By Kara Lopp
The Charlotte Weekly
June 12-18, 2009 Issue
Attention, south Charlotte students: If you've lost something - anything - chances are it's at school.
From sweatshirts and swimsuits to reading glasses and retainers, local students misplaced their fair share of items this school year. With summer here, school staffers are cleaning out their lost-and-found collections, and among the mundane finds such as textbooks and clothes are some real gems.
If most items aren't claimed within a certain time period, schools donate them to area nonprofits. (Expensive items such as cell phones, iPods, jewelry, watches and prescription glasses are common - and locked up until they're claimed or donated.)
At Providence Day School, one student is boogie board-less. The Sardis Road school, which also has an abundance of unclaimed clothing, donates unclaimed items to Charlotte's Crisis Assistance Ministry.
At Charlotte Latin, a lower school student lost a small fortune this year: A blue envelope containing 26 pennies ended up in the lost-and-found bin. THe pocket change joins Snoopy stickers, a well-loved baseball, three watches, a plastic dinosaur, two mismatched doll shoes, Legos and a Hannah Montana trading card in the Providence Road school's lost and found.
Latin's middle-schoolers left behind deodorant, cleats, flip-flops, a baseball glove and a right tennis shoe. The high school's lost-and-found items already have been donated to Crisis Assistance Ministry and Goodwill Industries, school spokeswoman Karla Jennings said.
At Covenant Day School, 800 Fullwood Rood in Matthews, staffers found a trumpet in its case on top of a vending machine, and items ranging from wrapping paper to lunch boxes--their contents included--were left in lockers this year, school spokeswoman Dottie Bedell said.
Providence High School is the site of Elevation Church's Sunday services, so many Bibles find their way to the school office. The Pineville-Matthews Road school empties its lost-and-found cabinet about once a month and donates items to Crisis Assistance Ministry or Goodwill.
Student planners are the most common lost items at Providence High, school secretary Sue Reda said. Officials also find plenty of bathing suits and the occasional retainer.
"There's nothing we don't find," Reda said.
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