TOTALLY GEEKED!

Oughttabeworking · Regular

school supplies: mostly a rant

TrudyML · Guru

You should see the list my sister gets! It is a full page.

Oughttabeworking · Regular

Our full list is about a quarter of a page.

TrudyML · Guru

Then she actually bought 2 projectors! Then there was a huge fight among the teachers. I told her to walk in and remove the one in question.

FNW · Guru

My supplies cost several hundred dollars each year.

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

The school districts cut the budget for that kind of stuff, so they try to pass it on to the parents.

Our teachers get (for the entire school year):

One printer cartridge
One box of paper (10 reams)
They are allowed to make 500 copies per month on the copier. There is another copier, kind of like an upgraded ditto machine that is a pain to use, but the teachers must supply the paper when using it.

You need to attend a school board meeting and complain.

It doesn't really bother me, but DD12 went to private school for pre-K and kindergarten, and the parents had to supply EVERYTHING for the teachers, the classroom, and the kids. So, the public school requests seem like nothing to me.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

The requests do get crazy.

I got tired of it.

It got to where everything I sent, every year, was taken up and put in the "class closet".

Everything.

Folders, which all had to be a certain brand and color.

Post its, loose leaf notebook paper, packs of one kind of pencils, packs of erasers, glue sticks, paper clips, flash cards, rubber bands, white out, cleaning supplies, folders for filing cabinets.

It went on and on.

And then they started stock piling for the next year. Everything was put in storage for the next year.

My kids were not even using what I bought.

I stopped buying all that crap. I bought supplies for home, they could use the stuff in those class closets.

Not kidding, in 5 years I sent in, just as an example, 15 pairs of scissors.

I was done.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Oh! And then came the "supply fee". $25 a child on top of the supply lists.

No frikkin way.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

And wait til middle and high school.

7 teachers with 7 different lists, all with specific items needed.

But these, the student keeps.

FNW · Guru

The teachers (so far) do send stuff home at the end of the school year which they didn't use. It's a nice gesture, but I wish they'd keep the stuff because it just becomes clutter around my house. How many headsets do I really need, you know? Sure, I can check that off my list for the next year, but it's easier and more economical for me to use a company that does all the shopping for me and I don't know if I can scratch items off the list that I already have.

Lady Gaga Snerd · Guru

They can't make u send anything. Send or dont send what u want.

Lady Gaga Snerd · Guru

The number one job of schools should be to fund the classroom. Nothing else should get funded until that does. Stop letting schools get away with under supplying.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Can't make you?

No. You don't get a gun to head and marched down to the store.

But the shaming of the kid starts and then the kid comes home with letter after letter asking and I've even gotten phone calls and questioned in meetings about supplies.

Lady Gaga Snerd · Guru

If a school is shaming kids then that is a problem.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:
The number one job of schools should be to fund the classroom. Nothing else should get funded until that does. Stop letting schools get away with under supplying.

Should be.

High school here needs new computers and kids are sharing text books, or the teacher has to make copies out of one text book for the 6 classes she has everyday, but the football stadium got a complete upgrade.

New field dug, sod, stands replaced, new track and the field house got a make over!

It's beautiful.

But there isn't money for computers or books.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:
If a school is shaming kids then that is a problem.

Happens all the time.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

I'm not a stingy person.

For Christmas, when the teacher is getting coffee mugs with candy and what-not, I sent some supplies then.

You ever see a teacher get teary eyed over hand sanitizer and paper towels and other things like that?

FNW · Guru

I get them gift cards so they can buy whatever they need. They usually ask for that.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

I've done that as well.

Does the supply bus still come to the schools?

Way back when dirt was new, one of the stores sent a supply bus every month.

Teachers could order in advance if they knew they needed a certain thing, and the bus brought it along with any and everything else a classroom could need.

FNW · Guru

No no supply buses. We get lists. The week before school starts, the school holds an open house so the kids can come and see their new classrooms and where they will be sitting. Parents bring the supplies then. Once or twice a teacher got low and sent out email to parents asking for donations. And when they do special projects a sign-up genius is generated for parents to donate.

Tignanello · My dog name is, Sasha!

Hmm. When I went to elementary school (grades 1-7) we provided our own stuff. Everything from erasers to chalk to paper. But it went in our desks.

Oughttabeworking · Regular

Tignanello wrote:
Hmm. When I went to elementary school (grades 1-7) we provided our own stuff. Everything from erasers to chalk to paper. But it went in our desks.

Up until about third grade, all of the supplies that we sent in were taken from the kids on the first day of school and put into a "class supply bin". So my kids didn't even use the supplies I bought, just whatever they grabbed out of the bin for whatever they were working on. Pencils were an issue. I would get my son super hero pencils because he liked them, then he got upset when the teacher took them away. It was infuriating.

Lexxy · My dog name is Sasha, too!

Oughttabeworking wrote:
Tignanello wrote:
Hmm. When I went to elementary school (grades 1-7) we provided our own stuff. Everything from erasers to chalk to paper. But it went in our desks.
Up until about third grade, all of the supplies that we sent in were taken from the kids on the first day of school and put into a "class supply bin". So my kids didn't even use the supplies I bought, just whatever they grabbed out of the bin for whatever they were working on. Pencils were an issue. I would get my son super hero pencils because he liked them, then he got upset when the teacher took them away. It was infuriating.

That would really bother me. A bit socialist.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

FNW wrote:
No no supply buses. We get lists. The week before school starts, the school holds an open house so the kids can come and see their new classrooms and where they will be sitting. Parents bring the supplies then. Once or twice a teacher got low and sent out email to parents asking for donations. And when they do special projects a sign-up genius is generated for parents to donate.

Well. Maybe the buses need to start again.

The meet and greets have stopped here, as well.

There is 15 minutes, the first day of school for parents to come in.

After that, it isnt encouraged.

Of course, we didn't even have that when I was in elementary school.

You found your name beside the door of your room the first day.

Oughttabeworking · Regular

lilyofcourse wrote:
Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:
The number one job of schools should be to fund the classroom. Nothing else should get funded until that does. Stop letting schools get away with under supplying.
Should be.
High school here needs new computers and kids are sharing text books, or the teacher has to make copies out of one text book for the 6 classes she has everyday, but the football stadium got a complete upgrade.
New field dug, sod, stands replaced, new track and the field house got a make over!
It's beautiful.
But there isn't money for computers or books.

This. DD was having a hard time in one of her classes last year, so I told her to bring her book home and I would help her study (it was a foreign language). She said they weren't allowed to take the books from the classrooms. Okay. So I told her to check one out from the book vault (I know they have one--I've been to it several times). She went and the gatekeeper told her that the did have copies available in the vault, but they weren't checking them out to students. So who the hell ARE they checking them out to? Aliens?? I went to the school and had a long and slightly-elevated-volume discussion with the vice principal, and what do you know, turns out that students were able to check out the books. Go figure. It is ridiculous when it takes an angry parent to get the school to do what it is supposed to do for the students.

NAOW · Vette's SS

Eh, it doesn't bother me. Most stuff each kid uses for themselves (pencil box, crayons, scissors, folders, etc.) and if it can be returned at the end of the year it is. So we are reuse a lot of stuff every year instead of buying new. All I had to buy was new markers, crayons, pencils, glue sticks, basically just stuff that was all used up last year. I did buy 4 boxes of tissues and a couple packs of Expo markers. I know they go through those like crazy.

Oughttabeworking · Regular

Lexxy wrote:
Oughttabeworking wrote:
Tignanello wrote:
Hmm. When I went to elementary school (grades 1-7) we provided our own stuff. Everything from erasers to chalk to paper. But it went in our desks.
Up until about third grade, all of the supplies that we sent in were taken from the kids on the first day of school and put into a "class supply bin". So my kids didn't even use the supplies I bought, just whatever they grabbed out of the bin for whatever they were working on. Pencils were an issue. I would get my son super hero pencils because he liked them, then he got upset when the teacher took them away. It was infuriating.
That would really bother me. A bit socialist.

Oh it bothered me, too. A lot. I discussed it with the teacher and was told it was "just how they do things there". So I discussed it with the principal and was told that it was so that the kids whose parents couldn't afford school supplies weren't singled out. I know it isn't the kids' fault if the parents can't or won't provide for their educational needs, and I don't mind helping out, right up until I'm FORCED to do so. That is the fastest and most efficient way to kill any charitable leanings for me.

Oughttabeworking · Regular

NAOW wrote:
Eh, it doesn't bother me. Most stuff each kid uses for themselves (pencil box, crayons, scissors, folders, etc.) and if it can be returned at the end of the year it is. So we are reuse a lot of stuff every year instead of buying new. All I had to buy was new markers, crayons, pencils, glue sticks, basically just stuff that was all used up last year. I did buy 4 boxes of tissues and a couple packs of Expo markers. I know they go through those like crazy.

The KIDS don't go through the Expo markers, though. The teachers do. Classroom supplies should be supplied by the school, not pushed off on the parents. And seriously, when is my 5th grader going to use those post-its?

Whenitrains · Member

Oughttabeworking wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:
The number one job of schools should be to fund the classroom. Nothing else should get funded until that does. Stop letting schools get away with under supplying.
Should be.
High school here needs new computers and kids are sharing text books, or the teacher has to make copies out of one text book for the 6 classes she has everyday, but the football stadium got a complete upgrade.
New field dug, sod, stands replaced, new track and the field house got a make over!
It's beautiful.
But there isn't money for computers or books.
This. DD was having a hard time in one of her classes last year, so I told her to bring her book home and I would help her study (it was a foreign language). She said they weren't allowed to take the books from the classrooms. Okay. So I told her to check one out from the book vault (I know they have one--I've been to it several times). She went and the gatekeeper told her that the did have copies available in the vault, but they weren't checking them out to students. So who the hell ARE they checking them out to? Aliens?? I went to the school and had a long and slightly-elevated-volume discussion with the vice principal, and what do you know, turns out that students were able to check out the books. Go figure. It is ridiculous when it takes an angry parent to get the school to do what it is supposed to do for the students.

That chaps my hide more than anything. We have that problem in our area. There excuse is "that money is designated for the sports, it can't be used for the computers, books or supplies. If they don't spend it they don't get as much money next year." Wah freaken wah!

Oughttabeworking · Regular

We moved mid-school year once. My son was in kindergarten. I had sent in all of his supplies in August. When I withdrew him in December, the teacher was surprised that I requested his supplies be returned (expecting that they would be used and show wear) so I wouldn't have to go buy all new school supplies a second time for the school year, since the new school had so nicely given me a list of supplies for him to bring. She was reluctant, but I insisted. Even his pencil box had been taken from him and put in the class closet. She ended up going to a locked cabinet and getting a new box of crayons and bottle of glue from it, and told me to just pick a pencil box since she didn't know which came from whom. I'm still peeved about that. Especially since that cabinet was practically overflowing with new supplies while the crayons the class was using were in sad, sad shape.

Mellow Momma · Sniff...sniff, sniff. Yay! A Bum!

When DD went to public school the supply lists were a mile long. And the teachers didn't use half of it. I asked why we had to send in ziploc bags and the teacher told me she didn't need them, but teacher X did and all 3rd graders had to have the same supply list. She had a closet full of ziploc bags she didn't even use.

When my kids went to private school we had a $50 supply fee and never had to bring in more than a box of tissues. The teachers would write some specialized items on a sheet of paper outside their classrooms and we could buy items to donate if we wanted to. No pressure. Those were more expensive items though and it was all volunteer.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

That's the line we get here.

Ok.

So WHY are there more funds for a stadium than a class?

I've said it before, so very happy this is the last year I have to worry about any of it.

NAOW · Vette's SS

I really don't mind buying supplies or classroom things or teacher things. But for us, the kids do keep their own stuff at their desks. I would be upset if it was all put in a community pile and the folders I bought for DD were up for grabs to whoever got there first. Kids even keep their own crayons at their desk, so when DD needs/wants new ones she tells me and I send them in.

Mellow Momma · Sniff...sniff, sniff. Yay! A Bum!

lilyofcourse wrote:
That's the line we get here.

Ok.

So WHY are there more funds for a stadium than a class?

I've said it before, so very happy this is the last year I have to worry about any of it.

Stadiums are typically built through donor funds and not with public tax money.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

If my kids could have kept theirs, I'd been fine with it.

But when things started being taken up and kept for the next year, I had had enough.

Lexxy · My dog name is Sasha, too!

NAOW wrote:
I really don't mind buying supplies or classroom things or teacher things. But for us, the kids do keep their own stuff at their desks. I would be upset if it was all put in a community pile and the folders I bought for DD were up for grabs to whoever got there first. Kids even keep their own crayons at their desk, so when DD needs/wants new ones she tells me and I send them in.

That wouldn't bother me either & neither would supplying tissues, etc. It was what others described about the classroom closet that bothered me. I remember it was a big deal picking out what notebooks I wanted & it would suck that I had to donate them.

I get that not everyone can afford school supplies & they don't want to single the kids out. I would not even mind buying extra to donate as long as my kid got to keep the supplies I bought for them

Ohfour · Hooker

Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
That's the line we get here.

Ok.

So WHY are there more funds for a stadium than a class?

I've said it before, so very happy this is the last year I have to worry about any of it.
Stadiums are typically built through donor funds and not with public tax money.

Yep. And they pay for themselves. Neither the school or the taxpayers fun the stadiums here...

Lady Gaga Snerd · Guru

It used to be you bought your own kid their own pencil box. What was wrong with that?

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Ohfour wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
That's the line we get here.

Ok.

So WHY are there more funds for a stadium than a class?

I've said it before, so very happy this is the last year I have to worry about any of it.
Stadiums are typically built through donor funds and not with public tax money.
Yep. And they pay for themselves. Neither the school or the taxpayers fun the stadiums here...

Still begs the question.

Why is so much spent on sports when the kids can't even get a book of their own.

Priorities seem skewed.

Don't get me wrong, I have zero problems with sports and extra curricular activities.

I think they are a must for a well rounded upbringing.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:
It used to be you bought your own kid their own pencil box. What was wrong with that?

Nothing.

But that isn't what happens now.

Here, you get a list,

10 yellow plastic folders with pockets, clips and made by Mead.

Those 10 folders are on everyone's list.

Those 10 folders are taken up at the beginning of the 2016 school year and put into a box.

Then each student in that class gets 1 red folder in exchange.

That box is then put into storage until the beginning of the 2017 school year.

Then the 10 green plastic folders with pockets, clips and made by Mead are taken up and each student gets a yellow folder in exchange.

The green folders go in a box and put into storage for the next school year.

And that's what happens with everything on that supply list.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Oh and those packs of pencils you've sent in, if the student needs one, it's a quarter.

Oughttabeworking · Regular

Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
That's the line we get here.

Ok.

So WHY are there more funds for a stadium than a class?

I've said it before, so very happy this is the last year I have to worry about any of it.
Stadiums are typically built through donor funds and not with public tax money.

Our school district is in the process of building a sports-complex. I kid you not. But, it was voted in by the taxpayers, so whatcha gonna do? It only won by a teensy margin--like 52/48. I was in the 48.

Oughttabeworking · Regular

lilyofcourse wrote:
Oh and those packs of pencils you've sent in, if the student needs one, it's a quarter.

Oh hell no! They would only charge my kid for the pencils I bought ONE time. I might need bail money after that parent/teacher conference, but there is no freaking way that crap would fly.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Yeah, I got loud a few times.

Like I said, I stopped sending anything extra.

My kids got their own stuff and I stocked up at home on things.

NAOW · Vette's SS

That would irritate me. I would complain about that. Definitely not the way it's done here. I got everything I sent in back at the end of the school year except the things that were used up-like ziplocks, tissues, glue sticks..

FNW · Guru

Do kids get textbooks anymore? Or are they a thing of the past?

Lady Gaga Snerd · Guru

I think schools need the 3As. Academics, arts and athletics all build a well rounded person.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

FNW wrote:
Do kids get textbooks anymore? Or are they a thing of the past?

Not here.

There are 30 text books for the 6 classes to share.

A lot of copies are made.

A lot more copying from overheads are made.

It's ridiculous.

TrudyML · Guru

FNW wrote:
Do kids get textbooks anymore? Or are they a thing of the past?

Ugh, my brother had to buy iPads. He didn't fall in the 'lend one out' group.

Ohfour · Hooker

As cheap as tablets are nowadays, they should really use them more. Books are expensive and heavy. All text books cold be on one tablet...