School Furniture Blog

Summer is the busiest time of year for school and educational furniture makers.  They are working tireless hours to meet the demands of the nation’s return to the classroom.  Veteran school purchasers know to get their school furniture orders in early, to avoid empty classrooms on the first day of class.  However, newcomers still have hope when it comes to last minute furniture purchases.

Jonti-Craft is currently shipping out in 5 business days or sooner for almost their entire educational furniture line.  ”We know how stressful this time of year can be, especially when preparing for the upcoming school year.” Jonti-Craft understands that “ Making sure products are in place when school starts can be difficult to manage with long shipping times.” That’s why they are working hard to ship in 5 days or less.

While Jonti-Craft has a large focus on preschool and early childhood furniture products, they do carry general classroom furniture essentials such as activity tables, student stack chairs, bookcases and classroom storage units.  All of their products are GREENGUARD Children & Schools^SM indoor air quality certified as well as CPSIA approved, and nearly all of their products are made in the USA and come with a lifetime warranty.  So all you newcomers (and veterans too) contact your favorite school furniture supplier, Worthington Direct, for discount pricing on all Jonti-Craft items today!

Worthington Direct has a great article on their blog about the availability of additional colors for school furniture outside of the typical beige, navy and burgundy. School chairs can be found in almost any color, from Apple Green to Blueberry Blue and even Bubblegum Pink. This gives teachers and schools a wide variety of ergonomic options to fit the theme or mood of any classroom. Color choice has been shown to improve of affect mood, and can be a great passive tool for educators. In many cases, chairs are available in 15 colors, and sometimes as many as 29 standardized colors.

A producer of classroom furniture for schoolchildren, Artco-Bell Corp. of Temple, Texas, has transferred production of steel and polypropylene goods from foreign to domestic sources. Although that has meant an increase in unit costs, eliminating transoceanic shipping has reduced total expenses by as much as 20 percent, said Stephen Sykes, vice president of marketing.

Worthington Direct is a proud dealer of Artco-Bell school furniture products.  Visit http://www.worthingtondirect.com today for quality American Desk products such as Activity Tables, Teacher’s Desk, Stack Chairs, Combo Desks and Open Front Desks.

Over the past eight years, he said, the cost to ship a container from China increased from $2,200 to more than $7,000. “For a while, [the Chinese] were buying steel better than we could buy steel,” Mr. Sykes said. “But as the scales began to balance as far as what they were purchasing in raw and what we were purchasing in raw, then the freight became the issue. The great equalizer is the boat ride back over.”

Increased wages in China have produced a new middle class, Mr. Sykes said. If Chinese wage gains remain high, he said, his company’s shift to domestic production could become a long-term change.

“I don’t know how it’s going to slip the other way,” he said. U.S. labor costs are still higher than Chinese, but other factors help make U.S. production more tempting, said Mr. Kazazian. “You’re never going to have $2-an-hour labor” in the United States, he said. “But with quality, time, efficiency, you close the gap.” Mr. Sykes said he is happy that his company has reduced foreign outsourcing from 12 percent to less than 4 percent of total output in the past year and a half.

“Not only does it make it feasible, but it sure makes us feel a heck of a lot better to do business in the United States,” he said. Mr. Kazazian said domestic manufacturing helps his company keep customers satisfied while encouraging patriotic pride. “Given the opportunity, American workers are better than anyplace else,” he said. “The pride that they have when they come in and produce a product is something missing in a lot of other places. Because at the end of the day, there’s a lot of advantages to being made in the USA.” American Desk School Furniture

Worthington Direct has school furniture down to a science.  We have popluar science tables by Inwood, Allied and Diversified Woodcrafts that range in use for Earth science all the way to Chemistry classes.  Seat your science students on the perfect height Stools or Stack Chairs.  Call or Visit our website, www.WorthingtonDirect.com,  today to find great deals on all of your school and institutional furniture needs. 800-599-6636

In the sprawling complex of high-tech labs, researchers diligently tamper with DNA. Others apply precise computer programs to reconfigure the tiny, complicated strands. New Basha High science teacher Sharon New is spending her summer here, at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, so she can bring back to her classroom some of the most rigorous course work available for high school students.

For six weeks this summer, the Chandler Unified instructor became the first public school teacher to intern with Professor Hao Yan, sitting where her students will this fall – behind desks, lab tables and computers. "This is about bringing the cutting-edge research back to my classroom," New said. She has been learning about one of the fastest-growing scientific fields, nanotechnology, and how the microscopic particles can be applied to such fields as medicine.

New will offer her students a course called Introduction to Biotechnology, which the teens will be able to take for college credit through Chandler-Gilbert Community College. Biodesign Institute researchers offered New one of the first internships for educators this year. The institute’s high school student program has grown from 16 students last year to 24 this summer. "I’ve been working on DNA origami computer manipulations," said Alex Brown, 17, who will be a senior at Central High School in Phoenix. "The two DNA strands come together like a zipper."

The Biodesign Institute opened four years ago on ASU’s Tempe campus. The first two of four interconnected buildings, which will eventually have a total research space of 800,000 square feet, have been built. Professors strive to get students excited about science and help them develop the skills needed for science careers. "This place has equipment that my school does not have, so it has been great," said Brown who wants to become a science researcher. continue reading