Michele Miller, School Principal, Sells Shoe Collection To Save Teacher Jobs

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Worried about possible layoffs, school principal Michele Miller spotted a potential solution in her own home.

The principal of Jackson Elementary in El Dorado Hills, a suburb east of Sacramento, decided to part with most of a shoe collection gathered over the past 15 years.

She is selling 285 pairs – which fill a room in her apartment – to help close a district budget gap of up to $2.2 million. She's asking for a donation of $1,000 a pair to help save the jobs of 17 teachers, three vice principals, library technicians and others.

Miller felt the urge to act after leaving a late-night school board meeting March 8, when she learned the district faces a budget deficit of no less than $1.4 million, and possibly much higher.

"I came out of that meeting in a state of shock," Miller told The Associated Press. "I kept thinking, 'What do I have that I can sell?'"

She stayed up until 1 a.m. working out logistics to sell most of her 350 pairs of shoes.

Array

The site also contains two videos in which Miller appeals to viewers to "adopt" her shoes.

"They're my art form, but they're functional art," she told the AP.

Miller described her shoes to The Sacramento Bee as gently used and relatively inexpensive.

"They're not Jimmy Choos or Prada or Gucci or something like that," she said.

Miller said she has not received any orders for her shoes yet but is taking donations from those who want to help but don't need additional footwear.

The website accepts tax-deductible donations through PayPal, which funnels the money to a district account set up for the eight-week fundraiser. Any money collected is designated specifically to help preserve at-risk jobs in the Rescue Union School District.

Miller said she will pay for shipping herself, but might ask a local mail center to pitch in if orders take off.

Comments

[Katniss]

06:31 PM on 03/30/2011

I think this is a wonderful story. If more people had a bit of this spirit, the country would be much better off. many of our problems can be traced to the fact that few people are willing to sacrifice anything, not even convenience, and are only out for themselves.

The people who are ragging on this principal for owning this many shoes are pathetic. In most districts, principals get paid well because they have a high level of education (often PhDs or multiple master's degrees) and a lot of responsibilities. It's an executive-type position. She probably makes around $80,000. So she buys herself two new pairs of shoes a month, who cares? It's her money to spend the way she wants. And she's willing to sell off a collection she's amassed over years, that she's probably proud of and enjoys a lot, in order to help kids. Are you even willing to buy a $2 brownie at a bake sale to help schools in your area?

[SupportPublicEd]

01:59 PM on 03/30/2011

What a good "sole". She is doing what she can to "pump" up her school's budget, a real "shoe-in" for administrator of the year. Unfortunately, schools are being "tread" on by politicians and budget cuts have "laced" school programs to a point that efforts like these make little difference. And, to "boot", if the governor's budget does not pass in California, things will get worse... There is no "glass slipper" out there.

[WeCanDoMore]

03:45 PM on 03/29/2011

Congrats to t his school official for her compassion, and for setting a great example. We all need to sacrifice for our future, our children, since the ultra rich bankers ... who caused the problem won't.

[msc13]

09:26 AM on 03/28/2011

The fact that somebody on the school board, has enough money to buy an excess of shoes pretty much shows that the Unions coddle these people, and now the American people woke up and decided they aren't going to take it. I would love to see what car she drives thanks to the tax payers.

[cmr86]

04:03 PM on 03/29/2011

The fact that you criticize someone for what they spend their salary on is far more telling.

[cmr86]

04:03 PM on 03/29/2011

Also...school board members typically are not union members.

[phoebequeen]

09:46 PM on 03/27/2011

What a decent thing to do. Good luck.

[jaborine]

02:46 PM on 03/27/2011

This hatred of teachers being expressed in some quarters is astonishing. Teachers who go into the profession­ largely to make a positive contribution to society have become enemies of some political camps.

Now the teachers and unions are being attacked daily. Who next? Most would not
dare to argue against police and firemen this way. Not yet. The signal has not gone out to do so.

Those responsibl­e for unleashing this hate may not need public school teachers, but they still
live in a society with those who do. Unless they have a mansion on an island or with a mote and
fortified walls they will have to interact with others.

Children are the first victims of hostility against their teachers. Children are not responsibl­e for unions nor the failures of adults. Teachers are operating in place of parents (in loco parentis).
It is a legal obligation that comes with the job, and makes teachers do things like feed and clothe the needy out of their own pockets, and investigat­e child abuse-anyt­hing to protect children. If they fail to do so they can lose their jobs.

It is disgusting that teachers are receiving the brunt of the punches being thrown against the unions.

Once again it is the poor and weak that are being pushed to the wall.

[latoussaint]

12:02 AM on 04/05/2011

Thank you.

[Red Russet]

04:36 PM on 03/26/2011

There ya go! The school system in this country is so out of whack - teachers get paid enough to amass a shoe wardrobe that rivals that of Imelda Marcos, and she only ran a small country!!

[cef911f1]

06:00 PM on 03/26/2011

Hmmm. 15 years. 285 pairs. That's 19 pair/year. OK, that's maybe more than I buy. But I'm an old married guy.

"Miller described her shoes to The Sacramento Bee as gently used and relatively inexpensive."

Just looking a the "new arrivals" on the DSW website, those ladies' shoes look to average about $50/pr. So she spent a whopping $950/year on shoes. I don't think that rivals Mrs. Marcos and you haven't a clue what your talking about.

[jaborine]

04:14 AM on 03/27/2011

She probably has two or three jobs or who is to say she is not independently wealthy or received most of the shoes as gifts from family and friends who know of her collection.

It is not nice to jump to conclusions. Some teachers can may their own shoes and clothing.

Talk about a rush to bash. Do acknowledge the fact that a large percentage of teachers' salaries
go to feeding hungry students who come to school without lunch and supplies.


Some districts are so poor that teachers have to buy tissue in the winter if they want kids to wipe their noses. This case made the news but the cases of teachers feeding breakfast each money
so students will pay attention in class did not.

I saw no one like you when I extracted the students from beneath the building where they were sleeping because they were hungry or abused. It must be nice where you grew up. Students who grow up on the streets without food may one day crash your door in search of some.
Teachers are a buffer for society that you will never understand.

[jaborine]

04:16 AM on 03/27/2011

oops, make their own

[latoussaint]

12:29 AM on 04/05/2011

I resigned from teaching to be an stay-home mom, but everything you wrote regarding teachers in poor districts w/o parent support is true. While working in a poor school, I spent over a quarter of my salary on my students and gosh, that isn't even counting the meals I fed them on a daily basis. I bought every one of my students a birthday cake because many of their families couldn't afford one or didn't care to budget for one. I rarely took lunch or breaks because I was helping the kids with their work or teaching a chess or yoga club or the like. I worked 65-80 hours a week and got paid for 34, I didn't care though, because I loved my job. My boyfriend at the time, who owned a law firm told me that I worked at least twice as much as him and why did I want a job that paid so little for so much work. Many of my kids called me "mom", even though I would discourage it, and I know other teachers whose students called them the same. We were indeed acting as mothers though...

[Lordstrom]

02:13 PM on 03/25/2011

How about the other teachers give up some of their excess so no one has to be laid off?

[LContheweb]

03:57 PM on 03/25/2011

To what kind of excess are you referring?

[fridakahlofan]

04:56 PM on 03/25/2011

Oh you know, those thousands of teachers making over $100,000 a year per Republicans.
Teachers are so wealthy they should make up for all of the deficit, wink, wink.
Don't even answer his preposterous posts, he's a paid troll.

[independent joe]

04:05 PM on 03/25/2011

Yes, why aren't the teachers selling shoes part-time if their worried about tgeir JOBS..

[thunder puck]

01:45 PM on 03/25/2011

I'd sell every pair of shoes I ever owned for a thousand dollars a pair. No, just $1000.

[whowhatwhywherewhen]

01:10 PM on 03/25/2011

Hopefully, they are not the shoes shown in the picture....they are not very attractive.

[ifk]

08:27 PM on 04/06/2011

LOL. And they look like duplicates!

[pattio66]

01:08 PM on 03/25/2011

What size? That's pertinent info for anyone wanting to purchase shoes/help save schools.

[kkehoe5]

12:41 PM on 03/25/2011

If you feel so bad about the teachers getting laid off, then next time your mayor is up for election don't vote for the one who says he wont raise taxes. Instead vote for the guy who promises to raise taxes in order to pay for the salaries of the teachers and services you rely on. It is a revenue problem, too much spending and not enough money to pay for it.

[fozzi58]

12:46 PM on 03/25/2011

I have a better idea, I will vote for the guy who is willing to cut the salaries of those making the most money - like Police chief and school superintendent, and mayor.

No one ever wants to do that. Why? Why attack those making the least amount of money instead of the most? Didn't the federal government do that when Wall Street messed up the economy?

...oh wait....

[pa30]

12:37 PM on 03/25/2011

And what's going to happen next month.

[intolleft]

12:26 PM on 03/25/2011

Does anyone else see the irony here?

[DungBeetle]

12:13 PM on 03/25/2011

Another female shopping addict.

19 pairs of shoes a year?

Incredible.

[LContheweb]

03:55 PM on 03/25/2011

"relatively inexpensive and gently used."
I see no problem with people consuming within their budget.

And what's incredible is how you managed to ignore the larger implications of what she's doing/the context in which she is acting.