Geri B

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 +$.

AZ Jane

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.

Stitchit123

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.

Mimiqwerty

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.

paoberle

IF there is anything left unused at the end of the year, it goes into the closet for next year. I used to go through the trash cans when students cleaned out their lockers and salvage an unbelievable amount of notebook paper and graph paper. As far as sharpening pencils, it is extremely disruptive to have students continually going up to sharpen pencils when you are trying to teach and answer questions.

paoberle

If you want to specifically help teachers and students, go to your local school and ask what they need and then make a donation of those items.

lvmybskt

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.

coopah

I don't know about WalMart, but the office supply and big box stores (Target, KMart) carried the lists from each school and each grade level and had them available near the door. As teachers, we sat down before school was out and decided what was absolutely needed. We finally added one ream of copy paper, wet wipes to clean desks, and tissues so we could tell a nose-picker to 'please go get a tissue". Families would buy what they could and some families who were blessed would step up and buy more. We never required anyone to come with extras and I personally always bought the things needed for those who couldn't afford them out of my own pocket. Nothing was said, no one was embarrassed...but it helps the classroom to have these things. And 24 pencils? That's nothing! Some kids chew on them, break off the eraser...you can't imagine what a pencil in a 2nd grade goes through in one day! That's about one new pencil a week.

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.

materialgrl

I buy an extra set of everything in the fall when it's cheap and send it back to school sometime in Feb, that way he has a fresh set of supplies 1/2 way thru the year

Stitchnripper

Sad but true there are children who don't eat except at school. If your area has some depressed areas and you drive through you can see why. There are food deserts and low or non existent employment opportunities and no transportation and let's face it, there are some people no one would hire. And the children pay the price. It's a huge problem, probably not the place here for a long discussion, but, yes, there are children who are hungry.