Local Teacher Gets a Big Surprise

Brenda Jones thought Tuesday was going to be pretty much like any other day at . After spending 30 years at the school, Jones pretty much knew what to expect day to day. But this morning was different.

A student hurried down the hall to get Ms. Jones so she wouldn't be late to help Ms. Bragg with a special literacy lesson at 10am. Just as Ms. Jones was getting settled into the classroom, she sees some people and commotion outside the door. "I knew Mrs. Johnson (the school's principal) was coming in to do an evaluation of my teaching," said Jones thinking that was all that was going to happen that morning.

Principal Lisa Johnson came into the room escorted by a Doug Holan, Store Manager of the OfficeMax near the Mall of Georgia. 

"Did you know that teachers today have super high expectations that they have to give to you guys and then very limited resources that they have?" Holan asked to Ms. Bragg's class. He then explained how teachers spend an average of one thousand dollars of their own salary on supplies needed for their classrooms. 

He then presented the overjoyed teacher with a certificate of recognition.

But that was not the end of Ms. Jones' surprise. 

On Holan's command, in came a small parade of people carrying a bouquet of flowers, hauling a whiteboard, pushing a new desk chair and pulling a very large orange box on a dolly. 

Inside the box was one thousand dollars worth of school supplies for Ms. Jones. Everything from Post-It Notes to a pencil sharpener to notebooks. The nearly waist-high box also contained a digital camera and a printer for Ms. Jones to use in the classroom. 

The school also received their own box from OfficeMax, filled with two-thousand dollars worth of school supplies.

Ms. Jones was just one of seven teachers in Gwinnett County to be a recipient of the "A Day Made Better" grant. For the fifth year in a row, OfficeMax surprised 1,000 teachers nationwide all at the same time. In all, one million dollars worth of school supplies were donated to deserving teachers and schools this year. 

Principal Johnson said there was no one more deserving of the honor than Ms. Jones. Not only is Jones the , but she is also one of the . "She has turned our literacy program around with her coaching," said Johnson of Jones. "She goes into the classrooms and works with all of our teachers to improve literacy, works with students... She's just a phenomenal educator!"