OK, I'm just a little bit disgusted/need to vent. I usually buy school supplies for my boys early in August when the selection is better (schools around here are very specific about color of duotangs, etc). Have a good friend who still hasn't started her shopping so I said "give me your list and I'll go do it for you". She passed me all three lists last night. On the list: Grade 2 - Package of 4 low odor dry erase markers (fine point) Grade 3 - Package of 4 low odor dry erase markers (fine point) Package of post it notes (100 sheets) NOT dollar store * Very specific style of binders... which can't be found in a common shopping store, you have to go to a specialty store and pay dearly for them. Why would a child in grade 2 or 3 need dry erase markers or post it notes (they were requested for grade 8 as well)? I pay enough for taxes that I'm NOT supplying the teacher with their supplies as well. I guess times have changed considerably since my boys were that young because we never used those items. Am I wrong to question this? Am I wrong to not supply the teacher with these? Makes me wish I were home schooling again...
Teachers around here require their supplies in addition to the child's supplies. So the dry erase markers are probably for the teacher. Our lists include things like 5-packs of Kleenex boxes (specific brand, size, box style), tape dispenser refills, dry erase markers, Lysol, etc, etc. These items are for "classroom use" and not for the child. These same students must pay dearly for forgetting their pencil or piece of paper by purchasing single sheets of paper or single pencils from the vending machines ($.05 for a sheet of paper and $.25 for a pencil). Our local teachers also collect all supplies, then redistribute them as needed: meaning the cool pencils you bought for your child are given to random children in your child's class.
I know I'd hate to have to fill 4 school supply lists around here. I picked one up just for the fun of it while I was at Office Max....... no wonder thier backs are breaking with super heavy back packs.
ahhhh....school supply lists. Socialism at it's finest. SMH!!!! I took a look at the lists they had - just out of curiousity...it does burn me how specific they are. I understand that they want certain things - but then to collect everything and redistribute it??? That's stinks.
I guess I don't understand why it is my responsibility to supply the teachers' needs as well (23 sets of dry erase markers for one year if all parents provided them... that's a bit much considering they use smart boards now). When I saw the post it notes on my youngest sons list (grade 8), it didn't really fizz me any. It was when I was passed the lists for grade 2 and 3 and saw dry erase markers that startled me. There is the option here to just give the elementary school $40 and let them buy the items needed but I discovered I could buy supplies for three boys much less than that so I only did that one year (and that was the year my husband was in his accident... I didn't have time to worry about school items).
Our teachers also don't really get a budget for supplies. If the parents don't send it, they don't have it.
The schools here absolutely ask for classroom supplies, that everyone uses. So soap, paper towels, kleenex, dry erase markers, a ream of printer paper per student, and then of course the obligatory crayons, markers etc...which are all collected and redistributed, and last but not least, $20 for classroom parties/activities etc per child! The redistribution thing makes sense in one way, I suppose, though...when I was in Elementary school in Suriname, I remember a clear divide in the classroom between the haves and have-nots. I was one of the haves, so didnt care much, but now I think back and imagine how it must have been for the kids whose parents couldnt afford to buy those cool suplies, and instead relied on asking others for what they needed...
Please don't blame the teachers! They spend SO MUCH of their own money on classroom supplies! It's not their fault the money isn't there for basic supplies! I guess you could always say that, if the parents were fed up enough, they would pass levies for more taxes to pay for those things!
I wouldn't mind supplying things like kleenex or baby wipes or other things that my child would be using in the classroom, but being specific about brand, size, or color? That's ridiculous!
In WA where we moved from they were super picky and had a list that was a mile long. Since I didn't have kids in ps I never had to buy the stuff but my friends and my SIL said it cost between $200-$400 for supplies for EACH kid in elementary school, and the cost was upwards of $600 for EACH kid in jr.high and high school. If the parents didn't buy everything on the list the child was always singled out by the teacher. Where we live now it is actually ILLEGAL for the teachers to ask for anything for elementary school. My kids didn't have to take anything to school because the teachers provide everythign for them. For jr high and high school they can ask for the students to bring their own supplies, but they can't ask for classroom supplies. It's kinda nice.
Two years ago (wow! it's been a long time!) when I had bought supplies for my friends children, there were a ton of things on the lists that were classroom supplies, which I bought because it really isn't the teacher's fault that they have no budget for these things, HOWEVER, I did not pay any attention to brand/type/size requests and I sent a note to the teacher explaining that while I understand her need to request classroom supplies that I was not going to supply the most expensive brands because just like everyone else I have a budget to stick to. I also was one of the "annoying parents" (though not technically their parent) that labeled every single supply that I bought for the children. Every Pencil, Pen, Crayon, Notebook, Folder, and Marker got a label! I refused to spend my hard earned money to buy nice quality supplies for these children only to have them taken and given to other children. My friends daughter chose all sorts of cute girly folders, we bought plain notebooks and then brought them to my house and we decorated them with stickers, scrapbooking papers, jewels, gems, and all sorts of cute decorations! No other child was going to want her notebooks. I feel for the school teachers I really do, but at the same time beggars can't be choosers, if they can't supply their classrooms then they can't expect parents to supply them with all the best brands, now certain things like crayons I only buy Crayola, but in many cases the cheaper brand is just as good as the national brand!
Amen! The schools I taught in, we were just happy to get ANY supplies from the parents. I would usually get supplies from about 50-75% of the kids and the rest came with NOTHING-no pencils, no crayons. So, yes, I did collect the supplies and use them for everyone. But, on my supply list, I always asked for yellow pencils and plain folders and notebooks. If the kids came in with special ones, I would usually just send them home to be used for "homework" supplies. Now, there are some things that I don't understand on the lists. My nephew had to have a large bottle of ketchup last year. I can't imagine why they would need 25 bottles of ketchup (actually 50-there was a morning class and an afternoon class). Also on his list, the boys brought a 4 pack of AA batteries and the girls brought another size (can't remember which right now).:?:
I do agree with this, but the biggest complaint I hear from my sister is that they have to supply so many packages of copy paper per student... just so the teachers can copy the work that needs to be done! I think that the teachers and parents are not getting the fair end of the deal. But on the other hand, my sister pays HIGH taxes each year, which most of it is school taxes... so my question would be where is all the money going?
We had to pay $300.00 for Emily to go to the school she is in now. We live out of the district so we will have to pay that every year. They do not charge any fees though and the supply list was about $6-$8. At the school our older kids attended a few years ago there were fees for almost every class. Sometimes just one of the boys would come in with a bill for $75.00 for that semesters classes. This was in high school. I never could figure out what all the money went to and then they would have fund raisers on top of the fees. I hated them going around asking people to buy stuff!
Oh, don't get me started on fund raisers!!! I don't mind the dollar candy bar. Kids come to sell them, and my whole family will each buy one (with their own money). But the big-item things that the schools want to sell...NO WAY!!! When my dss was at a Christian school, they once asked about, instead of fund raisers, they could charge each family a flat rate at the beginning of the year. They wanted people's reaction to that. I told them they already did that. It was called TUITION!!!
My niece and nephew brought over their fundraiser the other day and I ended up buying a $17 cheesecake! I think she expected me to buy something from both kids. No way! I kindly told her that I used to combine all the orders on one sheet until the end of the fundraiser and than I would divide it between the kids to make it easier. I wouldn't have bought anything, but she always bought a bunch of Girl Scout cookies from my girls.
The ridiculous supply lists is one reason that at my school, I buy everything myself. Every notebook, pack of looseleaf, pencil, eraser, dry erase marker, manila folder, everything. If I buy it myself, then you have the kind I want you to have, which is the same as everybody else's. No fancy pencils, erasers shaped like toys (that don't erase well anyway), or folders with things I might consider inappropriate for a Christian school....everyone has the same kind of folders, the same kind of notebooks... One of the Catholic schools I know of, had an option. You could either buy your student's supply list yourself, OR you could send a certain amount of money. The school put out for bids on each grade's supply lists, to the office supplies stores and WalMart in town, and the winning bid was the least expensive. That way, they could be very specific about kinds and colors and such, and all the parents had to do was pick up a paper bag with their child's supplies on the day they had orientation. Then those supplies are THEIRS. The teachers had to budget for any classroom supplies, and buy their own office/desk supplies outside of that. Of course, desk supplies such as a small hand sanitizer, post-its, wite-out, file folders, labels, markers, and such, make such a nice gift for Teacher Appreciation Day!
I agree that some lists are crazybut I would like to give another perspective to the dry erase markers on the list. They were on the list for my boys and their classroom doesn't even have white boards only chalk boards so I asked the teacher about it. Each student in her room has a small white board and the markers are for their own use on those.
