JACKSONVILLE, Fla — The Duval County school community is taking matters into their own hands when it comes to COVID-19 safety at school.
They're coming up with safety solutions the district has not implemented and are turning to GoFundMe campaigns to get it done. Two have been successful within days.
In one campaign, a mother's GoFundMe has been able to buy air purifiers for 25 Duval County school teachers in a week and a half. Another GoFundMe run by a 12-year-old has raised more than $7,000 in less than a week for outdoor lunch tables.
The goal for the mother's campaign now is to make sure requests for air purifiers can continue to get filled.
"The response has actually been really overwhelming," said Valerie Boote, who created the fundraiser. "We've been getting more requests from teachers than we've been getting donations to be able to keep up with requests."
The requests for air purifiers, which Boote says cost around $350 each, are based on square footage of a classroom. Boote says they have around 45 teachers waiting for their requests to be filled and she's now concerned they may have to pause requests until they fundraise more money.
As of Tuesday morning they have more than $5,000.
"As soon as I saw what she was doing, I was really interested in helping because this was something that I wanted for my own child," said Brandie Middleton whose daughter is in the second grade. "These teachers are so very grateful for what we're doing. They feel like they're putting their fear aside every day when they walk into the classroom so to know that we as the parents have their back and we're looking out for them as well as our kids, it's an amazing feeling."
The air purifiers aren't meant to take the place of masks or social distancing, but the added safety measure means more parents and teachers are just a little more at ease.
"We've got teachers who have students that have health problems that aren't eligible for the vaccine," Boote said. "One just reached out the other day who has a girl in her class that has heart issues and she's at the very bottom of the list right now because she was one of the last ones to come in. So stuff like that, it's hard to hear because you want to help them all."
Donate to the GoFundMe here. If you're a teacher and want to request an air purifier, join the Facebook group here.
A second GoFundMe involving Duval County Public Schools is run by a seventh grader.
Lila Hartley is 12 years old and raising money for outdoor tables so that she and her peers can eat lunch outside. In less than a week she's raised more than $7,000 to get outdoor tables for Landon Middle School.
"I emailed my principal to see if we could sit outside for lunch," Hartley said. "She was very supportive and was encouraging, but we didn't have tables."
All summer Hartley talked to her parents about how she was worried about lunch time going back to school.
"I want to socialize," Hartley said. "I want to talk to people and I want to make more friends. But I also don't want to get my brother sick or get my friends sick."
Hartley is vaccinated, but her younger brother isn't and Hartley realized this lunch issue was something she could change. She emailed her principal then created a GoFundMe.
"We think we're close to hitting what we need for Landon," said Hartley's mother Andrea Myers about the fundraising. "But we've also already started having conversations about if we had leftover money, we know there's probably other schools in our district that wish they had tables for their students too."
They are thinking they need around $1,000 for each table and seven tables for Landon Middle School.
"I think we're just really proud parents," said Myers. "She started expressing some concerns and fears and hopes that this school year she can sit outside for lunch. And she's the one who reached out to her principal. She sent that first email and I thought that was a really brave thing to do."
It's not exactly a school subject, but the experience has taught Hartley a lot too.
"I've definitely learned a lot," she said. "And maybe I can be able to do more of this in the future."
First Coast News did not hear back from the Duval County Public Schools communications department asking about air purifiers or outdoor lunch tables.