When Jamie Osbirn and Robin Haire went through CREATE’s Jim Ingram Community Leadership Institute in 2012, Tupelo’s public schools seemed to be in a doldrums.
The Tupelo Public School District has long been a source of pride for the city and the region, but public perception of the Tupelo Public School District has been shaky. That’s why they wanted their personal project to help change things.
Ingram’s leadership program tasks its students with defining a community problem and developing a solution in their first year, and then implementing that solution in their second year. Thus, the TPSD vanity license plate program was born.
“A few years earlier, a high school student had presented a senior project showcasing ideas for a vanity label and subsequent funding, but had been unable to get it off the ground,” Osbirn said. “We were told about that and we thought it was a great idea, so we took it from there.”
Today, anyone registering a new license plate or renewing an old license plate in Mississippi can opt for a Tupelo Public School District vanity tag. Of the additional fees charged, $24 will go to the CREATE-managed GIFT Foundation, created and founded by Osbirn and Haire. Every dollar of that fund goes directly to pay the district’s teachers. Neither CREATE nor anyone else deducts a cent from that figure for any reason.
As a result, the GIFT Foundation, which stands for Getting Involved For Teachers, has distributed thousands of dollars directly to teachers each year for the past several years. Currently, $2,000 is awarded to a TPSD teacher with one to five years of experience, $2,000 is awarded to a teacher with six to ten years of experience, $2,000 is awarded to a teacher with more than ten years of experience and $1,000 is awarded to someone working in a non-teaching role.
“This year we had the most applications we’ve ever had,” Osbirn said, noting that more than 70 members of the TPSD team applied for the award. To qualify, recipients must first have a TPSD car tag. They then submit an application, together with advice from a manager, which goes through an accredited panel.
“Their application is first and foremost about community spirit and community involvement,” Haire said. “It’s about what makes TPSD special for them.”
Shortly before Christmas, Osbirn and Haire hand out the checks.
“It’s cool to see the recipients receive it,” Osbirn said. “It happens so often that the timing of the prize is perfect. It is awarded before Christmas and the recipients do not know they are receiving it. We like to surprise them with it at school, at the office or in the classroom, a kind of Publishers’ Clearing House. It’s a lot of fun.”
“This is the 10th year of giving,” Haire said, noting that the program has given out nearly $100,000 to date.
There are no restrictions on how the teachers use the money. It’s meant to be a real reward. They can use it for a holiday for themselves or for anything else they want.
“This wouldn’t be possible without the public’s support for the TPSD vanity tags,” Haire said. “We currently have approximately 420 active tags.”
“The goal,” Osbirn said, “is to have a thousand tags active so we can give $25,000 a year back to the teachers.”
The two are excited about the continued potential for the awards.
“When someone sees the TPSD car tag in traffic, we want people to understand that it is much more than just a vanity tag,” Haire said.
“There are a lot of things involved in this process that go way beyond a simple tag,” Osbirn said. “It means much more. In fact, many people with the car tag may not know what the money is for. We want everyone to know that the money goes directly back to paying our teachers and staff. It is a reward for people who deserve something special for everything they do.”
The tag and subsequent funds are intended to be used as a recruitment and retention tool for the district. The base salary for TPSD teachers is generally higher than that in surrounding districts, and the intent of the tag program is to increase that further.
“The schools make the community,” Osbirn said. “Tupelo schools are one of the community’s greatest success stories. We are fortunate that we have the quality of education and the quality of teachers everywhere here. This is evident from everything that schools and their students do. You see it when the community comes out for a homecoming parade or other occasion. It is the heart of the Tupelo Spirit.”
“If it weren’t for Dr. Picou and his leadership, who gave people the belief that they were doing the right thing, there would be little motivation for people to put the TPSD tags on their cars,” Haire said. “Knowing they can count on his support, the district’s teachers work incredibly hard. They want to support the energy he brings, and that is reflected in everything the school district does.”
“Tupelo is doing the best he can,” Osbirn said. “It’s a great little city.”
