Currently the MHS faculty is facing what is a nightmare scenario for many teachers: a shortage of toner, a material required for printing copies. According to Lauren Leone, the District’s purchasing agent, “the toner shortage is not dissimilar to what is going on with many materials, supplies and equipment that are produced overseas.” She explains how “[overseas] ports are simply overwhelmed with containers. Between owners not claiming or taking much longer to claim their containers and a steady stream of incoming ships packed with new containers, there is simply no more room and it is becoming increasingly more difficult to manage.”
Another source of the issue for teachers stems from the District copier fleet itself, which was set to be upgraded and replaced with new equipment this past August. However, according to Leone, “due to the back up at the ports on the West Coast, only approximately half of the copiers have been replaced with new equipment to date.” The remaining half of the fleet is set to be delivered and installed in early November, three months after the original date.
Teachers are certainly feeling the effect of limited printing, with some reporting having to get into the building over an hour in advance of first period in order to make copies. Therese Valdez, the AP BC Calculus teacher, commented how “math is all paper and pencil. [The shortage] is inconvenient right now but if it continues, it will severely impact how I teach.” Other teachers, like AP Bio teacher Carmen Yonkler echoed similar sentiments, an expressed worry for future testing.
Leone cannot promise a resolution to the shortage anytime soon, but says that “our copier vendor is working every day to source the toner elsewhere or find a domestically manufactured version.”