School Uniform Help for children of New Orleans - Please Read

[Solly Mack]

Gwendolyn J. Samples of the HISD (Houston Independent School District) has been in contact with me regarding the school supply drive I started in Germany.

She has informed me that the outpouring of love and concern from around the world has been tremendous and that the need for uniforms is now greater than the need for school supplies.

She ask, if anyone is willing , to make financial donations to help furnish children with socks, underwear, shoes, and uniforms.

If you're willing -

Make checks payable to:

HISD-Louisiana Evacuee Assistance Fund


Mail to:

Gwendolyn J. Samples, Ed.D.
Partnerships Coordinator
HISD Community Relations Department
3830 Richmond Ave.
Houston, TX 77027-5802

(her phone and fax: Phone: [phone], X313 Fax: [phone])


I will be checking with other state school systems today. I have extra school supplies to send out. We are still collecting here in Germany.

If anyone in other states has an address (of a school in need) to give me, please do - and I'll add them to my school supply drive.

Thank you!

Solly

[Solly Mack]

1. kick

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

2. The kids in Houston schools wear uniforms? nt

[Solly Mack]

3. it would seem so

[Bridget Burke]

8. Each school in HISD sets its own dress code.

Some have uniforms.

www.houstonisd.org/HISD/portal/article/front/0,2731,20856_33478330,00.html

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

10. Thank you for the link. It seems that there is financial aid in Houston

to provide uniforms if families cannot afford them.

For students and families facing financial challenges, assistance in purchasing uniforms and school supplies may be available through Title I funds, which were recently decentralized so that the money goes directly to schools. The Title I Program provides federal funds to help economically disadvantaged children. Contact your child’s school directly to find out if it offers Title I assistance.


Personally, I intensely dislike children wearing uniforms to school. Just another way to take away from their individuality.

[Solly Mack]

11. The financial aid is usually geared toward residents

which is why they are asking for donations to help with the students arriving from New Orleans...because money set aside for free uniforms only goes so far.

I don't like school uniforms either....but I like children going without even less.

You can call any of the numbers in my OP to verify anything I've said. Also, I'll be more than happy to send you the complete set of emails-however, as they do contain my personal information, discretion is of the utmost importance.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

13. There is tremendous aid pouring in. Lots of clothes also being distributed

We have a clothing drive right here in my hometown in NY. I have seen reports on TV with rooms set up with clothing for the evacuees. There are also massive drives throughout the country sending school supplies etc to assist these children. I prefer sending tangibles instead of money. After 9/11 and all of the money that didn't get to the survivors was a travesty.

[Solly Mack]

15. I understand. I posted the info about school uniforms in case

others would also like to help.


I'm not sending cash either. The by-laws of our non-profit group prevent us from sending cash. So we are sending school supplies and things like socks, underwear and white-shirts in assorted sizes for school-age children.

I started a donation drive in Germany as soon as I heard about the survivors of New Orleans going to school in Houston. I wanted to help.
I can't do a lot. I'm not wealthy - nowhere near it - but I can do this.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

18. Hugs to you for your caring. Thank you. :)

[Bridget Burke]

12. "Individuality" costs money.

I doubt the kids who fled Katrina have the "right" items in their wardrobe.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

17. There are huge clothes drives. Also, one of the

things that has truly been disturbing is this government's handling of this horrific situation. Every step of the way, it has been treating the evacuees like battered wives. Stripping them of their individuality, identity.

[Solly Mack]

19. They govt. has treated our fellow citizens like garbage

and it's beyond shameful.

And though the outpouring of love from America and abroad has been tremendous, fact is, our government failed those hit by Katrina...and we shouldn't have to make up for the failings of our government.

But I can't not help, if you know what I mean...

I have to help - I'll go crazy otherwise.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

28. I feel the same way Solly and helping here too. Hugs again.

[Bridget Burke]

29. Do you really think the clothes drives will supply the right fashions?

Some schools in Houston DO require uniforms. The kids who attend don't need to show up in other people's castoffs.

Individuality & identity go beyond what you wear. Don't believe all the ads!

[knitter4democracy]

20. I can understand your position, but here's mine.

I taught in schools with uniforms and schools without them, and I much preferred the ones with uniforms. Now, before you start attacking my teaching style, let me tell you that I was usually the crazy English teacher who let her students sit on beanbags during writing periods and had Free Reading Fridays.

Uniforms still have room for individuality, and the students use all that wiggle room and then some. I could always tell my students from down the hall or from the back, just by how they did their uniforms, hair, accessories, or whatever. I had the one student who wore makeup because none of the other girls did, the many who did what they could with hidden or blatant piercings, and hair was always a fun issue (the code said "natural" hair color, which could mean many things).

The best thing, though, was that the students didn't have all the symbols in their faces every day of status and place in society. My poor kids were sitting with rich kids, and no one cared. Everyone looked pretty much the same, with a few minor differences that were easily forgotten in the heat of a group project or class debate.

In the schools I taught in without uniforms, that never happened. I never saw the collegiality in those schools, and there were always problems with the dress code that came into the classroom. Girls would wear clothes that barely covered their bodies and then were suprised when the boys did nothing but stare. I hardly got anything done with those kids those days, and there were always tensions between the kids who had the pretty, expensive things and those who couldn't afford them.

I was always against uniforms until I taught in schools that had them. I was amazed at how the students preserved their individuality and yet learned better from each other and learned to see the person, not the clothing and other outside symbols.

[SmokingJacket]

30. I used to teach in an incredibly poor school district...

uniforms would have made everything much simpler for the parents who couldn't afford to buy many clothes -- it's a kind of even playing field.

My mother used to dress me in the dorkiest clothes, too, though we weren't all that poor... a uniform would have made my early life a lot easier. So maybe I'm biased.

[politicat]

31. Having had my stepdaughter in a uniform-ish school....

I'm ambivalent about them. The kids could wear basic levis or khakis or dark blue denim skirts or shorts, dark or light blue, white, cream or grey shirts, no hats, black or brown oxford type shoes and white tennis shoes. No logos could be visible on any of the clothes. So there was some amount of freedom, and it really did cut down on the hassles getting her dressed and hassles buying her clothes each school year. We bought two of each item and let her go in the mornings. The previous year, when she had more choice, she was often late playing clothes horse before school (and this was an 8 year old!!)

The poor kids didn't feel nearly so expected to conform (and to be frank, neither did the middle class kids) and the kids paid a lot more attention to school and interpersonal relationships than to superficial marketing crap foisted upon them by Kid Target Marketer Advertising.

On the other hand... K really enjoys clothes and the creativity that comes from modifying her own. She is not logo-drunk, but she had a little suit her grandmother sent her for the winter holiday, and she wanted to wear it to school, but could not since it was red. And I ended up washing double the amount of clothes for her a week because she'd come home, change into non-school clothes, and play in those till bedtime.

Sometimes I miss being a mom.

[ohio_liberal]

32. Ah, so that's what Title I is

My son's school keeps sending questionnaires home, asking what I think of Title I. I didn't even know wtf it is.

[Solly Mack]

33. kick!

[flygal]

4. I'm in Germany too

What do you need? I'd love to help.

[Solly Mack]

5. Mainly school supplies (pencils, notebooks, etc) and

either send a check directly to the address in the OP or buy things like socks and underwear to ship.

In the main Hurricane Katrina thread pinned at the top of GD, I have 2 posts with addresses to send donations.

I'm collecting from military families - I live on a military post , but anyone can help.

Address/contact info to send school supplies:


HISD Warehouse
228 McCarty
Houston, TX 77029


Contact: Mr. Robert Bell
Phone: [phone]


Sincerely,

Torie Henry-Flagg
HISD Strategic Partnerships

[justabob]

6. Dallas ISD

There are a lot of kids in Dallas who are needing the same things as in Houston... supplies uniforms etc

http://www.dallasisd.org/

DISD Hurricane Hotline: [phone]

[Solly Mack]

7. Thank you!!!! I'll ship a box to them as well

[justabob]

9. No, thank YOU

You are doing great work and it is very much appreciated. :toast:

[knitter4democracy]

14. I just called our school secretary to tell her about this.

We have plenty of gently used uniforms this year, apparently, and she was thinking that maybe we could send whatever fits their code down there with some money.

Thanks for letting us know about this.

[Solly Mack]

16. Thank you so much!!!!

You can call or maybe just send direct to the address. We are sending directly to the address given for checks. We're writing "Uniform clothing" on the boxes, and "School Supllies".

[knitter4democracy]

23. Our school does a lot of collections, so I think it'll happen.

I'll probably get a letter in my daughter's Friday folder today for anything here we can send down, knowing Mrs. Barton, the school secretary. ;)

She asked me for Dr. Samples's phone number, and she's going to call back and let me know what's going on.

We all want to know how best to help, and this is something our school is pretty good at. Thanks for letting us know about it! I hadn't even thought of school uniforms.

[Solly Mack]

25. Good! Let us know what else you find out, please

I haven't called Dr Samples yet. I just posted the info from her email as soon as I got it this morning. It would have been way too early to call the states. I'm in Germany so it's afternoon here and still morning there.

[Solly Mack]

26. I just called and Mrs Samples was not in today but

the woman I talked with verified all the mailing addresses for me as well as who to make checks payable to...

I wanted to double-check for myself. :)

[knitter4democracy]

27. Sure thing!

I'm going to call some friends, too.

We're in Battle Creek, Michigan, and we've gotten a few of the evacuees ourselves. They're going to some housing the state found next week, most likely, but we're all committed to helping them with the transition and beyond. Heck, even my church is getting involved, and it's not something we normally do for some reason. :roll: If this disaster is worth anything at all, hopefully it will be that it woke us up out of our complacency to see our fellow humans in need. What a crappy way to learn that lesson, though. :(

[dolo amber]

21. Solly...you're such a peach

:hug:

[Solly Mack]

22. Hey Dolo!

:blush:

a Georgia one at that :hug:

[Solly Mack]

24. Link to original thread about school supplies

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4619339