School & Pet Peeve. . .

[Melissa Burnell]

Unfortunately, a lot of the money in many districts is tied up in the
bureaucratic administration. These tend to be the people who have
been out of teaching for many years, have totally lost touch with who is
important (the kids and teachers) and who are making much more than those
teachers who give their time, whole hearts and paychecks,
tirelessly. Thank goodness our school “gets it” and will
be rotating the administrators back through the classroom every few
years.

the admins are out there every morning, greeting the kids as
they are dropped off. they know every child’s name.
😎

Hand sanitizers are great to ward-off germs, esp. in the colder
months. that certainly does not mean that kids shouldn’t
wash…

i actually asked my 5 year old’s preschool last year to
consider putting the sanitizer outside of the classroom so that the kids
could put it on before entering in the morning. They did and the
incidence of sicknesses were greatly reduced.

Hope you guys are okay with my insights as a parent, who is a teacher…
just a different perspective. 😎

JIll

At 01:51 PM 7/27/2007, you wrote:

I was happy to see
that this year my list just said 7 assorted colored folders. In the
past I hadn’t been able to find the black folders but my teachers were
generous enough to “allow” another color. They explained to us
about the multiple packs of supplies that if you know you’ll need them
for the year, you will buy them while on sale and eliminate the need for
a last minute store run in December when they are full price again.
I never send it all at the beginning of the school year.

I’ve
learned that most teachers have adopted a community approach to school
supplies and put them all together and just use from the top. This
totally upsets my oldest child who is add and a tad bit ocd – having to
mix his stuff with his classmates things really upsets him (especially
when his things “disappear”!). it upsets me in the fact they know i
will send in replacements but hate to be the class supplier of all
needs.

i finally had to tell the teacher last year that i would not
be sending in any more pencils and erasers since they used/lost/whatever
25 pencils and a box of 100 cap erasers in a week!!!

My pet peeves:

Mandating a supply –
then I get it home UNUSED at the end of the school year!

Kleenex & paper
towels – don’t they provide them?!

Hand sanitizer (so
they don’t have to “waste time” at the bathroom!)

Copy paper – my
taxes should at least provide adequate supplies for the materials they
need!

BTW – I do keep
under bed storage boxes in my room with enough school supplies to last
throughout the year and into the next. I buy multiples when they
put them on as loss leaders at the beginning of the school year. I
also buy poster boards when they’re on sale (10 cents this week at
Walgreens) so I have them for any projects that come up during the
year.

The best advice is
to educate yourself before voting on school board elections and to know
who your representative is. Call, email and meet them if you
can. Sometimes they aren’t aware of the ‘real’ issues and
inconsistencies.

It is frustrating but I would encourage everyone
to get involved at your children’s school no matter what grade they’re
in. It really does make a difference.

~Yolonda

---

You know, as a Frugal Mom, I have to
share a pet peeve that really

grits my teeth every year when school starts. . .

The schools here send a letter home with a list of “Required School

Supplies”.

On this list is the following:

Notebooks (7) – the colors are Specified Per Subject. For example-

science notebook must be blue. folder for science class must also be

blue.

excuse me? what right does a school district have to tell me exactly

what i have to buy right down to the colors?? sure, walmart has

notebooks on sale for .10 each right now, however, the closest

walmart to me is an hour and a half away. i had an overstock of

notebooks that i purchased on sale last year which now i am being

told my children cannot use because they aren’t the correct
color?!

want to know the kicker? if the kids go to school here and the

supplies don’t match those on the list, the kids get a detention.

punished because their parents live on a budget?!

i picked up one of those lists at the entrance of walmart when i was

grocery shopping last week. one school district required each child

to have 7 new boxes of crayons EACH.

In addition, our school provided me with a bill for $20 per child

for a homework planner they will receive on the first day of school.

I’ve already provided a homework planner for my children, so when I

contacted the school I was told, take it back to the store you have

to use the one the school provides.

Isn’t it interesting how our tax dollars provide less and less for

the schools these days.

Other items on the list:

2 boxes of tissues

Purell hand cleaner

At what point do parents put their foot down and tell the

schools “NO”?!

~Liss

[Author]

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