"This is so exciting!," one teacher yelled from the crowd. "This is like Christmas!" Watch video
TRENTON -- Teachers from Grant Elementary School filled a meeting room in a school board building across the street on North Clinton Avenue just after classes were dismissed Tuesday.
They didn't know why they were summoned.
"We know that teachers spend a lot of money out of their own pockets to help make the school year successful," Anne Laughlin, an Amazon spokeswoman, told the teachers.
"We're here to help shoulder some of that financial burden that teachers face -- to make sure that you and all of your students have the resources needed to create, invent and to imagine to your fullest potential," Laughlin said.
Then with the lift of a curtain, Laughlin unveiled $10,000 worth of supplies -- markers, tablets, robotics, electronics and more -- for the teaching staff.
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The ruse started with a small reveal of just a few hundred dollars worth of supplies, but then a huge curtain was dropped to reveal the whole payload.
After a moment of disbelief, teachers jumped to their feet with applause.
"Wow! I can't even put into words what this means." Principal Alfonso Llano said. "There are a lot of things we couldn't buy through our budget."
"Every teacher who has a homeroom will have these supplies," Llano said.
Interim Superintendent Lucy Feria explained how Grant Elementary was chosen.
"The entire district really is high poverty," Feria said. Based off test scores, ten of the district's 20 schools have the greatest need for supplies, she explained.
"How do we select the one that gets it?" Feria said. "We put the ten names in a hat."
"Grant won the lottery," she said.
"This is so exciting!," one teacher yelled from the crowd. "This is like Christmas!"
Greg Wright may be reached at gwright@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregTheWright. Find NJ.com on Facebook.