Palmyra schools ask parents to help buy supplies to make up for budget cuts

[XanaDUer]

SNIP- For the first time, the district asked parents to contribute from a list of about 10 items to help make up for budget cuts, Superintendent Collene Van Noord said.


But the idea of buying school supplies for his children’s classrooms doesn’t sit well with Darrell Wagner of Palmyra, parent of two.

“Taxes are up, teachers want increased pay and we have to supply them with all the things to do their job,” he said.

“If this is what’s going to happen, and we still have to supply the schools with all the necessities due to poor budgeting, I think more parents will switch to cyberschools,” Wagner said.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/09/palmyra_schools_ask_parents_to.html

[FarCenter]

1. Except for construction paper, we used to bring all these to school

In Palmyra, the list of items parents are asked to supply includes looseleaf paper, construction paper, tape, markers, glue sticks and folders along with crayons and pencils that many parents usually buy anyway. The items will be pooled for the class to use throughout the year, according to the letter sent to parents.

Pooling is a stupid idea. Each child should be responsible for their own supplies.

[XanaDUer]

2. Maybe they do that for kids whose parents cannot afford all of the items?

nt.

[FarCenter]

4. Possibly, but it is better to teach individual responsibility

If you break a crayon, it is your own crayon and you have to use the broken crayon thereafter.

If you scribble on too many sheets of paper and run out, you have to get more from your parents.

etc.

[MissB]

5. Ever have a five year old kid?

[FarCenter]

6. Yes

[MissB]

7. Then you should be well aware how kindergarten works.

And you should be well aware that "personal responsibility" is a concept that takes years to teach appropriately.

Five year olds are barely out of the "me" stage. It's fun to watch them learn how to share.

And the point about some parents not being able to afford school supplies was spot-on as well. Pooling the supplies makes it even for everyone. School supplies isn't where richer kids need to be asserting their dominance over poorer kids.

[surrealAmerican]

9. Although personal responsibility is a reasonable thing to teach ...

... sharing is just as valuable a lesson.

In our school district, which has an unusually broad variety of economic circumstances, pooling supplies worked very well in the early grades. The wealthier parents would send extra supplies. Those children whose parents couldn't afford to send supplies were not made to feel like outcasts. Kids did not have "clues" to tie family wealth to social status (name-brand supplies vs cheaper generic versions).

[Wind Dancer]

17. Oh brother!

You're kidding right?

[RayOfHope]

27. Mercy. I spend my entire day with kindergartners and you're wrong

I am a kindergarten teacher. There are many, many reasons why pooling supplies is a great idea. One is that pooled supplies actually last longer and the parents only have to replace a box of crayons or markers or glue sticks once throughout the year rather than every couple of weeks.

Another reason is that 'team tubs' (I have caddies for each table that hold pencils and crayons and markers) cut down on transition time, meaning we have more time for learning. Its much easier to have one person from each table grab a team tub from the shelf rather than send the entire class out into the hallway to grab pencil boxes out of the cubbies.

[Occulus]

30. My God

My god, my god, my god.....

heartless.....

[LWolf]

10. I loved the days when my school kept an open supply cabinet,

and my district kept an open warehouse. When we needed supplies, we went to the supply cabinet and got them.

Later, we were given budgets for supplies, still provided by the district. It started with a school budget, but still an open supply cabinet, and then became an individual teacher budget. This led to hoarding on all our parts, as we didn't know what we'd run out of before the end of the year, and wanted to make sure we had enough to get us through.

It also led to needing more, bigger supply cabinets in classrooms to store a year's worth of supplies instead of just going to the school supply storage to get what we needed that week.

I loved it because I could tell parents not to send their kids with all kinds of unnecessary supplies. We used our community supplies. Everyone had the same, which meant that there weren't any fusses because one person's stuff was "better" than another's. Everyone learned important community skills: sharing resources and sharing responsibilities for those resources. We taught those skills explicitly. I'm not sure if there is a more important lesson to be learned in life than to share resources and work together as a community to make sure everyone's needs are met.

But then, I'm a socialist-leaning Democrat.

It wasn't until I moved to another state that schools were asking parents to supply basics that we used to supply ourselves. Those individual budgets were slashed, slashed, and slashed until we couldn't get through the year without asking families to supply some things. Even things our school district still supplied like tissues and soap were coming from our academic supply budget.

As soon as you ask parents to supply their children, you create haves and have-nots. We widen the economic gaps right in the classroom, where they shouldn't exist at all.

So I ask for parents to donate community supplies. It's not required. It's a choice. Nobody goes without if they can't donate.

I ask each family to send their child with a small, soft backpack; a water bottle; a binder with dividers, and a pencil pouch; a calculator; healthy snacks; pe clothes and deodorant. If they need help with those things, our FAN coordinator will step in.

The rest all comes from:

My shrinking classroom budget supply. $50 less this year than last.
Parents who choose to donate.
FAN.
My own pocket. I guarantee that I spend more out of my own pocket every year to make sure students have everything they need every day than families do when they donate things on our list.

[MissB]

3. Even our well financed district

requires kids to bring their own supplies.

They stop pooling the supplies in 5th grade. Until then, it does make sense.

[dembotoz]

8. i just wrote a check for over a hundred bucks in school fees

public high school

i also take shifts at lambeau field in green bay as a fundraiser for the grafton wi education foundation to cover stuff that used to be covered--sept 8th will be the next time i donate an entire day--transportation, set up and working the stand for this very worthy cause--i am not complaining i volunteered--this is what i do......

on wed night i am going to join a fundrasing committee to help pay for our districts participation in destination imagination. Again this just what i volunteered to do because DI has just done wonders for my 16 year old.

My 16 year old plays hockey for the school....Ice fees are due in november. This year as usaul they will be over a thousand bucks....Again public school--also ice fees do not cover much of his equipment.

My kid gets a WOMDERFUL education in grafton wisconsin at a public school.
Paying for it does not end with the taxes--it only begins......

[Worried senior]

14. To dembotoz

Back in the 70's-80's my kids went to Grafton schools also. We had school dues but they weren't that bad and they did have to have certain supplies but thank goodness we didn't have to come up the amt of money you have to. My grandkids are in school there now and it's ridiculous, that in one of the wealthiest counties in WI. Not everyone in that are is rich and it can be a terrible burden on families.

[dembotoz]

21. well i am currently on uc and the sig oth just got back to work

to be honest i have no idea how i am going to scrap together the hockey money.
but that is 3 months away.

she has not gotten her first paycheck yet and to say we pretty much are pennyless until my next uc check shows up. We have enough in the fridge and gas tank til then......
my kid dropped football because the family has no health insurance(we supposedly do now but we have not gotten the cards yet)
I know a lot of people on du and in grafton have it a lot worse than i do. Not posting here for sympathy.

More and more of the burden of education is being shifted to the community in general and the parents in particular.

As for the DI stuff which is a wonderful program.... in Germantown the school district footed much of the expense including transportation to the finals in TN Grafton--not so much.
The Education Foundation is patterned after mequon and cedarburg where they have been doing this for a couple of years now--good concept that is really needed in this climate.

A public school used to be more inclusive--now it is like buying a car with a long option list.
It comes with a motor but if you want a radio--you are going to have to pay extra.

[TBF]

11. Our elementary school has increased their ratios to about 23:1

and we've bought those supplies for the past several years. I always pick up extra tissues/sanitizer to send in with my daughter. In addition we are given a long list of supplies - both the PTA and several local stores compile the items into a package to buy. This year it was about $60 for my daughter's package. It includes paper, pencils, and all sorts of other supplies. My son is in a private preschool and his supply fee was $175 for the year, so I actually thought my daughter's supplies were a bargain.

I think there is a concerted effort to do away with public schools in this country, and unfortunately this democratic administration is complicit.

[Joe the Revelator]

12. 'cyber school' wtf is that?

[TBF]

13. We have that in Texas -

I have a friend in Austin who has enrolled her daughter in a cyber high-school. I'm not aware of whether they do it on the elementary level - I'll have to look into that. Her daughter takes all her classes on-line.

I put it in the same category as home-schooling.

[durablend]

15. They push that here in PA too

Agora Cyber Charter school or something (k-12). See the ads daily on the teevee.

[XanaDUer]

16. Lol, I know

nt.

[customerserviceguy]

18. It's for people who don't need or want the baby sitting aspect of schools. n/t

[Joe the Revelator]

22. Sounds like a good way for a kid to grow up isolated.

[Drahthaardogs]

24. As a son of two school teachers

I find that remark fairly rude. If you, as a parent, see that school as a "babysitting aspect" to it, perhaps you should demand a bit more out of your children. My children sure do not see school as a "babysitter".

[customerserviceguy]

25. Many parents do see it that way

I get a lot of my feeling about the educational system from my ex-sister-in-law, she and I are still friends, even though I divorced her sister. She got sick of the way she was treated as a teacher in a rural public school, so she moved to New Zealand, where she feels more supported by the administrators and the parents of the students she teaches.

Sorry for the offense, but it's just a fact that many working people want school primarily as a place to look after their kids for free while they pursue earning a living.

[RayOfHope]

29. But that doesn't mean the teachers are 'babysitting'. It means the parents don't value education. nt

[customerserviceguy]

32. Agreed

Maybe I seemed a bit too flip in my response.

[RayOfHope]

28. I don't babysit, I keep my students challenged and engaged. Jesus. n/t

[customerserviceguy]

31. I'm talking about the view of the shortsighted parent

who would consider cyberschooling their kid. Those who don't see the value of traditional schooling often view the school as a free place to park their kid while they're at work.

Sorry, I've seen far too many (and heard about others who feel this way from my teacher friends) who think this way, unfortunately.

[RandySF]

19. We had to send a bunch of supplies

along with sanitary items, snacks and cash for extra supplies.

[mrmpa]

20. "We have to supply them with all the things to do their job"???? WTF

You supply firefighters with their equipment and clothing to do their job, police officers with uniforms firearms to do their job, EMT's with ambulances and medical supplies to do their job; but you won't give teachers the supplies needed for them to do their job. Where the hell is the reasoning in this?

[Sabriel]

23. Great idea! If you have a fire, you should have to provide oxygen

And if you're attacked in your home, you should have to pay the responding officer for her/his ammunition, gas, radio repair, etc. And that icy street in front of your home? You'd better have some salt for the salt truck, otherwise....

You're so right: it's absolutely nuts that we don't expect to have to pay for the supplies and materials for other public employees...only teachers.

This year, for the first time, we had to provide a ream of copier paper and a pack of whiteboard markers. That's in addition to all the other community supplies, such as looseleaf, 3 dozen pencils (sharpened), markers, tissues, and so on.

Money to kill people, but not to educate them.

[tammywammy]

26. My mom had to buy all that stuff when I was in elementary school back in the mid/late 80s.

:shrug:

[Book Lover]

33. Been doing that since school day 1 for Little Book Lover

We get the list the first week of school, we buy what we can afford at the start of the year, and more later on, as we can. :shrug:

[Pisces]

34. We have been paying for school supplies in Arizona for the last few years.

[XanaDUer]

35. Kick!

nt.