Today Show....School supply list

[Astro Orbiter]

I'm not a big fan of stocking the classroom either. And I'm sure that <50% of parents will send in things that they deem to be not necessary to their kid's schoolwork. I'm also sick and tired of "school day" at the local fast food joints, where on a certain day a % of the take goes back into the school.

What would you rather do? Bring in a few teacher/building supplies and have an art program? Or not? Or have art be 'pay to play'?

As much as we pay in taxes, schools are no longer fully funded. To continue to offer many of the things we parents want they have to find creative funding sources.

 

[BoogasMom]

At orientation year before last, my son's 3rd grade teacher had a really creative way of asking for "extra" supplies. She had a bulletin board set up as an apple tree. She had written a particular supply she needed on each apple. The parents were asked to take an apple or two, if they felt they could afford to, and supply the classroom with that particular supply. By the end of her classroom orientation "speech" all of the apples were gone. This way she received some of the things she needed to run her classroom but no one felt put out by her requests. I thought that was a great way to go about it! Of course, she didn't ask for toilet paper or detergent.

 

[BoogasMom]

I'm also sick and tired of "school day" at the local fast food joints, where on a certain day a % of the take goes back into the school.

Really? I think that's a great way for the school to raise funds. As a patron, you don't pay any more for your food you receive and, at the same time, the school receives a donation from the business while the business gets a temporary boom in customers. Seems to me that it works out in everyone's favor.

 

[leslie826]

I am going through the complete opposite... Our list had only 6 things on it. Apparently our district is trying to keep much of the burden off the parents. A few of my neighbors are teachers and they are afraid that they will end up supplying many of the needs for their classes. I'd much rather have a reasonable list and know that my child is going to have the supplies she needs and the teacher does not have to pay OOP for it.

 

[yenanh00]

One thing to make you go "hmmmm...."

Our state per-pupil funding is down to about $7000 (it was over $8000 just a year or two ago). And everyone screams that that is just "awful".

My daughter's private school tuition and fees are only about $9000/year. We have only about 12 kids per class, so per-classroom they are pulling in a lot less money (private only about 108K vs. public 210K). It's a very small school too, so there are no great endowment accounts.

And they don't ask me to supply toilet paper or anything beyond the basic notebooks, pencils and crayons - our teachers are very well supplied by the school.

While I know public schools provide a lot of services our school doesn't, and our teachers probably are paid less and have weaker benefits, I just wonder if those items really can account for $100K/classroom.....

ETA: Forgot to mention $9K/year at our private school includes a high quality hot lunch everyday, before/after school care (6am-6pm) and art, music and PE classes. No extra charges for any of that!

I got to agree with you here. I wonder why is that private school can operate on a lower budget and can still provide more than public school .

 

[Kitzka]

I got to agree with you here. I wonder why is that private school can operate on a lower budget and can still provide more than public school .

I can't speak for school's everywhere but with few exceptions private school's around here pay about 1/3-1/2 less than the public counterparts.

that could account for some of the lower budget.

Lara

 

[crisi]

I can't speak for school's everywhere but with few exceptions private school's around here pay about 1/3-1/2 less than the public counterparts.

that could account for some of the lower budget.

Lara

They also can turn down children that need IEPs, don't need ESL teachers, and have some freedom to cherrypick their students. They probably aren't dealing with a free/reduced breakfast and lunch budget.

Our school has as many specialists as it has teachers. We have specialist for Reading and Math, for ESL, for Special Education, for Gifted and Talented, for Speech. We have now just ONE full time sign language interpreter for a deaf child - a few years ago we had two. We have a physical therapist and an occupational therapist, a psychologist and a social worker.

At your small private school, how many deaf students do you have? How many in wheelchairs? How many don't speak English? How many see a psychologist at school once a week for ODD as part of an IEP?

 

[BusyMom2Three]

We are very lucky that our school district in MI provides all school supplies, although cities nearby don't. We do pay HIGH prop taxes and our teachers are paid well compared to most districts across the state and country (they are required to have Master's degrees, though). Teachers do pay for some things such as wall borders and other decorations, as well as any items needed for special projects or celebrations. Usually there is a note at the beg of the year that says, "If you would like to donate to our class, you may send in any of these items... but it is not required." When there is a party or special event, the teachers send home sign-up sheets and have no prob filling them. Our PTO pays for all field trips, so we don't pay for those either (although we actually do b/c PTO funds come from fundraisers and we typically don't do the door-to-door type for safety reasons).

 

[ChrisinNJ]

They also can turn down children that need IEPs, don't need ESL teachers, and have some freedom to cherrypick their students. They probably aren't dealing with a free/reduced breakfast and lunch budget.

Our school has as many specialists as it has teachers. We have specialist for Reading and Math, for ESL, for Special Education, for Gifted and Talented, for Speech. We have now just ONE full time sign language interpreter for a deaf child - a few years ago we had two. We have a physical therapist and an occupational therapist, a psychologist and a social worker.

At your small private school, how many deaf students do you have? How many in wheelchairs? How many don't speak English? How many see a psychologist at school once a week for ODD as part of an IEP?

This is it exactly!

I used to teach at a Catholic school. At the time I was paid 50% of the salary I would have been paid in the public district that I live in. On top of that, the textbooks were ancient. And special education services were non existent.

Oh, and we had to clean our own classrooms as well. Claning supplies were provided for us, but we had to sweep/vacuum/mop our own floors & clean our own desks. Custodians only cleaned bathrooms & hallway floors. 7th & 8th grade students used to assist in cleaning the Kindergarten & first grade rooms.

 

[badblackpug]

My kids school supply lists are only for things to be used by your child personally. (rencils, pens, markers, glue stick, erasers, paper, etc) Never things for the classroom. They list hand sanitizer and kleenex, but they are for personal use.

 

[DVCtinkerbell]

My complaint is that teachers in the school I work in take the paper plates, paper towels, baby wipes, etc. home for personal uses.

 

[heatherwillmom]

When my kids were in private school, the school asked for a lot of supplies, such as bottled water for the classrooms, chlorox wipes, hand santizer, paper towels. copy paper, markers, etc. We always sent them, but didn't always want to. I understood that they needed these, but we were paying a lot for tuition.For grades K-8, it was $7000 per child a year.

 

[Ava]

What happens if you can't afford to pay registration fees? I was at my son's school for orientation. The mom in front of me was trying to get her daughter's locker assignment and class schedule. They wouldn't give it to her because she had not paid registration fees yet. What if a family just can't afford those fees?

That was my thought when I read your first post. How is it even legal for a district to charge a registration fee for public school? And then to withhold a child's schedule (effectively making it impossible for the child to attend school) if their parent can't pay the fee? Unreal.

 

[heatherwillmom]

witholding registration due to fees in public school doesn't see legal to me. Our school requires that the kids rent their locker if they want one. That bothered me.

 

[TheRatPack]

When my oldest two were in public school they were asked to bring film for the camera (teacher took photos during the year of the students, some times you got a picture sent home of your child...etc), lightbulbs for the teachers lamp, hand soap, kleenex, copy paper, colored copy paper, dry erase markers, post it notes and many other things that they never used personally. I understand that teachers have to spend much of their own money for these supplies....and that makes it hard. I always supplied everything requested but now I'm glad to be out of that loop. I hate that they spend their own money....I really wish the public schools were in a better state.

 

[TheRatPack]

My complaint is that teachers in the school I work in take the paper plates, paper towels, baby wipes, etc. home for personal uses.

I had a family member working in the school (custodial) and at the end of the year I was AMAZED at all the stuff the teachers threw away that was either left in the classroom or they were moving classrooms/schools and didn't want to mess with moving/packing. I'm talking unused boxes of EVERYTHING from markers, crayons to paper plates, dry erase markers, brand new folders and paper....etc.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

Every year when my kids were younger, I'd stock up on school supplies when the Target/Walmart/Kmart mark them down to nearly nothing. Then about Christmas time, after first semester was over, you can make a big box of stuff for your favorite teacher or school. They LOVE it!

 

[MomToOne]

They also can turn down children that need IEPs, don't need ESL teachers, and have some freedom to cherrypick their students. They probably aren't dealing with a free/reduced breakfast and lunch budget.

Our school has as many specialists as it has teachers. We have specialist for Reading and Math, for ESL, for Special Education, for Gifted and Talented, for Speech. We have now just ONE full time sign language interpreter for a deaf child - a few years ago we had two. We have a physical therapist and an occupational therapist, a psychologist and a social worker.

At your small private school, how many deaf students do you have? How many in wheelchairs? How many don't speak English? How many see a psychologist at school once a week for ODD as part of an IEP?

If you read my original post, I fully admitted our school does not provide the services like this that public school does. I merely questioned whether these services can really account for more than a $100K difference in funding per classroom...

 

[McKelly]

If you read my original post, I fully admitted our school does not provide the services like this that public school does. I merely questioned whether these services can really account for a $100K difference in funding per classroom...

My guess would be yes, due to the salary and benefits packages of paying the extra staff. These days, it seems that at least 25% of the class gets extra support whether it is OT, PT, Speech and Language, Gifted, or Special Ed.

 

[Nik's Mom]

witholding registration due to fees in public school doesn't see legal to me. Our school requires that the kids rent their locker if they want one. That bothered me.

It doesn't sound legal to me either. Who knows. Maybe they held the girl's schedule so they could discuss the issue with the mom. I just wonder what happened if that mom said she did not have money for registration? I live close to the Sprint headquarters. A lot of people have been layed off and they live in the area. I'm sure they are really hurting right now.

I lived in California up until 2 years ago. There were no registration fees or school supplies required in our school district. But the education system in California is in a big mess right now. I'm sure registration fees would help them.