No gifts for teachers in Alabama

[mhsjax]

You seem more upset that you aren't going to get any good gifts than what you are allowed to give to your kids' teachers .

Did you actually read her post. She said she worked in an inner city school and that she would much rather give them a gift than receive one.

 

[DisneyDmbNut]

I have always given my DD's teachers a gift at the beginning of the year until she got to middle school and had 6. Usually it was a Target card because I know teachers often need to purchase items for the classroom out of their own pocket.
This year, my DD's math teacher request a specific item (5 Star Spiral Notebook) and I was unable to find it..she gave my daughter one she had in the classroom. I sent a thank you note and a Target gift card.
I never looked at it as a bribe..rather that I didn't want my daughter to miss an activity because not everyone was able to buy all the supplies they needed.

OP - will Alabama allow you to make a "donation" to the classroom??

 

[BkrsLoveDis!]

The law the OP is talking about is actually a law aimed at all public employees and officials and does not single out teachers.

Actually, Alabama is the only state that has included teachers under its ethics guidelines . . . So, yes, they kind of have been singled out, in a round about way.

 

[MinnieGi]

I think that is a shame Alabama is dictating no gifts to teachers. My kids ENJOY picking out items their teachers would like, making cards and presenting it to their teachers. My kids always think of what their teachers like or what type of coffee they drink so we buy that type of gc. Truly they want to show their appreciation for what their teachers do for them and I think that is sad AL is taking that away from the kids.

 

[clh2]

This saddens me from one perspective. My DD used to put SO MUCH effort into the gifts she chose for her teachers. In Kinder - DD helped me to stencil a cute winter scene on sweatshirts, that the kinder teacher and aides really appreciated. (gave them in early December, so they could wear them - and all 3 wore them throughout the winter season.) This gift "while fun to make - wouldn't have been "right" for any of her other teachers, so we only made them that year.) Another year, DD picked a "split-pea and ham" soup mix for a teacher, she knew the teacher would LOVE it, based on a book that was read to the class.

We didn't buy "generic" gifts for any of the teachers...they were specific things, based on DD's knowledge of the teacher.

Teacher gifts are wonderful - when the giver picks one based on the teachers likes!

 

[cjdj4]

I would never expect anything in return from a gift that I gave to a teacher. I love receiving cards and notes from parents and children and have saved them all through my 19 years of teaching. I teach in the inner city and hardly ever receive gifts from my students. I would much rather give them a gift than receive one from them. The issue for me is why is the state allowed to tell me who I can and can't give a gift to? If I want to give a gift to my child's teacher to show her how appreciative I am of her why shouldn't I be able to and why does the government get to tell me what I can give?

I am an inner city MS teacher, and have hardly ever received gifts. The notes and the dollar store gifts are worth more to me than anything else they could buy. However, I love to show DD's teacher how much we appreciate her at holiday time, and I would not like it of someone told me I couldn't.

HALF birthdays - Are the real birthdays in the summer? If that is the case, I kind of like that the teacher is celebrating a summer birthdays because it stinks never having the opportunity to celebrate your birthday with your friends at school. I am not so sure about the adults half birthdays. I would not celebrate my half birthday. However, DH's b-day is the day after Christmas, and he always gets shafted so I sometimes do something for him in June. I NEVER involve or invite anyone else to the half birthday celebration just us and DD.

- just cause.

 

[LuvMickey36]

I haven't read all the replies so this might have already been mentioned. I have always picked a child(ren) from the Angel Tree and bought for them. I give the teachers a nice card and write in leu (sp?? I always get that wonky) of a gift a donation was made in your honor to an Angel Tree recipient. It always seems to be appreciated.

 

[shoney]

I agree with this policy because I think it has gotten out of hand where we live. Not just holiday.....gifts in general. My friends daughters teacher had surgery and was out for 6 weeks. The class mom's asked for $20 from each kid for a present....$20 x 24 kids in the class is crazy!!!! they bought flowers, pj's, slippers, and the rest went to a target gift card. I really think this was a bit too much...

 

[bannilong]

I left it up to the teacher to decide the best way to use it.

 

[marlynnp]

This is not related to the topic but I want to know if it's weired.

DS's teacher send an email to all parents requesting all the kids bring in a card for the teacher's assistant's HALF birthday.

Then couple weeks late, I got another email from one of the classroom parents requesting all kids bring in a card another for the teacher's HALF birthday.

The teacher also puts both HALF birthdays in the weekly newsletter.

Honestly, making a card is not too much trouble and DS enjoys doing that. While I haven't relized previously that both half birthdays falls in this month, I've prepared GC as Christmas gifts for both of them. However, for the teacher to ask for a card and a HALF birthday card, is very weird to me.

Is school in your area out in June?

 

[nunzia]

Because of a new state ethics law in Alabama teachers are not allowed to receive gifts from students. I am a teacher and we can lose our certificate for accepting a Christmas gift from a child. I have 4 children and I always try to do something nice for their teachers. You can give a card, baked goods or items for the classroom but nothing of monetary value for the teacher her/himself.

All I can say to this is GOOD GRIEF!!!!

 

[Disney_Princess83]

That's so wrong. There are so many laws taking things way too far these days. I hardly think a $5 box of chocolates and Christmas card could be considered a bribe!?! My family has always given gifts to our teachers when we were at school. It wasn't a bribe, it was a Christmas gift.

Because of a new state ethics law in Alabama teachers are not allowed to receive gifts from students. I am a teacher and we can lose our certificate for accepting a Christmas gift from a child. I have 4 children and I always try to do something nice for their teachers. You can give a card, baked goods or items for the classroom but nothing of monetary value for the teacher her/himself.

 

[DawnM]

You may not but unfortunately it has happened.

Oh come on giving a gift to a teacher is not a bribe and i wouldn't think that a teacher would even think that. I think its a nice gesture to recognize the people who are with my children for 7 hours a day.
Also kids love giving their teachers a small gift, it makes them feel good (especially when they are young).
I think its just crazy..almost as crazy as the email i got from my kids' school about birthdays in school. They dont want the kids to bring in small snacks anymore, they want them to "bring in a book and read to the class, and maybe the class can sing Happy Birthday"..really???

 

[kiddo76]

To say this is a new law that prohibits Christmas gifts to teachers is somewhat misleading. This is an update to an existing law that covers all public employees, of which teachers are included.

According to the law, gifts of de minimus value are still acceptable. So homemade cards and goodies, ornaments, boxes of chocolates, mugs, candles, Dollar Tree store items etc are all still acceptable. IMO, it is inappropriate to give a teacher more than that for a gift anyway, so I think the change in this law is reasonable. When I worked as a paraprofessional, I would have felt very uncomfortable, but appreciative, to receive a gift of significant monetary value.

It is very important for public employees to treat all the citizens for whom they work equally. A person paying $20,000 a year in property taxes should receive the same services as a person who pays no property taxes. Perception is reality. While a teacher may not take a gift as a bribe, it can cause problems if someone perceives that a child is getting special treatment because the teacher has received valuable gifts from that child.

The schools should have already informed the parents of what is acceptable for teachers’ gifts in order to avoid any awkwardness in the classroom. Hopefully the schools can come up with a reasonable policy of how teachers are to handle inappropriate gifts, such as turning any such gifts over to the principal who will then contact and return the gift to the parents.

 

[Tinkh]

I really like this idea. In one of the schools around here, one of the teachers was given a Coach purse that one of the mothers sent letters out to collect for. Really? The children just LOVED getting together and giving that one purse out. This was a first grade class.... I think the gifts of nominal value is a great idea especially for the kids who may not be able to donate to buy a teacher a Coach purse. They wanted like 20 bucks from each kid to pay for the purse and the cost of the party. The moms went crazy buying stuff for the party. Everything had to be perfect.

One of the best gifts my son ever gave was to his teacher that I think he secretly had a bit of a crush on. This was in third grade. For the month of December, every time we went somewhere and he saw a pig item he wanted to pick it up for her. She had told the class one time that she loved pigs haha. Was a lot of it silly junk? Yep. However, his teacher gave him the biggest hug and was cracking up when she saw me the next day. (I was an aide in the resource room at the time) She loved that gift because it showed her that he listened to her. Also, he was SO happy!! I am grateful that at that moment he was excited to give and NOT just to receive.

 

[Alesia]

Does this also mean that I can't give a gift card to the lady who delivers the mail? Would she fall under the same guidelines?

Actually mail carriers haven't technically been allowed to accept gifts for a long time.

Not exactly:

Postal Service employees may accept the following items:

Snacks and beverages that are not offered as part of a meal.
Items with little intrinsic value (i.e., greeting cards, plaques, pens, coffee mugs, etc.).
Perishable items (i.e., flowers, chocolates, cookies, etc.); if the items are clearly worth more than $20, employees should share them with others in the Postal Service workplace.
Items with a market (retail) value of $20 or less.
Gifts motivated solely because of a personal relationship.
Gifts for which the employee has paid market (retail) value.
Gifts paid for by the Postal Service.

Postal Service employees may not accept cash - in any amount or form (bills, checks, money orders) - from an outside source.

So yes, gift cards are fine as long as the value is $20 or less.

 

[torinsmom]

I am an inner city MS teacher, and have hardly ever received gifts. The notes and the dollar store gifts are worth more to me than anything else they could buy. However, I love to show DD's teacher how much we appreciate her at holiday time, and I would not like it of someone told me I couldn't.

HALF birthdays - Are the real birthdays in the summer? If that is the case, I kind of like that the teacher is celebrating a summer birthdays because it stinks never having the opportunity to celebrate your birthday with your friends at school. I am not so sure about the adults half birthdays. I would not celebrate my half birthday. However, DH's b-day is the day after Christmas, and he always gets shafted so I sometimes do something for him in June. I NEVER involve or invite anyone else to the half birthday celebration just us and DD.

- just cause.

We always celebrate summer birthdays the last few weeks of school if the child wants to do so. I send out an email to parents letting them know this is an option. I figure they see kids celebrating all year and they should get that chance too.

As far as not allowing gifts, I think they could just put a limit and that would be that. I don't think there should be a problem with a gift valued $20 or under. I don't treat kids whose parents give me gifts any better than others, just as I don't treat the kids whose parents make my life hell any worse than others.

 

[lisalis]

I quit my teaching job a few years ago and sub now. The district I live in Iowa does not allow gifts to teachers to be more than $3, which is the most ridiculous thing. I still like to buy the teacher a gift, so I usually get nice items for the classroom that they might otherwise pay out of pocket for. They are allowed to receive items for the classroom. I'm excited this year to buy a gift for my youngest, who attends a private preschool.

Teachers get so few perks as it is, it's a shame they are not allowed to receive gifts. We always pay for our own travel & lunches at conferences and extra education beyond the bachelor degree. My husband, with just a bachelor's degree, has always had jobs that pay twice as much, pay for masters education classes, travel & meal expenses during training, and Christmas gifts or bonuses. I'm not complaining; just giving a comparison

 

[sp0ngem0nkey]

This is sad.

to randomly post-
half birthdays should be for the kids with Summer b'days that should celebrate with their school friends.

Lisa- agree. A lot of money that teachers make go right back to the kids. I always filled my supply of goodies for a reward box for my students or bought supplies because I did not want to wait for approval then ordering when I could buy it.

I would not accept a Couch purse but $10 gift card I would or a cute little hand drawn book I would love! I actually loved getting little gifts that reminded me of the child. I got a cloth orange pear from a student. That to this day I take out and put on my table for Fall. I still have a small clock a student gave me that I made him sign on the back. I think it means a lot when you get little things from little people. Giving is from the heart not the pocket book.

It is sad that the state would take that option away. I said "option". There should be no mandatory giving. I think teachers are smart enough not to get gifts as bribes. What would that teach anyone? If i even thought it was a bribe I would refuse it. Teachers are not in it for materialistic things. They know the pay they receive when getting the job.

 

[scrapquitler]

I quit my teaching job a few years ago and sub now. The district I live in Iowa does not allow gifts to teachers to be more than $3, which is the most ridiculous thing.

No Starbucks Coffee Drinks...way too extravagant. Sounds like this regulation was written a long time ago.