But by Monday morning, not all that had been thrown out could be salvaged, because of this weekend’s severe weather.
“Almost everything is ruined, because of the rain, which is very unfortunate. So many books,” Jana Signer said.
Signer and her sister came by Fuentes Elementary to save as much as possible from the dumpsters, a mission that hits close to home after they were raised by their mother, a teacher who often paid her own money for supplies.
“It’s really unfortunate. It blows my mind that they would throw away usable stuff when there are kids that don’t have that kind of stuff,” she said.
They’re now hauling away what they can, hoping the supplies end up with students and not in the landfill.
Headlines have appeared previously about Chicago schools discarding books en masse, albeit for a different reason and not involving any new books.
In 2022, some were alarmed when hundreds of books were seen in dumpsters at Lake View High School, 4015 N. Ashland Ave. — including a copy each of August Wilson’s “Fences,” Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire,” and Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.” On that occasion, the principal of Lake View High said the disposal of the books was an example of weeding, which he said ensures the school removes materials in poor condition or containing inaccurate or dated information.
In 2024, two dumpsters full of paperbacks and textbooks were seen piled up outside Carl Schurz High School, at 3601 N. Milwaukee Ave. in the Irving Park neighborhood.
Various biology and chemistry textbooks and lab notebooks, a copy of Mawi Asgedom’s “Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard,” and multiple copies of Peter Mayle’s 1991 national bestseller “A Year in Provence” were among the books visible in a massive dumpster.
At that time, CBS News Chicago reached out to the Chicago Public Schools, which again said the disposal of the books is part of “the regular weeding process.” The books were old, outdated, and no longer needed, and thus were thrown away, CPS said.
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