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My state doesn't allow school supply lists. I've bought and sent in supplies in k with my 1st, only to have them returned. When I asked why, I was told my property taxes pay for it. I honestly pay 1/2 in property taxes where I now live, in a home twice the cost (than where I did live) , and this is the 1st year we are being asked for a levy. Residents are livid. Holy heck, alot better than where I'm from. They have a lottery and levies are often. Not here, where I do live.
Teachers will only accept tissues, hand sanitizer, or wipes. So, I send those often.
Here, teachers are given a stipend for supplies. My teacher friends, all in our district, have never complained of going over.
When I was in school we had to buy paper towels and tissue for the class but everything else was for me only. That's how it should be and I would never accept the idea of sharing what I bought for my child with other students who didn't buy anything. That is communism. A friend of mine was told she had to buy double of everything so the poor kids had supplies. She refused because she felt (rightfully so)it wasn't her place to buy supplies for kids besides hers.
Rightfully so, but its not teachers responsibility either
In my system (in TN), we aren't allowed to hand out supply lists - especially if we're a Title I school. The reasoning is that it would embarrass those parents/students who couldn't afford to go purchase these supplies. Therefore, the teachers will have an "example" of the supplies needed by each student laying on their desk during open house. If asked, they must say, "we're a Title I school and cannot require the students to bring in supplies, but here's an example of what they may need," and then point to the desk by the door.
The biggest issue here is that many schools used to have the money needed to buy these supplies on their own (and I'm talking paper towels and toilet paper for the bathroom here, not just pencils, paper, etc.), but with inflation and the increasing demands that schools have better, more updated technology, with the increases in the cost of paper, etc, the schools simply don't have enough money to go around.
But why? (and please don't shoot the messenger...)
Because most communities absolutely refuse, for example, to vote in a 10-cent property tax increase in order to help the schools stay funded. Many will use the reasoning that 1) the money would be used for helping us teachers pay for our BMW's, or 2) helping the school directors pay for their mansions/golden parachute pensions. Or these bastions of the community demand that they shouldn't have to pay higher taxes for the school systems since they never had (or no longer do) have kids attending. All the while, us tax-paying teachers are still paying out of our pockets for supplied not "donated" by parents. It may not start out as our responsibility - by contract - but it becomes our responsibility - by conscious.
Again, don't shoot the messenger (as we pay those same property taxes).
When you throw in the towel though and start buying supplies with your own money then the school board has no reason to ask for an increase because you made up for the shortfall with your own wallet.
Sometimes your best efforts can work against you. But I totally understand why.
When you throw in the towel though and start buying supplies with your own money then the school board has no reason to ask for an increase because you made up for the shortfall with your own wallet.
Sometimes your best efforts can work against you. But I totally understand why.
We faced this exact thing 2 years ago when they limited our copies per month. They wanted us to increase greatly our use of differntiated teaching methods, but gave us 1000 copies per month (and that's not 1000 pages - its 1000 sides. basically 500 pages front and back) for the 100 students I had per semester.
Needless to say, we teachers made it work - because that's what we do. But now that we've proven it can work, we will never get an increase in the copy number. When we get the job done with less, then why should they give us more?
When my daughter went to kindergarten, she was the poor minority kid. I made sure she had everything on the list, all good quality...plastic folders, real Crayola markers, etc. The teacher did not want us to label anything and had us dump the supplies in tubs. The folders my daughter brought home were the paper ten cent folders, not the plastic ones I'd paid $2/each for. I had to replace all the folders the first month of school. My daughter also ended up with generic crayons and markers instead of the ones I had bought.
By first grade, I knew to write her name on everything, even each individual marker, and on the inside and outside of every folder I had to send in. I don't mind providing school supplies, I just want my child to get what to use what I've sent in.
I also made a habit of asking the teachers once a month what they needed for the classroom, and sending it in. If they didn't need anything, I would send them a homemade treat (and my cookies are legendary).
That's the nice thing about switching to online school...I don't have to get school supplies or worry about any of the rest of it.
Our school does that to, and it drives me nuts. I spend the money on quality pencils, and instead, my kid gets those $1.24 for a 24 pack pencils that you sharpen and the lead immediately breaks off, so you have to sharpen again,and again, and again until its 3 inches long and its the first time your using it. And the bucket of dry glue sticks and markers that nobody puts a cap on, or the broken crayons, or unsharpened colored pencils, or the hollow erasers. I hate shared supplies! I just go ahead and buy the cheap pencils now like everybody else, but my kids each carry a pencil box with their own stuff in their backpack or cubby.
And as far as the shopping list, nobody's can be as bad as ours. I have to go on a scavenger hunt every year looking for the pronged two folder orange plastic folder. Is that it.... no, its non-pronged. Oh, heres one... no, its not plastic. Well, here's 20,000 of them.... but none are orange. I have yet to see these very important folders come home or anytime I'm in the classroom.... what the heck they do with them each year is beyond me. But then again, maybe nobody else goes through the trouble and just sends in an extra red one, and I'm the only fool going to five stores finding that darn orange one.
And being told ONLY black and white marble composition notebooks, five of them, which I follow, and then going to school and seeing all the other kids with sports teams and pop starts on them, all of which come home with only about 10 pages used. Maybe my kids aren't paying attention to all the notes everybody else is obviously taking.
But that is just elementary school. Our middle schools waits until open house, which is the day BEFORE school starts, to give us our list. Oh, the fun of scrounging through the clutter of leftover school supplies in random places and seeking out that zippered three ring binder that is in a pencil display box amongst lunchboxes, rulers, and hello kitty notebooks! Last year one teacher needed a binder with page protectors in it to put her million of worksheets, while the other one needed each kid to carry a stapler and stapler remover, so they could staple their worksheets into a five subject notebook, which at the end of the year became a bloated mess..... all while his $1,000 school laptop sat unused at his feet.
Do you buy all of the school supplies that are required by the school? Or, do you just buy the school supplies that you believe that your child will actually use?
Does it concern you that they generally get thrown into a community pot and shared by all of the students?
Do you find the amount you have to spend to get your kid ready for school to be "excessive"? How much of this is caused by school supplies and how much is attributed to clothes, shoes, etc?
We faced this exact thing 2 years ago when they limited our copies per month. They wanted us to increase greatly our use of differntiated teaching methods, but gave us 1000 copies per month (and that's not 1000 pages - its 1000 sides. basically 500 pages front and back) for the 100 students I had per semester.
Needless to say, we teachers made it work - because that's what we do. But now that we've proven it can work, we will never get an increase in the copy number. When we get the job done with less, then why should they give us more?
I'm the non squeaky "squeaky wheel"
Maybe because I came from the corporate world..I'm alt certified you see.
No tissues..go to the bathroom and get a roll of toilet paper for the room.
No pencils..I have a supply but it will cost you $.10 otherwise you can go down the hall and pay $.50 in the machine. I use that money to buy more pencils. Some kids buy 3-4 at a time even.
No pencil sharpener in the room..go down to the office and use theirs (that one got me an electric sharpener within 2 weeks).
No paper..borrow from another student.
No toner for my copier (computer tech class)..will have students print out their exams on front office copier so they can be graded. Got my toner week before exams.
Sure I've spent some of my money for them but not for supplies they are supposed to have every day and not for supplies the school is supposed to have on hand.
I don't deny the kids. I put the burden back on the school and parents.
I also have to deal with a small clique of teachers that make sure they never run out of anything to the detriment of all the other teachers.
No pot here. And yes I do buy what they list cause I don't want my child to be the one without and therefore tick off the teacher. We are very reasonable about clothes. Maybe 2 new outfits till cold weather sets in and always new shoes because they wear flip flops from April thru September here in N.C. I always buy clothes they can get 2 years out of. It hasn't been a problem so far and since I'm not a clothes horse I don't think my children will be either. They have never had more than 2 pairs of shoes going at once but this year I will get them stylish boots probably in October. They wanted them last year but I put them off till this year. Rising 6th grader and 5th grader. Same backpack for 3 years - same lunch box for 3 years. We have plenty of money- I simply don't believe in being wasteful or a slave to fads in fashion.
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School supplies
