cost of school supplies
#21
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Illinois
Posts: 9,018
There is a list of 32 items on my grandson's 6 th grade list. First on the list in bold print: for the home room teacher: 2 boxes Kleenex,Expo Markers ,one roll paper towels,1 pack of notebook paper,24 -regular pencils,3 pack of 3" sticky notes. Then it goes to mandatory student supplies-of which there's only 17 items this school term.The teachers here receive a check for $800.00 to buy their school supplies, most of them use it to buy clothes,from what I'm told.
How can some children not have meals at home? Aren't the parent(s) eating either? I know someone who works at a minimart type food store and kids come in with LINK cards(gov sup food card) and buy junk food....adults also.
I do donate to local food pantry, but I have seen some come in for food with fancy manicures, hair professionally done, dressed to the nines and attitudes. Makes it very hard to have compassion and charity.
i grew up poor, didn't know it at the time, but there was food on the table, albeit very simple and sometimes space, but cooked from scratch, clean house, and enough clothes to look presentable.....and not gym shoes costing +$.
#22
Every year we have a special ballot for increased taxes for schools. Every year I voted yes. UNTIL I found out exactly what they were doing with that money, almost none of the extra money went to the classroom. One "exec" got new furniture for their office, a couple of "mandatory" meeting in HAWAII. Every 10 miles we have a different school district. Way too many chief and not enough Indians. I now vote NO.
#23
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Lebanon Missouri
Posts: 2,668
I went school shopping with a friend -her last baby starts high school. The first thing on the list was a laptop-they even specified that it had to be larger than 11 inch and not to exceed 18-how many mega some things it had to have plus they have to have 3 memory sticks to start out with. The color choices are black or grey-NO flashy colors to distract the students.And the icing on this cake of Specifications -the laptop MUST be new-no refurbs or used ones will be allowed.The only exceptions to this is if they had one last year that is already registered with the school. $380 spent before she even got to the second item on the list. I am so thankful I no longer have a kid in school.
#24
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: NE Wisconsin
Posts: 219
It's not just in elementary school that students forget (or can't afford) supplies. I teach high school English Composition and students need to have ink pens (blue or black ink). Most don't. I used to go to the dollar stores and buy 10 packs of pens, which quickly disappeared. Now, I still buy the pens, but any student who wants to borrow one for class has to leave collateral--usually their cell phone, ID card, car keys, etc. When they return the pen, they pick up their collateral. By week two of school, I don't even have to remind them. And I always get my pens back.
#25
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Posts: 939
And they need 48 pencils, already sharpened ; because the teachers don't want them going up to use the sharpener in the classroom. I think is should go back to just buying what your kid uses; and not for the whole class. And what happens to the supplies that don't get used at the end of the school year?
#26
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Posts: 939
Every year we have a special ballot for increased taxes for schools. Every year I voted yes. UNTIL I found out exactly what they were doing with that money, almost none of the extra money went to the classroom. One "exec" got new furniture for their office, a couple of "mandatory" meeting in HAWAII. Every 10 miles we have a different school district. Way too many chief and not enough Indians. I now vote NO.
#27
Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 44
I used to be a substitute and at the end of the year I would see teachers taking home rolls of paper towels and tissue boxes that were leftover. I was not very happy about that and would only send school supplies the next year. I told the teacher that was not very nice of her to take that all home. Of course she didn't call me the next year. Oh well.
#28
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Horse Country, FL
Posts: 7,341
I bought the regulars....pencil case, paper, pencil, pens, white eraser, laurentian pencil crayons, glue stick and then waited for the exact others they needed from their teacher. Of course Walmart has a list ready for you at the door but they pad that list so you buy more stuff.
Jane Quilter :Schools are required to teach 180 days in most states. With more vacations, it stretches the year out. Pluses and minuses to that one.
Purple Passion: At the end of the year we would send home extras if there were enough for each student to get a fair share. Otherwise, we would adjust the list for the next year and/or store them for kids who would start in the middle of the year. (Some of these are homeless or escaping an abusive situation and are protected under the McKinney Act.)
Our PTA always had backpacks for new students who couldn't afford the list items so that when they came into the classroom, they would not be embarrassed or feel 'different' in any way.
Sorry this is so long. The teachers are not profiting by asking for these things. Most of them. And I never got $800 to spend on anything, unless it was a grant for a specific purpose, which had to be documented.
Go volunteer if you want to know what happens to the items you buy.
Edited to add and refine comments.
Last edited by coopah; 08-07-2016 at 04:54 AM.
#30
Power Poster
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Mableton, GA
Posts: 11,314
each child to bring 24 pencils? Something screwy there.
How can some children not have meals at home? Aren't the parent(s) eating either? I know someone who works at a minimart type food store and kids come in with LINK cards(gov sup food card) and buy junk food....adults also.
I do donate to local food pantry, but I have seen some come in for food with fancy manicures, hair professionally done, dressed to the nines and attitudes. Makes it very hard to have compassion and charity.
i grew up poor, didn't know it at the time, but there was food on the table, albeit very simple and sometimes space, but cooked from scratch, clean house, and enough clothes to look presentable.....and not gym shoes costing +$.
How can some children not have meals at home? Aren't the parent(s) eating either? I know someone who works at a minimart type food store and kids come in with LINK cards(gov sup food card) and buy junk food....adults also.
I do donate to local food pantry, but I have seen some come in for food with fancy manicures, hair professionally done, dressed to the nines and attitudes. Makes it very hard to have compassion and charity.
i grew up poor, didn't know it at the time, but there was food on the table, albeit very simple and sometimes space, but cooked from scratch, clean house, and enough clothes to look presentable.....and not gym shoes costing +$.
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