Knox County Schools kicks off coupon book campaign
Farragut schools are among the Knox County Schools that are participating in the 28th Annual Original Knox County Schools’ Coupon Book campaign.
The campaign kicks off with a ceremony 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, at Bonny Kate Elementary School, 7608 Martin Mill Pike, in South Knoxville. The sales will continue through Tuesday, Sept. 27.
Last year, revenue from coupon book sales was almost $1.4 million, Jeannie Dulaney, Knox County Schools Community Relations director, said.
“We would love to reach $1.5 million this year,” she said.
Last year’s district-wide top-selling students were Farragut Middle School students Colette Quist and Kailey Bostick.
Weston Edmonds, FMS principal, said his school’s sales goal this year is 4,000 books. He said he wanted to keep the goal attainable.
“We sold 4,700 books last year, which was incredible,” Edmonds said. “Part of that came from Colette and Kailey, who together sold more than $1,000.”
FMS’s portion of the sales this year would go toward technology for students and to maintain the school’s existing technology, Edmonds said.
To motivate students to sell, he said his school provides a lot of incentives, such as special lunches, when food is brought in from local food establishments for students who sell a certain amount of books; daily raffles; water gun fights; pizza parties and gift cards.
“Last year, I provided a signed Butch Jones football, two tickets and a parking pass for a The Un-iversity of Tennessee football game,” Edmonds said.
Farragut Intermediate School principal Reggie Mosley said his school’s coupon book sales goal this year is 5,500 books.
He plans to use his school’s portion of the sales for technology, such as ChromeBooks, for the classroom, technology accessor-ies, online subscriptions and student reading publications, such as Story Works in social studies and science.
Howie Sentell, a sixth-grader, was FIS’s top selling student last year, having sold 215 books. Peter Clower, who sold 186 books last year, was the second-place winner at FIS but he was sixth in the country, Mosley said.
Sales from the books provide funds to meet school needs identified by parents, teachers and school administrators, Abbey Har-ris, KCS public affairs specialist, said. Since it started in 1989, more than 3.6 million coupon books have been sold, raising more than $31.6 million for Knox County students.
The coupon books will have 31 new merchants participating in the program, Dulaney said. Sales benefit every student in the school system and are available for sale individually from students and school staff and at schools.
“A few selected merchants continue to sell the books throughout the rest of the year, or a person can contact Knox County Schools to obtain a book,” she said.
Each book costs $10, which has been the cost since the coupon book program began, Dulaney said. Of the $10 price, $8 stays at the school where the coupon books are sold, 70 cents is redistributed to schools with greater economic need, 13 cents goes to pay for e-book subscriptions for school libraries and the rest, about $1, goes for printing, administrative and incentive expenses.
For more information about the coupon books, visit online at knoxschools.org.
