BP gives money to help Willow elementary principal and teachers

Michael Rovito/Frontiersman

The oil giant BP is providing a $500 gift certificate to Willow Elementary School principal Alberta Nordberg and each teacher to replace personal items destroyed in the April 12 vandalism of the school.

The gift comes at the tail end of clean up efforts that have been on-going since two area teens allegedly vandalized the school destroying nearly everything inside.

Following news of the gift, the mood at Willow elementary was that of delight.

“They're very pleased and just gratified that the community would continue to support the school and its efforts to bring wholeness to the school,” said Mat-Su Borough School District spokeswoman Catherine Esary.

The idea for BP to help came from a phone call to Willow the first week after the vandalism. On the line was Tammy Anderson, a BP community relations employee, asking Nordberg to poll the teachers on what they lost.

“She wanted to cover things not covered by insurance,” Nordberg said.

A few days later, Anderson called again to offer a surprise of $500 per teacher.

Nordberg said she was literally speechless.

“It just blew me away I'll tell you,” Nordberg said.

The money will go toward replacing personal items teachers lost during the vandalism, some of those items destroyed beyond repair.

For Nordberg, that means buying a new boombox and cabinet she lost, and maybe purchasing some beginning of the year incentives for her teaching staff.

District officials were expected to have an official tally of just how much the damage will cost Willow elementary today, but Nordberg said she requested more time because some estimates aren't yet ready.

That tally, however, is being overshadowed, at least for now, by today's news.

“That was just awesome of them (BP) to do that,” Nordberg said.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Michael Rovito at 352-2252 or michael.rovito@frontiersman.com.