Back to school....

[tvguy]

I was in Walmart this morning. The back to school section was pretty much cleaned out. The districts that have not already gone back, go back this Thursday.

 

[mom2rtk]

On a different but related subject, I started thinking about this back to school season and it is the first one since we have had kids that we are not helping one or both of them get ready for some sort of school. Last year my youngest and oldest both graduated from college, one with a bachelors and one with a masters. Neither is going back this year for more education.

A 20 year back to school tradition has come to an end.

This is my 28th year of having a kid starting back to school in the fall. This is our last one as well as our youngest should get her Masters in May. Odd feeling for sure.

 

[tvguy]

This is my 28th year of having a kid starting back to school in the fall. This is our last one as well as our youngest should get her Masters in May. Odd feeling for sure.

The circle of life. My oldest started school 33 years ago. Thursday HIS oldest starts school.

 

[kdonnel]

Tomorrow is the first day for the kids.

Traffic will be horrible from about 6:45am-9:30am and then again from 2:30pm-4:30pm, Monday-Friday until May 2026.

I never knew how bad a neighbor schools were until I lived a mile from a high school, middle school, and an elementary school. 6300 kids coming by bus and car destroys traffic.

 

[tvguy]

Tomorrow is the first day for the kids.

Traffic will be horrible from about 6:45am-9:30am and then again from 2:30pm-4:30pm, Monday-Friday until May 2026.

I never knew how bad a neighbor schools were until I lived a mile from a high school, middle school, and an elementary school. 6300 kids coming by bus and car destroys traffic.

That's nuts. The combined attendance of the High School, Middle School and elementary is just under 3,000. However, because, as I mentioned, there is no bus service, seems like EVERY student at has someone drop them off and pick them up, so it is gridlock around the campuses. Very very very few students when I was in school had a parent pick them up. In fact, my dad decided to pick me up one day, and a couple of kids went running to get a teacher because they thought I was getting in a strangers car!!

 

[kdonnel]

That's nuts.

I live in a high growth area.

In the 20 years I have lived in this house, they have redistricted twice, having built two additional high schools within the cluster, in an attempt to keep up with growth. But many of the larger neighborhoods fought the redistricting so the impact to attendance was initially minor.

The high school opened in August 2004 with 2500 students. By 2008 it had over 4000 students. The latest redistricting two years ago was somewhat successful and it is down to only about 2600 students.

There are so many neighborhoods under construction that it will easily be in the 3500 range again. The cluster consists of the high school, the middle school, and three elementary schools, one of which is co located with the high school/middle school.

 

[tvguy]

I live in a high growth area.

In the 20 years I have lived in this house, they have redistricted twice, having built two additional high schools within the cluster, in an attempt to keep up with growth. But many of the larger neighborhoods fought the redistricting so the impact to attendance was initially minor.

The high school opened in August 2004 with 2500 students. By 2008 it had over 4000 students. The latest redistricting two years ago was somewhat successful and it is down to only about 2600 students.

There are so many neighborhoods under construction that it will easily be in the 3500 range again. The cluster consists of the high school, the middle school, and three elementary schools, one of which is co located with the high school/middle school.

That happened here with one school district. They didn't redistrict, they just couldn't build new schools fast enough. They had the land and the money to build them, they just couldn't keep up. They went to year round school, where a quarter of the students are on vacation at any given time to pack more kids in existing facilities. Only 18 of their 68 schools are still year round, all elementary schools. They have 43 elementary schools. The surge came and went, and now enrollment like everywhere else around here is in decline. Neighborhoods are aging, so fewer kids.

 

[kdonnel]

That happened here with one school district. They didn't redistrict, they just couldn't build new schools fast enough. They had the land and the money to build them, they just couldn't keep up. They went to year round school, where a quarter of the students are on vacation at any given time to pack more kids in existing facilities. Only 18 of their 68 schools are still year round, all elementary schools. They have 43 elementary schools. The surge came and went, and now enrollment like everywhere else around here is in decline. Neighborhoods are aging, so fewer kids.

Gwinnett was the fastest growing county in the US for much of the 70's, 80's. While growth has slowed from the insane 80's, population has still doubled between 2000 and 2020.

Probably another 50 years before the system has to even entertain the idea that enrollment is not growing.

 

[tvguy]

Gwinnett was the fastest growing county in the US for much of the 70's, 80's. While growth has slowed from the insane 80's, population has still doubled between 2000 and 2020.

Probably another 50 years before the system has to even entertain the idea that enrollment is not growing.

Yeah, district I live in has been closing and selling schools for the last 25 years. Only industry growing in my zip code is Assisted Living Centers.

 

[barkley]

Tomorrow is the first day for the kids.

Traffic will be horrible from about 6:45am-9:30am and then again from 2:30pm-4:30pm, Monday-Friday until May 2026.

I never knew how bad a neighbor schools were until I lived a mile from a high school, middle school, and an elementary school. 6300 kids coming by bus and car destroys traffic.

the high school I attended was built 6 years before I graduated. the old high school was in the middle of one of the busiest areas of town so the powers that be thought it would be beneficial traffic wise to build in the outskirts. yeah...that worked for a few years until developers took advantage of the new streets the city put in to access that school and started building houses. it's now smackdab in the middle of neighborhoods that go for miles and mile and creates the same traffic nightmares the old one did (and still does).

I live in a high growth area.

In the 20 years I have lived in this house, they have redistricted twice, having built two additional high schools within the cluster, in an attempt to keep up with growth. But many of the larger neighborhoods fought the redistricting so the impact to attendance was initially minor.

The high school opened in August 2004 with 2500 students. By 2008 it had over 4000 students. The latest redistricting two years ago was somewhat successful and it is down to only about 2600 students.

There are so many neighborhoods under construction that it will easily be in the 3500 range again. The cluster consists of the high school, the middle school, and three elementary schools, one of which is co located with the high school/middle school.

this is NOT a typo-our entire district (k-12) has less than 600 students.

the next closest district to us is closing in on 6000 students, have brought in 12 portable classrooms and have not dropped down to a LOW of operating at 114% of capacity in close to 5 years. I don't know how overenrolled they are currently-there have been many hundreds of new houses and apartments built in portions of the areas they cover since they last published numbers-there's over 1000 under construction now. another impact on enrollment that big district has is a law that went into effect that allows 'homeless' students to declare what they consider their 'home district' and then that district is mandated to enroll them AND provide transportation from WHEREEVER they currently reside. there have been concerns raised that due to the popularity of that district there is an abundance of students who live in less desirable districts and upon learning they meet the rather loose definition of 'homeless' the law uses, justify enrollment (and that district has to provide bussing to areas FAR from their boundaries).

 

[DodgerGirl]

I can't believe how back-to school supply lists have changed today. When I went to school my supply list included notebooks pens pencils and backpacks but now if you look at the supply list for back-to school they now list headphones and why do kids need headphones for school now? Another thing I noticed also if you have a preschooler in preschool they require nap mats and backpacks and now cleaning supplies have been added to supply lists for school. When I myself went to school I never required a giant list for back-to school

 

[Nayan]

I can't believe how back-to school supply lists have changed today. When I went to school my supply list included notebooks pens pencils and backpacks but now if you look at the supply list for back-to school they now list headphones and why do kids need headphones for school now?

Because a lot of work is done on laptops/chromebooks. Can you imagine the distraction for every one of those using speakers and not sync'ed up? Headphones are a must.

Another thing I noticed also if you have a preschooler in preschool they require nap mats and backpacks and now cleaning supplies have been added to supply lists for school. When I myself went to school I never required a giant list for back-to school

School budgets have been slashed so much that teachers are now asked to provide everything out of pocket for their classrooms while not making much money themselves. So parents are asked to chip in to help ease the burden.

 

[Dan Murphy]

if you look at the supply list for back-to school they now list headphones and why do kids need headphones for school now?

My eldest grandson, now in college, needed headphones in first grade, 13 years ago.

 

[barkley]

I can't believe how back-to school supply lists have changed today. When I went to school my supply list included notebooks pens pencils and backpacks but now if you look at the supply list for back-to school they now list headphones and why do kids need headphones for school now? Another thing I noticed also if you have a preschooler in preschool they require nap mats and backpacks and now cleaning supplies have been added to supply lists for school. When I myself went to school I never required a giant list for back-to school

it's telling how those lists have changed if you walk near one of the designated back to school supply areas at the big box stores. I was at walmart this week and in addition to the the aisles devoted to binders and folders and paper and such there was an entire multilevel shelving unit that went the entire width of all the other school supply aisles combined that had nothing but clorox wipes, baby wipes (yup-they are listed as separate required items on the school supply lists here), paper towels, boxes of tissues and other cleaning products that the kids have to bring.

I was curious so I just took a peek at our local elementary school's supply lists-do 1st graders eat crayons???? why do they alone need 3 separate 24 packs to be brought from day 1 while every other grade only needs 1 24 pack per kid? likewise with pencil sharpeners-why do 4th graders need to provide 4 each when every other grade only requires 1?

what is with the requirement to send quart and gallon bags (and no knock-off brands, specifically 'ziplock' brand is listed)? what use does the average elementary classroom have for (on average if each kid has to bring one box of each) at least 400 quart and 400 gallon bags?

 

[texaslover]

it's telling how those lists have changed if you walk near one of the designated back to school supply areas at the big box stores. I was at walmart this week and in addition to the the aisles devoted to binders and folders and paper and such there was an entire multilevel shelving unit that went the entire width of all the other school supply aisles combined that had nothing but clorox wipes, baby wipes (yup-they are listed as separate required items on the school supply lists here), paper towels, boxes of tissues and other cleaning products that the kids have to bring.

I was curious so I just took a peek at our local elementary school's supply lists-do 1st graders eat crayons???? why do they alone need 3 separate 24 packs to be brought from day 1 while every other grade only needs 1 24 pack per kid? likewise with pencil sharpeners-why do 4th graders need to provide 4 each when every other grade only requires 1?

what is with the requirement to send quart and gallon bags (and no knock-off brands, specifically 'ziplock' brand is listed)? what use does the average elementary classroom have for (on average if each kid has to bring one box of each) at least 400 quart and 400 gallon bags?

I'd invite you to come to my school and spend 1 hour in a classroom on each grade level and you will be able to answer your own questions .

We have 5 classes of PreK and 4 classes of Kinder. Yes they have accidents and yes they eat like wild animals, baby wipes are a must for bathroom, snack, and lunch times. Older grades also use them to wipe hands and desk after snack. Baggies are used to put lost teeth in so they make it home, any supplies after the kids destroy the boxes they come in, math and reading station games and their materials, to separate supplies and hand out an individual baggie of whatever to each child, to put their device login card in so it isn't destroyed day 1, etc. The school doesn't give teachers cleaning supplies so the Clorox wipes are to wipe down spills, vomit, pee, snot and to give the room a wipe down daily to help keep germs down. As far as going through pencils and crayons, yes they go through them incredibly quickly. Even after the parents send in the required amount the teachers will spend their own money replenishing. I went into a 1st grade classroom yesterday and a little boy had a baggie of crayons that were broken and had all the paper torn off of them. This was day 8 of school. I asked him what happened and he said, "It was an accident" lol.

 

[Turn the Page]

Also, a lot of elementary schools do common supplies. So you buy what is on the list and they are all put in a closet and distribute as needed. One year I remember one of the kids had a list requesting something like 12 glue sticks but no pencils. Apparently the year before the kids were eating the glue sticks or something but they had a surplus of pencils.

 

[hardcorestitch]

it's telling how those lists have changed if you walk near one of the designated back to school supply areas at the big box stores. I was at walmart this week and in addition to the the aisles devoted to binders and folders and paper and such there was an entire multilevel shelving unit that went the entire width of all the other school supply aisles combined that had nothing but clorox wipes, baby wipes (yup-they are listed as separate required items on the school supply lists here), paper towels, boxes of tissues and other cleaning products that the kids have to bring.

I was curious so I just took a peek at our local elementary school's supply lists-do 1st graders eat crayons???? why do they alone need 3 separate 24 packs to be brought from day 1 while every other grade only needs 1 24 pack per kid? likewise with pencil sharpeners-why do 4th graders need to provide 4 each when every other grade only requires 1?

what is with the requirement to send quart and gallon bags (and no knock-off brands, specifically 'ziplock' brand is listed)? what use does the average elementary classroom have for (on average if each kid has to bring one box of each) at least 400 quart and 400 gallon bags?

1st graders eating crayons huh? That’s so terrible.

 

[tvguy]

School budgets have been slashed so much that teachers are now asked to provide everything out of pocket for their classrooms while not making much money themselves. So parents are asked to chip in to help ease the burden.

Well, I am not sure teaching is unique as a profession where employees find themselves having to purchase items for work. I hate to think how much my wife and I spent of our own money for equipment and supplies over 40+ year careers, always things we felt we needed, but the employer did not, but benefited from.
My current frustration, as a board member of a newly formed non-profit trying to support Broadcast programs in schools, is finding schools willing to take grants. We have had more than one school say "no thanks, we have all the money we need", although they do welcome our members are mentors and guest speakers in their classes. I have been peeling the onion a bit, but public schools face a complicated system regarding grants. We are a small time potential donor, about $500-$1,000 per grant. But if a school accepts our gift, it could jeopardize another, much larger grant. The strings on state and federal grants are unbelievable. I have finally connected with the right person at the district I live in, who assures me she can connect us in a way that they can accept the grants. It is interesting, there is one person whose whole job in my district to coordinate donations and private grants. They have 50 full time people who work on securing Federal Grants.
One thing I have learned on the DIS is the WIDE gap in teacher salaries across the U.S. Certainly there are many underpaid teachers. But the district I live in has a strong union, so a starting teacher right out of college earns more than I earned in a job with 40+ years experience. A reason why so many of my co-workers quit Broadcasting and go into teaching.

 

[kdonnel]

Well, I am not sure teaching is unique as a profession where employees find themselves having to purchase items for work. I hate to think how much my wife and I spent of our own money for equipment and supplies over 40+ year careers, always things we felt we needed, but the employer did not, but benefited from.

I have never known other professions to be expected to spend as much as teachers are expected to spend.

My wife spends on average $2,000 of her own money each year or roughly 3% of her gross pay. And that does not include all the unpaid training time. It was not until Covid that teachers in this area pushed back hard enough against illegal labor practices which expected teachers to attend training sessions on their own time, unpaid. Since Covid there have been at least minimal stipends paid for the required training. It also does not count the 100's of unpaid hours put in before the year starts and working at home during the school year.

I have spent precisely $0 of my own money that was not reimbursed in 30+ years as a software developer.