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It's already been said, but the list in the OP is pretty typical.
I'm ignoring all of the conspiracy theories about kickbacks, and have to acknowledge, as a parent, that it's a little frustrating to know that some parents are not making an effort to contribute all that is expected in the classroom. I've also worked as a substitute teacher and it's absolutely true that classrooms do run out of supplies, legitimately, from paper towels to glue sticks. It's not always easy for teachers to fill the gaps and that's why they sometimes spend their own money. Frequently, in some cases.
However, my take on it, as a parent and a substitute teacher, is that if there is a good teacher in the classroom with the right priorities in teaching (that is, they're focused on the kids and are positive people who make a positive impact on the kids they interact with daily), then I'm doing all I can to support them. They want paper towels? I'll give 'em stacks. Glue sticks? A bag full. Soap? Jugs of it. I want them to have the freedom to concentrate more on their actual job, doing what they do best, and help my child through their pathway in that grade, rather on logistics and supplies. They don't need to be caught in the middle of these silly battles. I'll do whatever I can to support them.
Even if I know a teacher is *not* among the best and might have more of a mindset of just collecting a paycheck rather than having a passion for teaching -- I'll still buy every single item on the supply list, and probably more. Because I know the teacher doesn't set the supply list. And it's just the right thing to do to try to set the year up for success.
^^^ This is pretty much how I feel about things. We live in a higher property tax rate county and for our city alone 1.27% of our 2.54% tax rate goes to the schools. Theoretically, there should be plenty of money to go around. And, for the most part, there is and from what I've seen at our kids school, they're pretty well-managed and well-funded with supplies. There have been times when I've grumbled about certain school supplies (the handwriting tablets get me every time because they are the one item I can't consistently find) but in the end, I'm funding to help my kids teachers teach my kids more effectively. Teachers have enough to worry about- trying to ration supplies so they can teach YOUR kids for hours each day shouldn't be one of them.
If you've never worked with children on a daily basis, you have no idea how gross things can get in a classroom, so please consider throwing a couple boxes of tissues and/or sanitizer in that school supply bag. Your kid will be healthier, which means they aren't going to sick and stay home, which usually means that YOU have to stay home from work and lose more money than the dang supplies actually cost in the first place.
Many of my kids weren't allowed on their home computers, if they even had one. I discovered there was a lot of parental lip service about computers at home but they were about as prevalent as books in the home, meaning nonexistent.
The district doesn’t seem to be too concerned about it.
Well, you guys do have all that polished marble with inlaid gold floors in your schools so what's a computer virus in the great scheme of things.
More seriously I am kind of surprised. Baltimore City is still wrestling with the malware someone installed and are up to about $10M trying to fix it.
My former system had a hacker that accessed every employee record they had (there's still fallout from that) and the state Department of Ed just discovered its servers are unsecured so student records are vulnerable.
1. Why would a parent need to purchase supplies for children other than their own?
2. Why is the individual teacher handling this problem? Isn't that what administrative staff job duties are?
3. How is the school district complainant with the Free Appropriate Public Education under Section 504 of the ADA? You cannot deny a child of an education due to school supplies. My husband, the attorney, just finished a case where the school district demanded multiple laptops and wheelchair ramps to educate a wheelchair bound student.
There is a great deal of waste at our school district. They are throwing away rulers (wooden/metal), projectors (all needed new light bulbs), and laptops (needed new batteries or hard drives) A local non-profit embarrassed our school district by picking up their trash, fixing their trash and donating it back to the school in working order.
I will also note this. When my husband and I attended high school, almost all the boys took a shop class that included carpentry, plumbing, and welding. They also taught service to the community. One of there projects were to fix and repair desks, chairs (all metal) to assist the school in the maintenance of the school. All the girls in the art class got a project repainting the school and enhancing the beauty of the school with murals. I understand this program was discontinued due to teachers retiring. Again, why not continue this program?
1. Why would a parent need to purchase supplies for children other than their own?
2. Why is the individual teacher handling this problem? Isn't that what administrative staff job duties are?
3. How is the school district complainant with the Free Appropriate Public Education under Section 504 of the ADA? You cannot deny a child of an education due to school supplies. My husband, the attorney, just finished a case where the school district demanded multiple laptops and wheelchair ramps to educate a wheelchair bound student.
There is a great deal of waste at our school district. They are throwing away rulers (wooden/metal), projectors (all needed new light bulbs), and laptops (needed new batteries or hard drives) A local non-profit embarrassed our school district by picking up their trash, fixing their trash and donating it back to the school in working order.
I will also note this. When my husband and I attended high school, almost all the boys took a shop class that included carpentry, plumbing, and welding. They also taught service to the community. One of there projects were to fix and repair desks, chairs (all metal) to assist the school in the maintenance of the school. All the girls in the art class got a project repainting the school and enhancing the beauty of the school with murals. I understand this program was discontinued due to teachers retiring. Again, why not continue this program?
1. Most communities have some type of collection drive for the kids whose parents can't afford all the supplies, or who, like some posters refuse to buy them out of some lofty "principal".
2. These lists may come out in the teacher's name, but IME the admin writes them up.
3. No one said anything about denying an education. You must have missed all the posts about charity drives, teachers buying supplies for kids, etc.
My husband is a nuclear physicist. Doesn't make me one.
As far as waste at schools, a) I can believe it, and b) I don't think the "solution" you proposed is viable as an ongoing situation, unless this non-profit wants to continue to fix this stuff and buy the supplies for same for free.
Both boys and girls now take shop and home ec. My district requires at least one "practical arts" course for HS graduation. What does fixing chairs and painting murals have to do with buying pencils, crayons, paper and the like?
Last edited by Katarina Witt; 07-31-2019 at 11:07 AM..
Reason: add question mark
My former system had a hacker that accessed every employee record they had (there's still fallout from that) and the state Department of Ed just discovered its servers are unsecured so student records are vulnerable.
This reminds me...
Q: How do you bring down a school without getting onto legal trouble?
A: Name your kid DROP TABLE 'Students';.
Our school issues computers too. They use them in every class. There is hardly any paper anymore. I actually like that because it's less wasteful. It also eliminates the, "I forgot my homework," issue because it's all online. And it's turned in online. Also, if your child is absent for whatever reason, it's easy to access assignments and missed work. Students can also post questions about an assignment and their classmates an answer it.
Our school does not require you use one of their computers. You are welcome to use your own. However, it will need to be taken to school every day. No way would I send my middle schooler with an expensive Apple computer. It WILL get dropped broken, etc. And if your computer is broken, you are kind of just out of luck. We get one "freebie" with the school computer. If it breaks for whatever reason, even if your kid yeets it out the window, they'll replace it for free. If it breaks for a reason that's not your fault, 'cause computers do that, you can drop it off to the tech dept. and they'll give you a loaner until it's fixed.
1. Most communities have some type of collection drive for the kids whose parents can't afford all the supplies, or who, like some posters refuse to buy them out of some lofty "principal".
My community has these drives at all the supermarkets and local library. Where do these items go? And again, with these drives, why are school requiring parents to provide for their students and others?
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2. These lists may come out in the teacher's name, but IME the admin writes them up.
It's difficult to believe that administrators are doing this. Especially when individual teachers are specifying products by brand name. Why would a brand name product be better than a generic product?
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3. No one said anything about denying an education. You must have missed all the posts about charity drives, teachers buying supplies for kids, etc.
And yet it occurs everyday. The school district demanded that the child in a wheelchair be homeschooled rather than attend public school. The public school stated in court they did not have the facilities, the staff, or the desire to help this child.
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My husband is a nuclear physicist. Doesn't make me one.
I'm a paralegal that works with my husband in his practice. I also bet you know a great deal about nuclear energy.
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Both boys and girls now take shop and home ec. My district requires at least one "practical arts" course for HS graduation. What does fixing chairs and painting murals have to do with buying pencils, crayons, paper and the like?
My state has a public service component requirement for HS graduation. This is another example about how a school can get the resources it requires by spending their budget wisely. I also wonder how much this saves in shop supplies versus have to purchase projects kits on the retail market? Why not hold the school district accountable?
It's difficult to believe that administrators are doing this. Especially when individual teachers are specifying products by brand name. Why would a brand name product be better than a generic product?
Individual teachers don't usually suggest the brand. Just because the teacher's name is on the list does not mean s/he is the one making up the list. Most districts use lists for the entire grade level so they are specific to that not to each teacher.
As for why the branded ones are better, it is simply true for the pencils and crayons and scissors. The generics break too easily and don't perform as well in terms of their colors. Believe me, I've bought generics for these things and they have to be replaced much more often.
Note that does not mean that parents need to overspend on these. School supply sales have crayola crayons for 50 cents a box and ticonderoga pencils for about $1.00 or $1.50 per box. Scissors will also be on sale and Fiskars are much better than the generic ones.
Usually brands are not specified for notebooks or composition books or binders or folders, but colors might be specified and they might want the plastic folders rather than paper ones (again these last longer).
My community has these drives at all the supermarkets and local library. Where do these items go? And again, with these drives, why are school requiring parents to provide for their students and others?
I'm sorry but I have to ask, are you being deliberately obtuse? Do you not understand why the parents should provide their own kids' school supplies? Should everyone rely on a "school supply drive" for someone else to buy their kids' supplies? The drives are for kids whose families can't afford the supplies.
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It's difficult to believe that administrators are doing this. Especially when individual teachers are specifying products by brand name. Why would a brand name product be better than a generic product?
Someone, maybe a "team" creates a list for each grade level, or maybe for say, grades 1-2, etc. It's probably not the superintendent of schools, no. It may be a "lead teacher" or a principal in a small school. These people know, from much experience, that brand name items hold up better than off-brand. As I said earlier, I've seen lists sometimes say: "For Mrs. Smith's class only, provide XYZ". In a middle school, Mrs. Smith may have 150 students.
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And yet it occurs everyday. The school district demanded that the child in a wheelchair be homeschooled rather than attend public school. The public school stated in court they did not have the facilities, the staff, or the desire to help this child.
No one has given an example of a child denied an education for lack of supplies.
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I'm a paralegal that works with my husband in his practice. I also bet you know a great deal about nuclear energy.
You could have just said that. I have "issues" with people say "My husband said, this, that, the other". You rarely see husbands saying "My wife said" unless it's over on parenting to complain about them. I know a little about nuclear energy.
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My state has a public service component requirement for HS graduation. This is another example about how a school can get the resources it requires by spending their budget wisely. I also wonder how much this saves in shop supplies versus have to purchase projects kits on the retail market? Why not hold the school district accountable?
What kind of public service are you suggesting to procure school supplies?
BTW, I saw an ad just an hour ago or so for Office Max (I thin, may have been Office Depot) for backpacks for $10. That's a lot less than you can get one for at Dick's Sporting Goods.
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