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Word to the wise, when stuff is on sale in August, stock up on school supplies. I have a closet filled with stuff. I probably have enough stuff till my kids go to college. It's the only thing I hoard.
I actually don't have to buy a lot of stuff for my high schoolers, and certainly not stuff for every individual class in middle or high school. Teachers often have "wish lists" posted at the beginning of the year for things like tissues, Clorox wipes, dry erase markers, etc.
I stopped going crazy buying stuff like clorox wipes and paper towels in elementary school when I noticed that all the teachers had literal closets full of this stuff from years gone by. Too often they do not change the supply list every year.
I worked for a couple years as a TA. One year they moved every one around so the school secretary spent the entire summer cleaning out classrooms and she INSISTED that the school change their supply lists. The school opened in 2005 and she told me she found supplies in classrooms with the names of kids from the year the school opened....this was 10 years later. Paper, pencils, markers, glue and on and on. She was disgusted.
And with over 20k in property taxes, its my god given lawn guyland right to complain about taxes.
I'm not saying you shouldn't complain about high taxes. Some people like in FB groups genuinely say that not knowing why they're paying so much and getting so little back.
And to answer the question, we get a list at the beginning of the year and it's understood that it could be pooled. But I put my kid's name on everything so screw that. It also says some things like scotch tape may need to be replenished at some point, but the teachers don't seem to enforce it even though they ran out. Kleenex I think is a big need for everyone but is never on the list.
These teachers make a nice few hundred $s in gift money twice a school year from parents anyway. On top of their comparatively high salaries. I'm not going to feel bad about it.
It's been that way for at least 35 years. Maybe, since you were a little kid, you weren't involved or cared about what supplies you had to bring to school. That was your parents' problem It does get worse when your child gets older and more expensive. Scientific calculators, flash drives, etc. and then the costs of the dreaded "projects."
I'm in the Roslyn School district. I think the supply issue is dependent on the teacher. I've never had them ask to send anything besides an extra box of tissues during the year. Some pool all the supplies in the beginning, some keep the supplies separate.
I'm guessing you're in the wing of the school, the rest of the school does have ac, and so do the other elementary schools.
I've had a much better experience with the other schools.
It's been that way for at least 35 years. Maybe, since you were a little kid, you weren't involved or cared about what supplies you had to bring to school. That was your parents' problem It does get worse when your child gets older and more expensive. Scientific calculators, flash drives, etc. and then the costs of the dreaded "projects."
I finished elementary school about 35 years ago so that makes sense. We only got individual supply lists back then.
Unless they are making your kid buy a scientific calculator for other kids in the class, these kind of individual supply purchases I understand.
Its the whole socialism communal purchase thing thats new to me. I'm a greedy capitalist so I don't see why my kid needs to purchase crap for everyone else.
If supplies are done communally, it's so the teacher can more easily replenish them for everyone throughout the year. Many children (possibly even yours) lose their supplies quite frequently. If you don't believe this, look at your child's classroom floor at the end of the day or check out your school's lost and found. By this time of year, any school's lost and found could restock a department store.
Communal supplies also work for the younger grades where the children may sit at tables and don't have their own desks.
As for individual supplies, if John has lost his pencils the first week of school, John will likely still not have his own pencils by now. The same could be said about Ralph, Suzie, Jenna and 2/3 of the class.
But I put my kid's name on everything so screw that. Kleenex I think is a big need for everyone but is never on the list.
These teachers make a nice few hundred $s in gift money twice a school year from parents anyway. On top of their comparatively high salaries. I'm not going to feel bad about it.
You can put your kids' names on everything but the teachers are still gonna take it all and put it in her supply closet.
I can also tell you the richer the parent, the less you're gonna get out of them.
I went to elementary school in the early 90s in Elmont. Probably about half of the kids were on free or reduced price lunch. I guess the lists were modest and we used everything at least once. I kept some of the same items from one year to the next. The only communal thing we had to provide was tissues, and I remember my father wasn't too happy about that. I don't know what happened if a student couldn't afford. There were vouchers in high school.
But if we owned the supplies and didn't have them one day, the teacher spoke to us in front of the whole class. And if something was due that required it, we'd have to ask a classmate or get a zero on the assignment.
But we learned something called responsibility, which is more important than how to use some protractor or compass. How to take care of our belongings, because we certainly weren't in the social class where everything is disposable. And we also didn't spread germs around unnecessarily.
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