Post your crazy school supply item here.

[cheap traveler]

I haven't read all the way through yet, but I wonder if anyone else's school has cut back on the lists?

Last year, my kindergartner needed 4 boxes of crayons, 3 composition books, 4 folders, fiskars scissors, 36 ticonderoga pencils, pencil box, 2 white t-shirts (size 10, but I got size 6 bc I hate huge shirts), 4 refill packs of baby wipes, tissues, ziplocks, and some other things i can't remember. 4 packs of wipe refills, 16 kids in the class - what could they need that many for? Especially when we are trying to teach our children conservation??

At parent's night, the principal told us he was aware of how out of hand the lists had gotten, and he was putting an end to it, along with ending the communial bins. (of course I had already bought everything on the list) I am thrilled that my kids can keep and use their own supplies this year.

Our lists just came Saturday (school starts after Labor day) - pencils, glue sticks, crayons, colored pencils, pencil box, notebooks, folders. Pretty much no quantities, only specific colors on my 3rd grader's folders, no brands listed. I will still but crayola, ticonderoga, elmer's.... but I feel much better about this list. It also says they would appreciate any help with tissues, ziplocks, and wipes. I will provide some because they asked, not demanded.

Also, this is a rural, fairly low income area. Parents were vocal about their disgust with the lists, which helped.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

What makes me mad is when I send in the good stuff then I get a note half way through the year asking for more pencils/crayons-then come to find out its because the little boy/girl that didnt have them is stealing them from my child or that the teacher is giving them to the ones that dont bring them in and then Im left sending in some for the parent that originally didnt do it!

 

[dhardawa]

My son is attending pre-k at the school this year. All he needed was:

- A backpack (non-rolling as those don't fit in their lockers)
- Pack of Expo markers
- 2 boxes of Kleenex

There was mention that the backpack needed to be big enough to hold a folder so I bought him some folders too.

My daughter is in 7th grade and that is where I get annoyed. They send nothing home. I don't find out that she needs things until school starts or she gets to the point in the year where they need the item and then she's standing in the kitchen at 7:00 am telling me she needs colored pencils for history today. If we're lucky, she might get told a few things on the first day of school, but that doesn't help me because now all the good sales are over.

My state also requires parents to pay book rental. This will run me about $125 per child. Honestly, the school supplies aren't an issue even if the list is long. So what if they want 8 boxes of Crayola crayons. They are 4/$1.00 at Toys R Us right now. That's a whopping $2. I have always completed the entire school supply list and don't think I've ever spent more than maybe $25 - $30 (for one child). If that gets her enough supplies for the year, I'm thrilled. I also use this time to restock my stash of crayons, markers, glue, notebooks, etc.

 

[Halbleib1]

Millions? Seriously? I highly doubt that. Where I live, the athletic boosters raised the money for the artificial turf and track. I know for a fact that it did not cost "millions".

The whole community uses it free of charge. On any given evening, there are adults jogging the track and local sports clubs playing football, lacrosse or soccer on the field. Gym classes use the field on a regular basis during the school day. Band competitions are held there. And PIAA state playoffs are consistently held on fields with artificial turf, bringing revenue to the school that otherwise would not be received. The school district pays to maintain the field, which is cheaper than maintaining a grass field. And the athletes have a safer, more consistent playing surface. It was a win-win all around, which is why the school board took us up on our offer when the athletic boosters proposed the project.

According to this article http://www.fieldturf.com/artificial-turf-news/P300/turf-fields-taking-root-in-york/ it cost anywhere from 850000-1000000.00 back in 2005 and there have been more recent local news reports of it being well over a million. So yes millions when you take into account multiple schools in the state doing it.

 

[Halbleib1]

Since someone already addressed the other part of your post, I am going to address the pension portion.

Teachers in my state do not pay into Social Security, instead we pay into a public employee retirement account (pera). They take 10% of the money we earn out of our paycheck just like SS is taken out of your paycheck. You do not pay our retirement, we do. They do not match these funds, it is all out of our gross income, just as SS is from your gross income.

Even though I have paid into SS with the jobs I had as a teen and my second job that I had to supplement my teaching salary, I will never collect SS. We are not allowed to "double dip."

Teachers here also do not pay social security however the state guarantees their pensions. http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/...-Kill-state-teacher-guaranteed-pensions-.html.

 

[tarynsmum]

DD is a rising 1st grader. We live in a very small school district (2 elementary schools and a Jr/Sr high school) and there are NO supply lists. The only thing that is asked for is a backpack and tennies for on gym days. Seriously. Because I'm a huge nerd I was actually sad last year when I called the school office to ask them about it. I waws REALLY looking forward to buying that stuff

 

[rszdtrvl]

I just wanted to add that when my son was in elementary school, I was one of those parents who always sent boxes of tissue to school with him to give to the teacher.

He has horrible allergies, and can easily go through a box of tissue on his own in less than a week.

I always made sure to send extra boxes every few months, to help replenish what I knew he would use. And also sent him a box to keep in his desk (one of those smaller rectangluar ones)

 

[Friendly Frog]

You don't live in Texas, do you ? Millions on a high school football field is not unheard of around here. http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/public-education/texas-60-million-high-school-football-stadium/ Yes, this one was built with bond money, but the bond money could have been allocated for better uses, IMO. --Katie

As someone from Texas I will tell you yes, they absolutely spend millions on football here. It is totally out of hand. I think most children would get more out of a music program. It is parents who push for the football fields.

My mom lives in one of the poorest counties in Texas and the tiny little school district put in a fancy (even by Dallas standards) football field with artificial turf, really nice stands, and huge light sets. The area has few business for a tax base and a large number of children in the school system. ( Due to the largely immigrant population working at the one and only large manufacturing plant.) With all the drain on the school system and over crowded classrooms, did they really needed a fancy football field?

My cousin was a school teacher in the DFW area for years. She said the waste was horrible. She said they did not use the full allocated fund for the year, the next year they got less money. Guess what, they always used the full amount whether they really needed it or not. They were afraid that the next year they would be sorry if they didn't. She also said some teachers would hoard supplies. Sad, really sad.

Don't even get me started on how school taxes or federal income exemptions are done. IMO, no senior citizen should have to pay school taxes and federal income taxes should have caps on the number of family exemptions.

 

[KCMiller]

I have three grown children, so I'm out of the school supply game, but I am firmly in the 'if I buy it for my kids, it's for MY kids' camp. I never minded donating stuff to the school for kids who couldn't afford to buy pencils, but if I purchased school supplies for my children, and sent them to the class, they were supposed to be for MY children, not to go into a communal pot.

My feelings on this haven't changed since my first day of kindergarten. I was so excited - my mom had taken me on a special shopping trip to buy 4 nice pencils, a bookbag (remember bookbags?), and a nice new box of Crayola crayons. When I got to school, the teacher had me put the pencils and the crayons in a big metal cupboard, and when it was time for coloring, I went to get them, but Francis had taken my pretty box and was busily peeling the paper from all my nice new crayons. The teacher told me that I had to choose other ones, and that they were all alike, but all that was left were these nasty, fat, off brand crayons. I always hated Francis after that, even though he lived on the same floor as me in my apartment building.

Ah, memories.

KC

 

[torinsmom]

Teachers here also do not pay social security however the state guarantees their pensions. http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/...-Kill-state-teacher-guaranteed-pensions-.html.

Just want to remind people that this is not true in all states. I believe there are less than 20 states where teachers do not pay into SS. I teach in NC and pay into SS AND a mandatory retirement account. We are on the low end of the average state teacher pay as well.

 

[Styx Fan]

IMO, no senior citizen should have to pay school taxes and federal income taxes should have caps on the number of family exemptions.

I so totally disagree with this statement....especially the part of seniors not playing school taxes. I am 49 years old. I pay into social security. The age continues to collect keeps rising...and I honestly don't think it will even be around for my generation to collect. Not too mention the the younger folks. Not to get into a debate on the whole SS issue, but if we all pay that, why would seniors not pay school taxes? Why?

Are kids and the future not important to older folks? If you live to 80, the kids education you help pay for at the start of being a senior (is that 50 like at my local "senior center" ? Or 65? or what?) turn into the adults helping to run our country. I sure would want them educated!

I better stop as I am getting angry and don't want to say more than I should.

 

[Marionnette]

According to this article http://www.fieldturf.com/artificial-turf-news/P300/turf-fields-taking-root-in-york/ it cost anywhere from 850000-1000000.00 back in 2005 and there have been more recent local news reports of it being well over a million. So yes millions when you take into account multiple schools in the state doing it.

A. The article also states that the cost varies based on a number of factors, including the need for excavation, the number of lines needed for multiple sports and any logos that might be added to the turf at mid-field.
B. Pennsylvania school districts rely on local taxes for a large portion of their budgets. That means that each district gets to decide, so unless you're talking about Philadelphia or Chester where the schools use more state funds than they collect in property taxes, your point about the multiple schools across the state installing artificial turf is moot. It's none of my business what Franklin Regional decides if I live in Plum Boro or Bradford.
C. As I stated before, not every school pays for their athletic field improvements. Our athletic boosters paid for ours. And even if the money could have been spent on music or art supplies, the money was not raised for that purpose. The band parents and art honor society have their own fundraisers to supplement their activities.

But if you want to compare numbers from the same source that you cited, take a look at this cost analysis:
http://www.fieldturf.com/football-turf/cost-analysis/
Total cost of an artificial turf field over the life expectancy of the material (8-10 years) is $765K, including maintenance.

 

[stm61]

Instead of pencil boxes, use gallon size zip baggies. They are much cheaper and can be replaced as needed. I've had some last a semester or longer, some not so much. As for the boys breaking the crayons, I'd fish them out of the trash and make them use only the broken ones. Natural consequences. Kids will be more careful with your things if they are excluded from using the "good stuff" when they mistreat it. I have a cabinet in my basement I dedicate to school supplies. No storage at school is really hard.

I tried the zip baggies, but the kids get impatient and rip them, or they think they're closed when they're not and we all get to play the "how long can it take to pick my stuff up game". We did make them use the broken crayons, it was the fishing it out of the trash that became a problem. We had an issue with several of the boys spitting into the trash cans, plus we had juice and milk from breakfast dumped in there. Add in the kids with horrible allergies who had tons of used tissues and nobody was going near those cans. Unfortunately, the kids involved could care less that somebody had to spend money for the stuff they wasted.

 

[JCH]

Wow, as a teacher I'm reading this thinking maybe I should be asking for more on my supply list! I teach middle school science, and the only supplies are pens or mechanical pencils (pencil sharpeners drive me nuts!), a folder specifically for the class(any kind), and notebook paper. Even with that, I am giving kids pencils all year. It isn't that they can't afford them. They just forget them, lose them, etc.

I do ask for a lab donation to cover lab supplies. I consider myself a master of the kitchen sink science lab, so each experiment generally costs $5 per class, with there being 4 labs per quarter. I ask for $10, and usually get that from about a third of the students, which covers the supplies. Sometimes I'll have a particularly generous parent, in which case I am able to get something especially cool and send them a thank you note letting them know that their donation paid for the slime we made in class.

I think this is easier than asking for ziploc bags, crayons, etc. For my purpose, I need specific things for different labs. Only Dawn will work for some labs, generic bags will break, and if I need to order glassware because it breaks, a lab budget works much better!

 

[Marionnette]

Don't even get me started on how school taxes or federal income exemptions are done. IMO, no senior citizen should have to pay school taxes and federal income taxes should have caps on the number of family exemptions.

So, seniors who are the custodians of their school-age grandchildren should not have to pay school taxes but couples who choose to be child-free should pay school taxes because...why?

There are all kinds of reasons that I can see for a senior citizen to pay school taxes if they are a property owner. For one, good schools benefit the entire community. For another, your property values are higher if you live in a good school district. And lastly, the annual cost to educate a child is not paid for with just one year of your tax money. So even though my children are finished with their K-12 educations, I have not even come close to repaying the community for what it cost to educate them for those 13 years.

 

[JCH]

*meant to quote the person before about kids throwing away broken crayons...accidentally quoted myself...getting used to the new IPad app *

I hate when the kids waste things. When I get on their case, they respond with "What, it was only like 25 cents.". They have no understanding that 25 cents times 150 students adds up very quickly!

 

[lady9]

Wow, as a teacher I'm reading this thinking maybe I should be asking for more on my supply list! I teach middle school science, and the only supplies are pens or mechanical pencils (pencil sharpeners drive me nuts!), a folder specifically for the class(any kind), and notebook paper. Even with that, I am giving kids pencils all year. It isn't that they can't afford them. They just forget them, lose them, etc.
!

If you lend a pencil, it should be returned. A teacher in my district bought hideous fake flowers and super glued them to pencils and pens. She topped it off with ribbon for a little extra hold. If a student forgot a pencil or pen, she would lend one of hers out. At the end of class, she could quickly see who borrowed from her and ask for it back.

Another teacher asked for something in exchange when he lent a pencil or pen to ensure he got it back. Often a student would offer up their phone, shoe, or book. He always got his stuff back as the students needed their things back as well.

Both of these teachers were middle/high school teachers. I think it teaches a valuable lesson, return what you borrow or remember you own things.

 

[ekatiel]

If you lend a pencil, it should be returned. A teacher in my district bought hideous fake flowers and super glued them to pencils and pens. She topped it off with ribbon for a little extra hold. If a student forgot a pencil or pen, she would lend one of hers out. At the end of class, she could quickly see who borrowed from her and ask for it back.

Another teacher asked for something in exchange when he lent a pencil or pen to ensure he got it back. Often a student would offer up their phone, shoe, or book. He always got his stuff back as the students needed their things back as well.

Both of these teachers were middle/high school teachers. I think it teaches a valuable lesson, return what you borrow or remember you own things.

We used to have to give up a shoe in middle and high school in order to borrow a pencil. Rest assured, the teachers always got their pencils back . --Katie

 

[patsal]

If you lend a pencil, it should be returned. A teacher in my district bought hideous fake flowers and super glued them to pencils and pens. She topped it off with ribbon for a little extra hold. If a student forgot a pencil or pen, she would lend one of hers out. At the end of class, she could quickly see who borrowed from her and ask for it back.

Another teacher asked for something in exchange when he lent a pencil or pen to ensure he got it back. Often a student would offer up their phone, shoe, or book. He always got his stuff back as the students needed their things back as well.

Both of these teachers were middle/high school teachers. I think it teaches a valuable lesson, return what you borrow or remember you own things.

I tried the fake flower thing...I ended up picking up the flower from the floor while the lovelies took off with the pens...and I used floral tape all the way up and down the dang thing. High School boys really know how to pry stuff off, and I'll take them destroying the pens over prying the keys off the laptops...I really wish they had to pay for the stuff they break!

 

[Cynt]

I don't have any kids but I just don't understand these outrageous list of items kids need to bring to school. 5, 6, 7 boxes of crayons?!?!? Why??? I'm from a family of 7 we each got one box of crayons. My mom let us pick 24, 64 or 124 but that was all you got. We all came home w/ a box of crayons at the end of the year. Yes the popular colors were just a stub by then but we made it work. And name brand pencils??? That's ridiculous. Why aren't the parents standing up to these teachers and telling them no way no how? To me it's not even about the money it's the principle. What if the parents demanded the schools to use private school curriculums? They could only wear name brand suits to school to teach.

I also noticed that you have to turn everything in to the teacher. I think this is the problem. If they stopped this and made each child be responsible for their items 1) they wouldn't waste them and 2) more students would bring the needed items. I understand the 80 to 20 rule. 80% of the students would bring items and the other 20% wouldn't bring everything or anything at all. But I believe if the ridiculous items were taken off the list the parents would be more inclined to purchase the necessary items. As a society this is just another example of us being wasteful.

I don't know how I would react if I was a parent. What does a teacher do w/ a parent who insist on labeling their child's items and telling the child to use their own items and don't turn them into the teacher? It's not my responsibility to provide items for other students. And I'm in the Dallas area and the new Supt. just hired this communication lady and he's paying her six figures. Fire hire, let me do the communicating and let's use that $100K+ to purchase school items for the teachers and families who really need it.

But I'm still puzzled by the 5,6, 7 boxes of crayons. I just don't understand that. If you have a class of 25 students. Let's go with the 80/20 rule. That's 20 students bringing 5 boxes of crayons = 100 boxes of crayons. So each child has 4 boxes of crayons for a 10 month school year. So every 2.5 months a child needs a new box of crayons. Why is it that in the 1970s a box of crayons took us through the school year and we actually used them every day - day in and day out because we didn't have computers to help educate us but now a child needs 4 boxes to last them through the school year.

OK stepping off my soapbox.