Back to school *vent*

[MoniqueU]

The first list is about what I buy before school minus the calculator and we don't pay attention to the seperate binders for each subject. I know my kids and one big binder with 5 subject categories works best for all my kids so I just ignore the request for seperate binders. I do wish we even got a list while things were still on sale. One of my kids was super into getting each and every item on the list but that has calmed down as she has realized you don't really use all the items and most of it is gone bey winter break and I just fill the necessaties. To me it is just a requested list at this point ih my kids careers. We know what works best for our kids more then theet school does. Now from time to time throughout the year there will be certain must haves for each class, my kids will let me know at that point what is a must have. I am not sure if I will have to buy the calculator this year or not? My going into 8th grader is going to be in geomatry and I can't remember if you need it or not?

 

[nicki.momof3]

Oh, my, where do you live? My girls are in JH and ES and their fees are $45 and $25 respectively.

Even in high school (I was floored by your charges so I looked it up) the fees here are:
$160 Full-time school feeWhat does this fee cover. We do not have a "fee" at our HS but we pay for everything we want seperate (yearbooks, prom, homcommings and so on)
100 Parking permit - take the bus if the fee is to high
50 sport fee to a max of $100 per student - Very typical for a HS - even lower than many areas.
25 participation fee to a max of $100 per student - Typical
25 activity fee
250 Driver's ed - Do you expect the school to pay for your child to take drivers ed. That is a parents responsibilty. If it cost to much don't take it wait until they are 18 and not classes are needed.

Only the one's bolded are required-the rest is optional depending on the students interests.

Of course, if you have a 16 y/o who plays football and runs track and is itching to get his driver's license it's an entirely different story because then you'll be looking at a whopping $735

Wow you expect the school to cover everything

 

[nicki.momof3]

. Every parent I talked to was fuming about this.

Did any of the parents take the time to talk the teacher about the assignments. Complaining among yourselves solves nothing.

 

[Vijoge]

Wow you expect the school to cover everything

No, not at all. I was just commenting on another person's post where she said school fees for her three kids were $1000. So I looked up our high school district to see what the costs might be. Nowhere did I say I expected anything of the sort, or that I expected anything at all.

 

[MouseLover]

I teach first grade. At my school, we are required to make a supply list by grade level. So my teammates may want baby wipes while I don't, but it will be on the list. I'll tell my parents I don't need them, but often they've already purchased them.

Other brands:
Crayola crayons are definitely better than RoseArt/generic brands. Rose Art is almost like coloring with a candle -- difficult to get color on the paper.
Scissors -- Fiskars are the best, but there are several that are pretty good.
Glue--I have no preference.
Pencils--plain only, please. The glittery ones and several of the decorated ones tear up the pencil sharpeners. There are some brands that are much better -- they break less and sharpen easier, but I can't recall the names.

Other items needed:
Dry Erase markers -- We use these several times daily on individual dry-erase boards. First graders go through these a lot. We've talked about taking care of them and how to properly close the cap, but they still don't always close the cap tightly and some push down too hard. Every kid in my class brought in 6 dry erase markers last year, plus I gave them the first 2 from my supply budget, and we were completely out by spring break.
Kleenex-- Yes, the school should supply these, but they don't. My students brought 1 box each and we were out by Christmas. I requested more and received about 3 boxes. I bought 2 boxes and bummed 2 boxes from the teacher across the hall who had extras. The last month of school we used the scratchy brown paper towels.

MS & HS kids who have crayons on their lists -- it is probably to color code maps & things and/or for art class.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

I always hate lists with excessive amounts because half of it comes home unused. So many notebooks had 2 pages used last year. This year I'm sending 1 or 2 on the first day and if they need more they can let me know.

Middle school here has fees but the supply list isn't too bad. We have some law in this state about asking for excessive supplies in the public schools so the teachers don't ask for too many specific things. They do ask for paper towels, soap and lots of disinfectant more than actual supplies.

We have to pay $5 for locker maintenance, the gym uniform is $22 but it's optional and I am not buying it and $5 for lab fees. I was very surprised to pay middle school lab fees.

 

[leight]

I teach first grade. At my school, we are required to make a supply list by grade level. So my teammates may want baby wipes while I don't, but it will be on the list. I'll tell my parents I don't need them, but often they've already purchased them.

[

This is what I don't like. Our county puts out lists of supplies for each school at walmart & target. Then the individual school has the compiled list of each grade for their school on their website but we don't get the actual teacher's list until the meet & greet night. At this time, I buy basics on sale and have to wait until the teacher list is avail so that way I am not buying things the teacher doesn't want. I wish they would spend more time assigning teachers classrooms by end of school so teacher's can send letters/emails to their student's families to let them know what they will need- that would make it so much simpler.

 

[nicki.momof3]

No, not at all. I was just commenting on another person's post where she said school fees for her three kids were $1000. So I looked up our high school district to see what the costs might be. Nowhere did I say I expected anything of the sort, or that I expected anything at all.

I ment the person you quoted - not you sorry for the confusion.

 

[Vijoge]

I ment the person you quoted - not you sorry for the confusion.

Ok. The quote you highlighted was mine, though. It's the list of fees, both required and optional, for the high schoold district in which I live.

 

[SRUAlmn]

I'm on the complete other side of the 'issue' as the OP. I am a first grade teacher in a Title I school. I don't have any kids of my own, but end up buying school supplies for 18 kids every year. Our school gives out a 'suggested' supply list to parents and some of them bring what they can. Our state education budget is non-existent, so we don't get grade level or school money that we can spend. I added up my receipts last year and I spent $900 of my own money on things for my classroom! There was nothing major purchased. This was just food for snacks and projects, materials for holiday gifts (Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, End of Year,) classroom supplies, tissues, Germ-X, books, etc... So I would say a list of things that will cost $40 is really not a big deal

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

What we could be worse than spending $100 on supplies?
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Buying from last years list by mistake!

 

[Vijoge]

What we could be worse than spending $100 on supplies?
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Buying from last years list by mistake!

 

[luvmy3]

UGH! I just checked the school's website and my dd won't get her supply list until August 31st. I know from past years that there will be absolutely nothing left because I only have a handful of stores in my area. She is going into 7th, is the graphing calculator a pretty standard need for that grade? I figured she is going to need one and I of course would like to get the best deal but I don't think there will be one after the 31st. I think I'll grab one now if its something that is required for most 7th graders.

 

[TwinsinCA]

I wish they would spend more time assigning teachers classrooms by end of school so teacher's can send letters/emails to their student's families to let them know what they will need- that would make it so much simpler.

For the life of me I DO NOT understand why so many schools are able to do just that but ours cannot. I KNOW they have the class lists made up by the end of the school year but they refuse to let us know which teacher our kids will have. It is frustrating enough for everyone, but for those with kids going into K they will not know if they have morning or afternoon K until a few days before schools starts! I guess those parents with jobs who need to arrange care for their kids can just go fish.

Their excuse is that there are late registrations and they have to wait to make the final list so the classes are balanced. What do other schools do? Certainly we can't be the only school with kids who move in during the summer. Besides, every single year the classes are over the CA limit when school starts. When they add a new class they pull out the kids who are the newest to the school. So those new kids will be booted to a new class anyway. Why not let the rest of us know before school lets out??

And because they can't tell us who our kids' teachers are, they can't give us the lists. Drives me crazy every year.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

UGH! I just checked the school's website and my dd won't get her supply list until August 31st. I know from past years that there will be absolutely nothing left because I only have a handful of stores in my area. She is going into 7th, is the graphing calculator a pretty standard need for that grade? I figured she is going to need one and I of course would like to get the best deal but I don't think there will be one after the 31st. I think I'll grab one now if its something that is required for most 7th graders.

Our district doesn't ask for it till 9th grade, but you could always buy it and whatever you think you might need and keep the receipts.

The basics for sure I'd get now, that is what I am doing for my oldest, the HS students here don't get their list till Spetember 9th, their first day of school. Everyting is always picked over by then and not on sale so I get lots of things that she may or may not need but eventually someone uses it.

 

[allyphoe]

For all of you who say the schools should provide everything, what kind of la-la land do you live in? Schools don't even have enough money to pay their staff much less buy supplies for students. That may make you mad, but it's true.

Not my problem. My child has a right, guaranteed under the state constitution, to a free appropriate public education. If the school said "we can't pay our teachers, so the parents of enrolled children need to send in a $500 check each month to cover the teacher's salary," the truth of that statement would not change my opinion that the request was inappropriate. Basic school supplies differ from the $500 check only in degree, not in nature.

I personally choose to buy a better school experience for my kid (by providing school supplies, including supplies that are for the teacher and/or other kids), because I'd rather just mitigate the consequences of the school's failure to provide a free appropriate public education than let her suffer to make a point. But that doesn't mean I don't agree with the point.

 

[aprilgail2]

For the life of me I DO NOT understand why so many schools are able to do just that but ours cannot. I KNOW they have the class lists made up by the end of the school year but they refuse to let us know which teacher our kids will have.
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The secretaries in my daughters school say the reason they don't send them out early is because then they had a buttload of parents up a the school saying "I want my child moved out of this class and into some other teachers class" etc.... and I can see that happening because we have one teacher in 3rd grade that if the parents don't know any better to put in a request early the year before not to have that teacher they get stuck with that teacher so they are the ones up at school yelling. So they figure the later they send them out the less time they have to hear parents complaining!

 

[KCMiller]

I am sending my youngest off to college this year, so I have about 20 years of experience with back to school buying and school provided lists, and here's what my pet peeve always was.

When my kids first started in the public schools in my town, our school would require the kids to bring what was on the list, and I mean EXACTLY what was on the list (and it was an extensive list), including glue sticks, notebooks, boxes of tissues, etc - and then the teachers would take all of it, put everything in bins in the closets in the classroom, and dole it out throughout the year. Not what I bought back to my own kids - oh, no. To the class. Which meant that if little Billy eats glue sticks, his mommy didn't have to supply them - he could have as many as he wanted from the stockpile. Little Janey scribbles all over her notebook? Here's another one, Janey. Crayons, notebooks - the whole shebang. If you didn't supply what was on the list, you got notes from the teacher and a call from the principal.

I don't know whose bright idea this was, but after a few years of this, there were enough complaints that it stopped. And people went back to supplying their OWN children with what their OWN children needed.


KC

 

[KKB]

Is this a federal law or a state law. I taught for 20 years in 2 different states and was never made aware of a law of this nature. We weren't allowed enforce whether the child had the "extra" items on the list like particular calculator or a special size notebook. We were allowed to enforce whether the student brought paper and pencil. For students who could not afford paper and pencils, those student received paper and pencils that were donated to the school by various businesses. The school was not requried to purchase paper and pencils for these students.

We CANNOT by law REQUIRE students to bring anything. States control education...and educational funding is typically tight. So districts ask...and parents accept it as OK. But if any parent were to challenge it, the district has NO ground to stand on. Plus then there would come the question of NECESSARY supplies vs. "nice to have"

 

[momof1princess]

UGH! I just checked the school's website and my dd won't get her supply list until August 31st. I know from past years that there will be absolutely nothing left because I only have a handful of stores in my area. She is going into 7th, is the graphing calculator a pretty standard need for that grade? I figured she is going to need one and I of course would like to get the best deal but I don't think there will be one after the 31st. I think I'll grab one now if its something that is required for most 7th graders.

luvmy3, not sure where you live, but i'm in NE alabama, and my DD is going into 7th grade as well. she's not required to have a specific calculator until next year. we were asked to get two separate binders with dividers, latex gloves for science (they dissect things), glue sticks, colored pencils, paper towels (2 rolls-1 for science class), hand sanitizer (for science class-guess they'll have germy hands in every other class, lol), blue or black pens, 1 red pen, box of kleenex, 1 highlighter, a pack of construction paper, pair of cheap headphones, pencil sharpener (for the colored pencils), pencils, 1 composition book (for science) and 1 pack of copier paper. we are also required to buy a clear backpack, if our child uses one (DD couldn't function without a backpack, lol). we pay $10.00 for a locker, $10.00 technology donation and $10.00 science lab fee-all of these are labeled as "donations".