School fundraisers....I HATE them.

[castleview]

Actually, if you read carefully, the OP said "consequently" meaning that there is a cause and effect relationship between her child attending public school and being above level in reading, that being above grade level is a CONSEQUENCE of attending public school.

I wonder if she meant to compliment the school.

If I'm wrong, I apologize. If anything it points out that an involved parent is important for school success. I got the impression that she had little regard for public schools. Again, I apologize if I'm wrong.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

If I'm wrong, I apologize. If anything it points out that an involved parent is important for school success. I got the impression that she had little regard for public schools. Again, I apologize if I'm wrong.

On the contrary, "I" apologize! It appears I ruffled feathers when in actuality I am agreeing with you.

I think she has little regard for public schools, yes, as you do. The beauty, or irony, of her statement is that she means to lambast them and in fact does the opposite.

Just having a little chuckle; sorry to offend.

 

[castleview]

On the contrary, "I" apologize! It appears I ruffled feathers when in actuality I am agreeing with you.

I think she has little regard for public schools, yes, as you do. The beauty, or irony, of her statement is that she means to lambast them and in fact does the opposite.

Just having a little chuckle; sorry to offend.

No problem.

 

[EthansMom]

We have a choice.. to either pay $50 and not be bothered selling anything or sell stuff to raise funds. I think I am going to pay $50 and be done with it.

I wish a $50 check would do it.

I've seen our PTO's budget. They need to raise approximately $300 per child each year in order to have as much money in their budget next year as they have this year.

I'm not giving as much money to the PTO this year as I have in the past... the economy sucks and my money would better benefit the local community if I donate to the food pantry and to help pay energy bills for folks who need the help. I'll still give to the PTO, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who is giving them less this year.

 

[*Fantasia*]

Is that a private school? I don't see how a public school could demand that you pay $50 if you don't sell anything. What would they do if you didn't pay?

Very good question! I didn't think about that one because I was so used to paying Catholic school of $125 for fund raising up front before the children start school and $50 sound good compare to $125. They were in Catholic school all those years up until now, they are in public school (thank goodness they don't have problems adjusting to their new school). You pay $25 now, then pay $25 later. I am quite sure if money is tight, that they will let you break it down and pay little each month.

 

[DisneyKT]

If you don't want to participate then don't. There are many things that the PTO fundraising has done for our school. To name a few. New laptop computers for each of the classrooms. Field Trips. And also this year (granted we had a lot of money in the account) we are buying a huge piece of playground equipment. All the money goes back to the kids.

We also have a reading program, where we buy one book for each child who participates. We only do one selling fund raiser a year and it's Yankee Candle.
Maybe you should go to one of the PTO meetings and suggest a free fundraising idea.

 

[stm61]

I don't know who runs our fundraisers at the school I work for, I just started last week. I do know that every kid in the school went to an assembly run by some guy who has a company that does fundraisers. I don't know if the PTA had him come in, but he's not a member. At this assembly the guy had a huge inflatable, crawl thru, bouncy thing set up. Noone was allowed to touch it, but they all got to look at it. Then they all heard about the great party they would go to if they sold X amount of over-priced junk, while the rest of the school would have to stay in their rooms and do work. Now explain to all these elementary age kids why most of them will not be attending the party because this is a low income rural area and most of their family members will not be buying any of the high-priced junk. Last school year, at another low income elementary, I got to watch half an assembly with the kids. Only 25 kids in the entire school got to see the second half because they were the only ones whose parents managed to sell X amount of junk. Coincidently, none of them lived in low-income homes. These lucky kids were brought up on stage and the principal told everyone how wonderful they were because their parents had sold this junk. These kids got special seating up front, the magician was only allowed to choose volunteers from among them, and they were brought up on stage again at the end and taken behind the curtain for their own special show, while the rest of the school was sent back to class. Now explain to the rest of the kids why their parents and other relatives could not afford to buy the junk, so that they could get all this special treatment to. Yeah, that was a real fun day.
If you need a fund raiser, fine, but there is absolutely no reason to treat the kid's whose parents can't afford to buy that way.

 

[*Fantasia*]

OP.. I hope you don't mind if I take a little bit of your space here...

Wouldn't it better if we buy stuff worth $50, rather than just giving $50? I mean, I don't like selling stuff.. but instead of selling, I'll buy whatever they are trying to sell worth $50, so whatever it may be, we can enjoy what we bought?

 

[DisneyKT]

I don't know who runs our fundraisers at the school I work for, I just started last week. I do know that every kid in the school went to an assembly run by some guy who has a company that does fundraisers. I don't know if the PTA had him come in, but he's not a member. At this assembly the guy had a huge inflatable, crawl thru, bouncy thing set up. Noone was allowed to touch it, but they all got to look at it. Then they all heard about the great party they would go to if they sold X amount of over-priced junk, while the rest of the school would have to stay in their rooms and do work. Now explain to all these elementary age kids why most of them will not be attending the party because this is a low income rural area and most of their family members will not be buying any of the high-priced junk. Last school year, at another low income elementary, I got to watch half an assembly with the kids. Only 25 kids in the entire school got to see the second half because they were the only ones whose parents managed to sell X amount of junk. Coincidently, none of them lived in low-income homes. These lucky kids were brought up on stage and the principal told everyone how wonderful they were because their parents had sold this junk. These kids got special seating up front, the magician was only allowed to choose volunteers from among them, and they were brought up on stage again at the end and taken behind the curtain for their own special show, while the rest of the school was sent back to class. Now explain to the rest of the kids why their parents and other relatives could not afford to buy the junk, so that they could get all this special treatment to. Yeah, that was a real fun day.
If you need a fund raiser, fine, but there is absolutely no reason to treat the kid's whose parents can't afford to buy that way.

Wow that's lousy.... That would never fly around here. I believe that principal needs to find a new job.

 

[SunKat]

We have a choice.. to either pay $50 and not be bothered selling anything or sell stuff to raise funds. I think I am going to pay $50 and be done with it.

I wish we had that option! My daughter, who is in middle school, just came home with the first fundraiser package of the year. Selling magazines, ugh. I ordered one for her, I'll get one for myself, and my parents will probably order one. That's it.

The thing that annoys me is, they send home a little booklet where they ask you to fill in ten names and addresses for friends and relatives who live out of state (or out of local area). Those people would then get a postcard in the mail asking to buy a magazine from my dd. For the first time ever, I threw the booklet in the garbage. My dd was upset, because it means one less prize for her, for not turning in the booklet. Oh well, she'll get over it.

I am so DONE with this type of fundraising. I've been doing it for school, dance, Girl Scouts, etc, for the past eight years. I'm DONE bothering the neighbors and relatives asking them to buy junk, cookie dough, magazines and all the rest.

From now on, I'll just send a check to the PTA. I'll still participate in bake sales and car wash fundraisers, but I'm done selling crap!!!

 

[aprilgail2]

I don't know who runs our fundraisers at the school I work for, I just started last week. I do know that every kid in the school went to an assembly run by some guy who has a company that does fundraisers. I don't know if the PTA had him come in, but he's not a member. At this assembly the guy had a huge inflatable, crawl thru, bouncy thing set up. Noone was allowed to touch it, but they all got to look at it. Then they all heard about the great party they would go to if they sold X amount of over-priced junk, while the rest of the school would have to stay in their rooms and do work. Now explain to all these elementary age kids why most of them will not be attending the party because this is a low income rural area and most of their family members will not be buying any of the high-priced junk. Last school year, at another low income elementary, I got to watch half an assembly with the kids. Only 25 kids in the entire school got to see the second half because they were the only ones whose parents managed to sell X amount of junk. Coincidently, none of them lived in low-income homes. These lucky kids were brought up on stage and the principal told everyone how wonderful they were because their parents had sold this junk. These kids got special seating up front, the magician was only allowed to choose volunteers from among them, and they were brought up on stage again at the end and taken behind the curtain for their own special show, while the rest of the school was sent back to class. Now explain to the rest of the kids why their parents and other relatives could not afford to buy the junk, so that they could get all this special treatment to. Yeah, that was a real fun day.
If you need a fund raiser, fine, but there is absolutely no reason to treat the kid's whose parents can't afford to buy that way.

Wow that is so wrong. We sent home our fall fundraiser last week- no big kick off or anything like that. People sell what they can. In fact the kids never know who sold the most or the least. I know some school that have this big end of the fundraiser thing and the child that sold the most gets to go on the stage and go into a money machine where he/she can grab as much money as he/she can in a set amount of time. All the other kids get to sit in the audience and watch- of course it is not the lower income kids that ever get to go up there- its usually the kid that doesn't need the money anyway.
Our operating budget is close to 70,000 so a 40.00 check is really no where near what we need per student- its more lke 170.00 per student we need to raise for the cultural arts programs and other school events like field day, family picnic, ice cream party, fall festival etc.

 

[EthansMom]

OP.. I hope you don't mind if I take a little bit of your space here...

Wouldn't it better if we buy stuff worth $50, rather than just giving $50? I mean, I don't like selling stuff.. but instead of selling, I'll buy whatever they are trying to sell worth $50, so whatever it may be, we can enjoy what we bought?

Actually, the PTO only makes a percentage of the money on the products. So, if you spend $50 on "stuff", the PTO might only get $15 or $20 from your money and the company that makes the "stuff" gets the rest. It's of much better benefit to you and the PTO if you just send them a check and don't buy any of the junk. You can probably deduct your contribution on your taxes (check first if they are an IRS charitable org.) and the PTO gets the full $50 instead of just a fraction.

 

[*Fantasia*]

Actually, the PTO only makes a percentage of the money on the products. So, if you spend $50 on "stuff", the PTO might only get $15 or $20 from your money and the company that makes the "stuff" gets the rest. It's of much better benefit to you and the PTO if you just send them a check and don't buy any of the junk. You can probably deduct your contribution on your taxes (check first if they are an IRS charitable org.) and the PTO gets the full $50 instead of just a fraction.

ic.. thanks.

 

[stm61]

Wow that's lousy.... That would never fly around here. I believe that principal needs to find a new job.

I wish it was just one principal! Alot of them do it around here. My own kids school has a pizza party or something for the class that sells the most, and each kid can earn X amount of junk for themselves for every X amount they sell. I hope that made some sense lol. At least the class thing doesn't single out just a few kids, I think the PTA arranges it. A teacher once told me that their principal rewarded the rich kids because she knew it was only their parents that would sell anything, everybody else was to busy trying to survive. The higher income parents competed with each other over EVERYHING! I swear, if they had an outbreak of chicken pox the mothers would fight over who's kid had the most spots!

 

[ZPT1022]

I agree with the previous poster. The vast majority of school fundraisers are organized by and benefit the PTO/PTA. At our school, the PTO uses such funds to pay for enrichment programs (puppet shows, science demonstration-style shows, etc..), field trips, a Thanksgiving Feast for the school, the Teacher Appreciation Breakfast, etc... Our school also has a policy of not giving any rewards for any child/class for sales. Nor do we take any instruction time to market the fundraiser to the kids.

Tell your child, "No, we won't be doing that." If necessary, I would offer to buy my child another small item out of my own pocket... a new Hot Wheels car, for instance.

I wish my kids schools would do this. I don't need the crap in my house and if the point of the sale is to make money for the school, please don't waste it buying crap I don't want my kids to have anyway I tried to ask if we could opt-out of the prizes and the response was "Sure, we'll just give your DD's prize to one of the PTO parent's kids." UMmmmm...........no thanks, I'll send it along with my donations around Christmastime if that's the case

 

[Erin1700]

I am sitting here reading this thread as I fill in the order form for my DD's fundraiser! We sold from the Catalog of Crap as we like to call it! We bought 2 things and my mom bought some wrapping paper. That is our contribution for this year!

 

[teacups]

I started home schooling last year.The school my kids attended did (still does) a yearly harvest party and sold tickets. This was the fundraiser and it goes over really well each year. Its basically a school carnival with booths and trinkets to win and food to buy... but the big money comes from a basket silent auction where each classroom gets a theme to build a gift basket around, and then those baskets are auctioned off the night of the harvest fest. We raised A LOT of money!! I was always in charge of the basket in my kids' classes and it was a challenge to build the biggest and best basket of course... but I'd much rather do that than sell stuff like the OP is talking about. This way it's fun for everyone and the school makes money. The money went to reading programs for struggling kids and each teacher got an "allowance" from it for classroom needs. I will admit... going to this years event was odd. I didnt build a basket of course since we HS! I had much more fun this year LOL! My advice to OP is that maybe it's time to HS ALL of your kids if you are that sick of the schools. I LOVE HSing and my kids do too.

 

[wardfamily1]

If my DD's school was raising money for something I felt was worthy, I would have no problem with a fundraiser. This year she has already brought home 3 different forms to sell 'junk' and I threw them all away. They want ANOTHER playground at the school. This is a very small school (around 300 kids) and they already have 3 very nice/new playgrounds. Give me a freakin break! Talk about re-inventing the wheel. I wish I had more time, I'd run for the PTO board.

 

[BoyLovesBuzz]

Here's an idea.

Don't do them!!


Glad I could help.

 

[minkydog]

If my DD's school was raising money for something I felt was worthy, I would have no problem with a fundraiser. This year she has already brought home 3 different forms to sell 'junk' and I threw them all away. They want ANOTHER playground at the school. This is a very small school (around 300 kids) and they already have 3 very nice/new playgrounds. Give me a freakin break! Talk about re-inventing the wheel. I wish I had more time, I'd run for the PTO board.

I know what you mean! My kids go to schools that are in relatively comfortable areas. There are lots of parent volunteers in the schools, playground equipment in good condition, well-stocked media centers. The fundraisers that their schools do are raising money for cultural programs, computer programs, music, and other "nice to have" things.

On the other hand, I work in a school about 10 miles away in a low-income area. The students in my school have none of the resources and advantages of the kids in my children's schools. Over 80% are on free lunches. What they make from the fundraisers in my school goes toward cultural programs, music, etc also. They usually net about $700 to $1200, at most. Unfortunately, the cultural programs they get at school are their only contact with ideas bigger than their limited world (many of them have never been outside the county!) Because we have no PTA, there is no cash flow other than the fundraisers. Frankly, I don't mind contributing to the fundraiser at my school because I know how badly our students need it!

Can I just share one heart-warming story? In the spring we always have an 8th grade dance. This is a chance for the kids to dress in nice clothes (no jeans allowed) and come to school for a fun time. It is NOT prom-ish==none of our kids could begin to afford that. To witness all the behind the scenes work, you would have thought it was the Teachers' Dance--they came in early and stayed late to string twinkly lights, solicited donations of potted plants, put together food, balloons and paper products. Three teachers went together and outfitted 2 girls who were in particular need(they were in foster care and had no hope of going to this dance!) It was like a Cinderella story. And to see the students' faces==how much they appreciated it, how polite they were, how naturally beautiful they were. Most of these kids have never had anyone do something nice for them "just because." It was worth every candle, every box of candy, every seed kit I bought