Ok, we just wrapped up our school clothes shopping and shopping for school supplies. Here in our school district each student gets a school supply list that has several items that they need to bring with them to class on the first day of school. When you have four kids attending school, that can get quite expensive.
So, this year I decided I was going to be a cheepskate and not buy everything on the list. For example, my youngest daughter attending school had "Hand Sanitizer" and "Box of Tissue" on her list. So, there's at least 20 students bringing a box of tissue. Really, is the 2nd grade class going to go through 20 boxes of tissue? And what about Hand Sanitizer? Can't they just got to the bathroom and use the soap in the bathroom?
I honestly don't think that us as parents should have to fork out the money for this kind of stuff. I can understand the pencils, crayons, colored pencils, erasers, notebooks, etc. can be furnished by us. But some of these lists go to the extreme.
And what infuriates me the most is last night my oldest daughter who is about to start middle school walked in and said, "I guess we didn't need to buy graph paper." and hands me an almost brand new graph paper tablet that my oldest son had brought home from school last year. Did he ever use the tablet? Maybe one or two sheets. Hello!! Why can't the teacher buy one tablet and, when needed, tear out a couple of sheets for each student?
We also found a couple of other items that my kids "had to have" that were nearly brand new and almost never used. This just irks me.
What do you think? Am I being a cheepskate?
Am I A Cheepskate?!
August 26th, 2006 at 03:11 pm
August 26th, 2006 at 04:09 pm 1156608577
Graph paper - by pre-Algebra/Algebra kids ought ot be using a lot of graph paper, not just a sheet or two during the year. And if the school doesn't provide it to the teacher, then the teacher is entitled to ask parents to supply it.
Make sure your bathrooms have soap - not all of them do.
My two cents as a teacher who has shelled out more money than seems fair when schools aren't providing what they ought to.
August 26th, 2006 at 04:12 pm 1156608759
Middle school teachers here have upwards of 150+ students, so bear that in mind as my perspective. That's a lot of graph paper, many tissues, etc. etc.
August 26th, 2006 at 04:44 pm 1156610650
I even saw an ad on the TV this morning for a company that said they had "everything they need for school" that included a laptop computer!
Before you know it, they will need to bring in reams of paper so they can print out their stuff.
Seems to me, and I realize this is not the case all the time, that if the kid needs some of those things, they (parents) would send it with them when they need it instead of supplying things for everyone else.
Cheapskate - no. Rather a person that does a diligent job of watching what counts!
August 26th, 2006 at 05:03 pm 1156611812
August 26th, 2006 at 05:25 pm 1156613150
In my district the schools get money for each student attending. That to me is why they push attendance so hard here. It seems that if my student is counted on the roll, and then excused there is not so much of a fuss when they are absent.
So, if the school is getting money for the children that attend, in my opinion, it should pay for SOME school supplies. I don't mind paying for a few.
Also, our district just started feeding the kids breakfast. It consists of a cinnamon roll, or fruit snack or pop tart (most times nothing nutritious) that is served AFTER school has started. What a joke! I feed my children a good breakfast before they leave. It bothers me that their classtime is interrupted by "breakfast" Can't the money that's being used to pay for pop tarts be spent on school supplies?
August 26th, 2006 at 05:39 pm 1156613941
August 26th, 2006 at 07:18 pm 1156619911
August 26th, 2006 at 07:56 pm 1156622187
Where I live, the teachers send the left over supplies home with the children. As a result, I have 2 plastic boxes full of crayons, 1 box full of markers, 1 plastic box full of colored pencils, and a large soup can full of pencils(some in barely used condition, some very used.)
Because I have saved all left over school supplies every year, it was very easy to throw their school supplies list together this year with minimum buying. I think it would benefit the teachers, and students who for whatever reason/s come to school with no school supplies.
August 26th, 2006 at 11:41 pm 1156635687
As far as breakfast/lunch, I don't know how it is in other states, but here in Appalachia (which encompasses several states, not just one) some families are so cash poor, the only meal a child gets all day is the breakfast and/or lunch the school provides. How cash poor? For example, the area I live in is just outside the state capitol and in 1990 had several industrial businesses that employed over 30,000 people with very decent benefits, medical, and salaries even at 2006 prices. Today, several of those businesses have closed and the ones that are left only employ less than 2,000 combined in this area. But the state and news media keep playing up how the local economy is in great shape because there's new businesses going in all the time and there's 'little' unemployment. That's because those new businesses are fast food joints, discount chains, house cleaning/janitorial services, etc.. Since those are the only jobs to be had around here, the only way to make a living here is to work two or three minimum-wage jobs, with little or no benefits. But at the same time, our utilities and tax base are some of the highest in the country. Try going from a $35,000 year job with great benefits to a $12,000 year job(s) with no benefits. Hard to provide the necessities for several children on that. And people around here have been going without electricity or water (hauling from creeks), scrubbing clothing in wash basins/bathtubs, line-drying said clothing, growing veggies in the yard, taking lunches to work, re-using foil, shaving soap to use for laundry, and on and on. That was/is a way of life for us, not just a saving measure. Until last year we never even had a Starbucks to not buy coffee from
Sorry for the rambling, but schools are a sore point around here. For all you who know anything about history, particularly in other states other than your own, in the 70's this state was on national news several times because of school bombings. I was just a kid then but the grown-ups feelings were easily transmitted to all us kids. A lot of the feelings back then are still circulating around in this state. If I could afford, it I might move.
Enough said.
August 27th, 2006 at 02:46 am 1156646787
September 2nd, 2006 at 03:24 pm 1157210650