Parent Gets Daughter Personalized Stationery For School, Receives A Passive-Aggressive Note From The Teacher
Just like that, summer has almost ended and families are once again getting ready to send their kids to school. It’s time to start going back to bed early and getting supplies for class. But these things are often easier said than done. Especially the latter.
Last Monday, Reddit user BlueCarrot002 turned to the platform’s ‘Am I the [Jerk]?‘ community to explain that their daughter, Mia, recently started at a new school. When the parent received the list of everything their little girl needed, they decided to purchase a few extra items.
Having put so much effort into preparing Mia’s backpack, the parent didn’t want its contents to be redistributed to other children, so they personalized the items. That, however, turned out to be a problem, and now Mia’s teacher is requesting a serious conversation.
Not sure how to approach it, the parent asked the internet for help.
This parent put extra effort (and money) into their daughter’s back-to-school shopping
Image credits: CDC (not the actual photo)
And they think it’s not okay for the school to redistribute the items to the rest of the class
Image credits: Van Tay Media (not the actual photo)
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Image credits: CDC (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Bluecarrot002
The fun of back-to-school shopping can also come with an expensive price tag. In fact, according to the National Retail Federation, families with children in elementary through high school plan to spend an average of $864 on school items, or about $15 more than last year.
The organization’s data reveals that back-to-school spending has increased dramatically since the onset of the pandemic, as families adjusted to changes from virtual and hybrid learning. Compared to 2019, back-to-school shoppers are expected to spend $168 more on average, and total spending reached $11 billion.
Because of this year’s inflationary pressure, traditional sales events may play an even larger role for back-to-school and college shoppers. Most (81%) plan to use retailer deals to shop specifically for school and college items. Approximately three out of five (62%) said they will shop Prime Day deals on Amazon, 31 percent will shop online deals at other retailers and 20 percent will shop in-store deals at other retailers
Speaking to CBS, Jeffery Bailey, the Divisional Social Services Director for the Salvation Army said he can tell the difference in need, compared to the last two years.
“Absolutely, the need is greater— and let me explain why. The last two years, the kids have been doing some form of school at home – hybrid, some kids have gone part-time. But now this is the first year all schools are expected to have all their children back. There’s a much greater demand out there. The resources are a lot harder,” Bailey noted.
So you can certainly understand why parents would like their kids to maintain the items they spend their money on. However, to play the devil’s advocate, I want you to take a look at the situation from Mia’s teacher’s point of view.
A recent survey by the National Center for Education Statistics discovered that 94 percent of teachers spend their own money to stock their classrooms with the necessary supplies and resources. On average, a teacher will provide about $479, although 7 percent spent more than $1,000.
Maybe the system should take care of those students in need, not their teachers and classmates’ parents?
People think that the parent had every right to personalize their daughter’s things
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I’m a teacher. This lady is absurd. The school has a supply room with pencils, notebooks etc. That parent bought those materials with her money for her daughter. And now the teacher is requesting a conference? My advice to this mom would be to have a third party present at the meeting and to escalate to the principal. This teacher sounds weird, she might treat the daughter poorly moving forward. Documentation and accountability needs to be established. Sad to say. But it happens.
My understanding is that not all schools in the USA have (give?) that kind of budget for supplies.
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I have a problem with the the community chest attitude. I understand there are people who can't afford a lot of things. But, you know school is going to start. That's like Christmas and birthdays, you know they're gonna happen. So so you buy a pack of pencils this week and next week you buy a binder and the week after that you buy paper . Or you go to Dollar Tree and buy that stuff. I always sent in extras for the classroom because I was aware that where that there are people out there who just aren't willing to try and spend money on their children's school supplies. However, I paid a lot of money for personalized backpacks and we personalized their binders and supplies. Just for this very reason. I got tired of my daughter's leaving the house with brand new crayons and coming home with broken pieces.
I agree that it's unfair to take away children's supplies to redistribute. However, for really poor single mothers, you're trying to juggle your basic bills just to keep the electric on, the rent paid, food to feed them, clothes etc. It's clear that you don't understand that kind of poverty. It's good to have all the facts before forming opinions. When my girls were little, daycare costed more than my 50 hour a week job paid. One Christmas, we had to use Toys for Tots because I could not afford a single pack of crayons for them. We were lucky, I had a parent that could afford to buy my kids school supplies and school clothes. Most poor people don't have that. Also, the dollar tree is the worst idea for school supplies. The cheapest way to get them is to buy them at back to school sales at Target and Walmart. You can get notebooks for around a quarter each doing that while the Dollar tree will charge $1.25 each. Tissue and hand sanitizer are things you can get there that make sense.
This has nothing to do with not understanding poverty. This has to do with the expectation that one should be *required* to give to other people. That is not giving. Giving is a *choice* one makes freely. I'm not sure which person you are responding to but I don't see any of the possible people you could have responded to as saying anything that indicates they don't understand poverty. You yourself say that you agree that "it's unfair to take away children's supplies to redistribute". I personally think that if a school system is not going to have these things in their budget then maybe there can be a system where whoever chooses to donate supplies is completely anonymous. This can include reaching out to the community, churches etc . This is so twisted. There was never this kind of expectation put on parents or kids when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s. This is what taxes are for, or as I said, donations freely and anonymously given. This is just really bizarre.
Teachers won't admit it, but they are given around 200$ for supplies, but spend it on themselves like posters and decorations they can take with them then see it as a bonus. I was married to one and saw exactly how it was in three different states and in low income areas
Perhaps… I work in a title I school. Basically this means that a high percentage of the families are below the poverty line. It’s not standard practice for us to ask parents for supplies. However. I would never expect parents to donate supplies for the classroom without specifically telling them that was the case. This teacher should have made her intentions clear. It’s very odd to me that she didn’t. And it’s also very weird for the teacher to be wasting the parents time over this. Very strange behavior.
I am w/a partner that initially had 4 kids under 18. We ended up spending around $150.00 per kid per school (4 kids, 3 schools) on the 'school supplies' REQUIRED purchases. Not the personal supplies for each kid, those were extra. ~~ We bought printer paper, white out, ink cartridges, pens, pencils, markers, & scotch tape for the front office & bandaids, rubbing alcohol, gauze, medical tape, & hydrogen peroxide for the nurse who was only there 1x a week. Per kid. It all had to be brand new in the package. They even required specific brands. We are the only renters on our block & we live in a fairly affluent area. WE are the poor family & we still had to buy classroom, office, and medical supplies for the school. ~~ Thankfully there was enough funding from the pandemic that we didn't have to buy anything except personal supplies this year for the 3 still in primary education, but it killed us for over a month financially every year. We only had a week to get everything before school started, & the lists changed year to year & school to school.
That sounds exactly like the lists we were given every year of my sons elementary school days as well. We were literally wondering what the school provided besides the actual bldg itself? The running joke with all the parents would be what next this year? Mandatory gift card providing teachers wardrobe now too? It was that bad.
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We do our part by giving the school faculty paychecks. I win. Enough said or defund, defund, defund. I'm totally serious. This stuff is past being old
I don't understand the connection between what he said and "fascism". Would you tell me?
I agree. that's the opposite of fascism. fascism would be forcing you to buy supplies your kids doesn't need and then giving them away
If only there were a group off people who could see that money is given to these schools. Some kind of govern-ment
My ex wife is a teacher. She taught in FL, NC, and IN. She got around 200$ a school year for supplies, but she spent it on posters and decorations rather than extra supplies for the kids and complained about them not having them. No bias here, just the truth. Even though she had stuff from last year to put up, they don't track what teachers spend it on so it's usually seen by them as a bonus.
Supplies are a lot easier to get donated than money, so if you want an extra part time support staff and you want kids to have stuff, you pay for the first and ask for the second. I would love a system where public schools were all funded at a level where it would be silly to ask students to pay for classroom materials but that's just not going to end up making the cut for "essentials" in most schools, disappointing budget after disappointing budget. It does, of course, result in inequity, so I actually appreciate when schools just ask for money to get bulk supplies (with "need based exclusions" hopefully) and would truly love a system that actually provided reasonable budgets to provide for all students, but since nobody likes taxes and there genuinely are other great needs out there, I do understand. I would love to switch the military budget and literally any other budget for a year though.
You can visit whitehouse.gov to find out where tax money actually goes. Nobody likes taxes but we pay taxes. A lot of taxes. The states make billions from state lotteries that are supposed to fund schools except that since that was started? Schools have a lower budget now than before lotteries were advertised as helping schools. Tax money goes to rich people, special interests, and all kinds of stuff. Not roads, infrastructure, and schools.
There are some supplies from the school, but some teachers like their kiddos to have separate notebooks for math, and the budget doesn't always cover that. If it's private school, parents often supply most stuff, frankly. It kind of depends. What's going on here, though, I have never heard of.
Absolutely involve the principal. Also, make sure daughter has the principal's ear if teacher mistreats her after the meeting.
What school do you work at??? I have worked in many schools and never once have I seen a supply room with these times!
A lot of the comments seem to be from people who don't teach in the United States. Supply rooms are not very common in most schools in the United States because there is no budget for extra supplies. Most teachers end up digging into their own pockets.
I live in the US and worked for my city school district for 12 years. I assure you, every one of the8 schools in our district had supply rooms. Every teacher had an individual budget for supplies. Our district had the second highest rate of families on welfare in the state. But we still didn't steal from the kids. Supplies were donated by church groups, local businesses, and other members of the community that could help out. I am really saddened to hear this is happening in some parts of the country, but please don't perpetuate any more negative stereotypes on this site. We are 50 states that might as well be 50 separate nations at this point, because it seems like every one is a nation unto itself.
This! I work in a high poverty school district, we not only have a supply room but we ALSO serve breakfast and dinner to all of our students for free. My high school on the other hand was in a wealthy area, and it was the total opposite despite having more funds and a wealthier community. That’s why I work where I work now.
I've taught low income middle school students for 20 years in 3 states. Let me start by saying I have never (nor heard of) taken student supplies to share out with the class. We have always had supply rooms and supplies. The problem, especially in recent years, has been the selfish entitlement of many students to care about those supplies. Parents, you may buy the supplies, but it doesn't mean they use them. Numerous brand new pencils broken and left on floor. Markers shaken and snapped to spread ink over walls like blood splatter. Tape is used as fake fingernails. Glue spread like paint on desks. Many don't bother bringing a pencil to class (no matter how many days in a row I've given). Many parents buy supplies and then check out for the year. Why does your kid walk around with an empty backpack? Why do you believe them when they say they never have homework? Why are pencils too expensive but they have the newest iPhone? Why can I never reach parents by phone, email, mail?
Still not the parents problem. Parents who puts food on these teacher's tables mind you. This is THEFT!!!!
Teachers are doing more for most parents than most parents and even most tax payers, or even most tax payers, are doing for most teachers. When money that could go to better schools (or improving something for many citizens instead of a few rich property owners) goes to a stadium or a local monopoly or national oligopoly, THAT'S theft. And honestly, if we stopped funding all schools, most people wouldn't see a huge drop in taxes, but if we stopped funding the military we would see our national debt go to zero even if we cut our taxes by half. Tell me, are schools a waste while a trillion dollar military that "solves" toxic waste disposal by "just throwing it in a pit and burning it" is essential?
Wow, you've definitely mixed some topics here. I agreed with everything you said up to the stop funding schools vs military. Schools are mostly funded by local taxes. The impact of these taxes varies by locality. So you've studied the local tax base of every locality in the US in order to make this wide ranging universal claim? Send us the link to your data and research.
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Teachers are not self funding for students supplies. They're putting up rainbow flags and BLM posters.
Really? Is this normal in the US? Dutch schools do have these things at school. Kids can also bring their own but it's not necessary.
Today, the only things American kids get in public school are: 1. Beat up 2. Raped 3. Pregnant / STDs 4. Killed 5. Indoctrinated
It's very common in a lot of areas. Funding for public schools is quickly going the way of the bird, especially as right-wingers push for more charter/private/religious schools.
Where do you live and do you pay taxes? SCHOOL TAXES GO UP EVERY YEAR. I pay 3x more in school real estate taxes. The reason charter schools are rising is greed. The money we're paying for public schools is not benefitting ANYONE. More money has not led to better outcomes. Time to make a change.
School taxes rise every year and schools see less and less of that money. Rich people get that money. Special interest groups get that money. More money going to actual schools WOULD lead to better outcomes.
PARENTS, DEMAND TO SEE HOW THE PRINCIPAL AND DISTRICT IS SPENDING THE SCHOOLS DISCRETIONARY FUNDS. Mr.J, might I suggest you do your research and get off MSNBC. My left-wing principal spent over $15,000 to pay some CRT nut-job to come talk to us. Everyone was forced to read his book and discuss weekly. Liberals are scared because society is finally seeing what liberal educators and principals are doing with their money. Conservative teachers have been screaming out for years about the damage that zero accountability and responsibility for student behavior and lack of effort is doing to society. Conservative teachers believe in vouchers because the money follows the student rather than just automatically funneled into local public schools. PS, charter schools are public schools.
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Considering that some of the best funded public schools have the worst budgeting problems and student outcomes, perhaps competition will help. They'll figure out where all that money is going and they'll spend more time actually teaching instead of indoctrinating kids into socialism like this stupid teacher.
Puck, Im actually responding to Strawblurries above (for some reason they domt have a reply under their comment)... STRAWBLURRY, many teachers are funding in addition to what school/students bring. ESPECIALLY AS A SCIENCE TEACHER I spend hundreds every year buying supplies for labs. But please be specific, LIBERAL TEACHERS are putting up BLM posters etc, and LIBERAL principals are allowing it. CCONSERVATIVE TEACHERS ARE TEACHING AND HOLDING STUDENTS ACCOUNTABLE.
I work in a high poverty area in south Texas, we have a supply closet but I also spend a LOT of money myself so I rarely (if ever) have to ask my student’s families to. However, I also went to high school in a wealthy area of Austin, (as a kid from a broke family) there was no such thing as a supply closet and teachers were pretty rude about not being able to afford supplies. The community has a lot to do with it.
In Ontario, (at least in my school board) the school provides pencils, papers, stationery, etc for students. If they bring their own things, that's great, but those things belong to THEM! When I was a kid, we had to bring our own pencils, etc, but again those things were ours, they weren't taken away to be shared with the class. Now, if there is a child like my brother was, who tends to loose supplies every day, I might ask parents to send their own, but I would have them put their child's name on it anyways, so it wouldn't be an issue anymore! (Hopefully.)
Where in Ontario? I'm in Toronto and that hasn't been the case for my kids in like 7 years. We give them everything. The school gives you nothing. And want money for agendas? Nonsense.
I'm in Windsor and our elementary school provides everything needed for in class work. We can purchase a yearly agenda for $5 and I send I notebook to use for extra communication notes between myself and my son's teachers and aides because he's autistic and I like to stay on top of any issues that pop up. He literally starts school with his backpack, lunchbox and indoor gym shoes.
Durham region here......25 dollars for an agenda and we provide everything. I think it was 20 bucks for my sons last year's "year book" laser printed on regular white paper and held together with pins...lol not impressed.
Good call on suspecting the teacher might single out the child for poor treatment later on.
I would imagine that not all schools have nice supply rooms if we are talking about schools in the US. It would also depend on what state you are in and what county/parish/district you're in. I volunteered in an elementary school and the teachers didn't even get enough copy paper to make worksheets, memos to parents, etc.
I'd be different if the teacher emailed them to say that only a % of items on the supply list were students personal items and the rest went in the extras pile for students who needed them. To let them know that, for example each child only put 4 folders in their cubby and the rest go in the communal pile so you don't need to bother with personalized folders beyond 4. I know at my school (and my cousins at different schools were the same way) when we were labeling our folders the teacher would tell us to pick our favorite folders and put the rest in the middle of the table. When we got to the age that people started showing up with mechanical pencils we were not scolded but told to put the regular pencils we brought along with them in the middle. That if we only brought multiple packs of mechanical to put the extra packs in the middle. Teachers had to coerce parents into bringing extra supplies so our poorer classmates wouldn't go without pencils. But any type of supplies was fine.
Yeah, one of my kids has a supply list clearly labeled with "shared" and "not shared" sections, and another kid is getting things bulk and just charging parents a "supply fee", and both have notes that anyone who finds supplies a hardship can talk to staff about it privately and get it waived. That seems reasonable to me and I agree that the teacher in this example needs better communication skills. I get that a lot of schools have to choose between supplies and support staff etc. but there is a difference between a clear delineated request and getting mad or demanding something more or something different post de facto.
Thank you for saying this. I am stunned to hear this, as I worked in a public school system for over a decade and unless things have changed drastically in the past few years, this would never happen in our district. I'm sure there are some poorer regions that have no choice, but this is infuriating.
I agree. The principal needs to know that the teacher us being abusive to parents I suspect she also let poor Mia know how disappointed she was!
Yeah absolutely, admin are a parent’s best friend. I’d ask for a principal or vice principal to sit in the meeting with me and the teacher. Chances are they will send the teacher’s appraiser, and that will NOT look good.
If you are a teacher then you know that not all schools, not even very many here in Cali, provide that for students. Also, escalating this to a principle? That is the worst thing you can do at the beginning of the year. It is disrespectful of the class and her policies and, quite frankly, if you put a principle in that room for this, the teacher is going to win hands down. Be reasonable first.
Teaching 20 years (title 1, free meals for students) and in 3 states (luckily never Cali) but I have never worked in a school that didnt provide the minimum paper/pencils for students, even in the roughest years when teachers had their salaries frozen for 3 years (AZ after 9/11 because the state had tied its school budget to tourism right before attack). Parents, always talk to the teacher first. Before the world went woke, I used to say to some parents, "Dont believe everything your child says about me and I wont believe everything they say about you." PS, my district publishes an identical supply list for middle schools (hasn't changed in five years). They dont ask teachers. Parents are buying supplies most students never use (example, 5 composition notebooks in addition to five spiral notebooks). How do I know? At the end of the first week (and last day of school), you'd be surprised how many unused supplies and "lost jackets" we pull out of trashcans.
I find the idea of a mandatory list already insane, but to redistribute stuff to other kids? No. Back in school I was the one with the cheapest stuff, but I still wouldn't have wanted someone else's stuff. This was mine. I picked it with my mom and I liked how it looked. It meant something to me.
Exactly. School supplies was for the child that bought it. There was a second "if possible" list of like tissues sanitizer..generic cheap stuff thats useful for all kids. And again that was if you could buy it. Not required
I've heard of doing it for supplies that it makes sense to have communal--like the other person said, tissues and hand sanitizer, maybe printer paper--and things that are only used once in a while, like glue sticks, where the kids would probably lose them before it's time to use them, but not for everyday things like pencils and notebooks.
We ended up spending around $150.00 per kid per school (4 kids, 3 schools) on the 'school supplies' REQUIRED purchases. Not the personal supplies for each kid, those were extra. ~~ We bought printer paper, white out, ink cartridges, pens, pencils, markers, & scotch tape for the front office & bandaids, rubbing alcohol, gauze, medical tape, & hydrogen peroxide for the nurse who was only there 1x a week. Per kid. It all had to be brand new in the package. They even required specific brands. We are the only renters on our block & we live in a fairly affluent area. WE are the poor family & we still had to buy classroom, office, and medical supplies for the school. ~~ Thankfully there was enough funding from the pandemic that we didn't have to buy anything except personal supplies this year for the 3 still in primary education, but it killed us for over a month financially every year. We only had a week to get everything before school started, & the lists changed year to year & school to school.
This is not normal. I'm a teacher, and supplies bought go to that child. We label everything with names the first day of school. I am either provided extras by the school, or more typically, I buy them myself. The extras go to the students who don't bring any supplies.
Why do kids not bring their own supplies as required? If it's a financial issue, of course we all should help, but...
Usually that is why yes. Kids from low income families usually are what extra supplies is for
Not all schools have it like that but I never heard that they take the kids who has their own supplies taken from them that's crazy.
I can't comment on the entire country, but in the Pacific Northwest it is entirely normal in elementary school for the majority of supplies to go to a common pool, to be pulled from as needed. Pencils, markers, blank paper and notebooks, erasers, all those kinds of things. I think part of the reason was so that kids whose parents either couldn't afford all the supplies or didn't bother/pay attention didn't go without, but also because it meant that all the kids had the same items which cuts down on poverty bullying and poverty anxiety. Similar to schools that have uniforms, or laws that prevent kids from getting singled out in the cafeteria if they don't have lunch money.
The elementary school that my child went to did the same thing they wanted you to bring in his supplies but also classroom supplies which I found 3/4 of the way through the year the stuff I brought in was still sitting there unopened. So I stopped buying supplies for the class and when the teacher asked why I told her and I pointed out the items that I had brought in that was still sitting there. Told her parents don't have enough money to bring in stuff for the teacher to hoard for the whole year and then probably take home with her.
Because they coddled the kids whose parents bought NOTHING, whether they could afford to or not.
Maybe at your school, or you didn't know what they were doing! It even happened in Canada!! I put my foot down & they stopped harassing me about it.
I’m a teacher. This lady is absurd. The school has a supply room with pencils, notebooks etc. That parent bought those materials with her money for her daughter. And now the teacher is requesting a conference? My advice to this mom would be to have a third party present at the meeting and to escalate to the principal. This teacher sounds weird, she might treat the daughter poorly moving forward. Documentation and accountability needs to be established. Sad to say. But it happens.
My understanding is that not all schools in the USA have (give?) that kind of budget for supplies.
Load More Replies... I have a problem with the the community chest attitude. I understand there are people who can't afford a lot of things. But, you know school is going to start. That's like Christmas and birthdays, you know they're gonna happen. So so you buy a pack of pencils this week and next week you buy a binder and the week after that you buy paper . Or you go to Dollar Tree and buy that stuff. I always sent in extras for the classroom because I was aware that where that there are people out there who just aren't willing to try and spend money on their children's school supplies. However, I paid a lot of money for personalized backpacks and we personalized their binders and supplies. Just for this very reason. I got tired of my daughter's leaving the house with brand new crayons and coming home with broken pieces.
I agree that it's unfair to take away children's supplies to redistribute. However, for really poor single mothers, you're trying to juggle your basic bills just to keep the electric on, the rent paid, food to feed them, clothes etc. It's clear that you don't understand that kind of poverty. It's good to have all the facts before forming opinions. When my girls were little, daycare costed more than my 50 hour a week job paid. One Christmas, we had to use Toys for Tots because I could not afford a single pack of crayons for them. We were lucky, I had a parent that could afford to buy my kids school supplies and school clothes. Most poor people don't have that. Also, the dollar tree is the worst idea for school supplies. The cheapest way to get them is to buy them at back to school sales at Target and Walmart. You can get notebooks for around a quarter each doing that while the Dollar tree will charge $1.25 each. Tissue and hand sanitizer are things you can get there that make sense.
This has nothing to do with not understanding poverty. This has to do with the expectation that one should be *required* to give to other people. That is not giving. Giving is a *choice* one makes freely. I'm not sure which person you are responding to but I don't see any of the possible people you could have responded to as saying anything that indicates they don't understand poverty. You yourself say that you agree that "it's unfair to take away children's supplies to redistribute". I personally think that if a school system is not going to have these things in their budget then maybe there can be a system where whoever chooses to donate supplies is completely anonymous. This can include reaching out to the community, churches etc . This is so twisted. There was never this kind of expectation put on parents or kids when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s. This is what taxes are for, or as I said, donations freely and anonymously given. This is just really bizarre.
Teachers won't admit it, but they are given around 200$ for supplies, but spend it on themselves like posters and decorations they can take with them then see it as a bonus. I was married to one and saw exactly how it was in three different states and in low income areas
Perhaps… I work in a title I school. Basically this means that a high percentage of the families are below the poverty line. It’s not standard practice for us to ask parents for supplies. However. I would never expect parents to donate supplies for the classroom without specifically telling them that was the case. This teacher should have made her intentions clear. It’s very odd to me that she didn’t. And it’s also very weird for the teacher to be wasting the parents time over this. Very strange behavior.
I am w/a partner that initially had 4 kids under 18. We ended up spending around $150.00 per kid per school (4 kids, 3 schools) on the 'school supplies' REQUIRED purchases. Not the personal supplies for each kid, those were extra. ~~ We bought printer paper, white out, ink cartridges, pens, pencils, markers, & scotch tape for the front office & bandaids, rubbing alcohol, gauze, medical tape, & hydrogen peroxide for the nurse who was only there 1x a week. Per kid. It all had to be brand new in the package. They even required specific brands. We are the only renters on our block & we live in a fairly affluent area. WE are the poor family & we still had to buy classroom, office, and medical supplies for the school. ~~ Thankfully there was enough funding from the pandemic that we didn't have to buy anything except personal supplies this year for the 3 still in primary education, but it killed us for over a month financially every year. We only had a week to get everything before school started, & the lists changed year to year & school to school.
That sounds exactly like the lists we were given every year of my sons elementary school days as well. We were literally wondering what the school provided besides the actual bldg itself? The running joke with all the parents would be what next this year? Mandatory gift card providing teachers wardrobe now too? It was that bad.
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We do our part by giving the school faculty paychecks. I win. Enough said or defund, defund, defund. I'm totally serious. This stuff is past being old
I don't understand the connection between what he said and "fascism". Would you tell me?
I agree. that's the opposite of fascism. fascism would be forcing you to buy supplies your kids doesn't need and then giving them away
If only there were a group off people who could see that money is given to these schools. Some kind of govern-ment
My ex wife is a teacher. She taught in FL, NC, and IN. She got around 200$ a school year for supplies, but she spent it on posters and decorations rather than extra supplies for the kids and complained about them not having them. No bias here, just the truth. Even though she had stuff from last year to put up, they don't track what teachers spend it on so it's usually seen by them as a bonus.
Supplies are a lot easier to get donated than money, so if you want an extra part time support staff and you want kids to have stuff, you pay for the first and ask for the second. I would love a system where public schools were all funded at a level where it would be silly to ask students to pay for classroom materials but that's just not going to end up making the cut for "essentials" in most schools, disappointing budget after disappointing budget. It does, of course, result in inequity, so I actually appreciate when schools just ask for money to get bulk supplies (with "need based exclusions" hopefully) and would truly love a system that actually provided reasonable budgets to provide for all students, but since nobody likes taxes and there genuinely are other great needs out there, I do understand. I would love to switch the military budget and literally any other budget for a year though.
You can visit whitehouse.gov to find out where tax money actually goes. Nobody likes taxes but we pay taxes. A lot of taxes. The states make billions from state lotteries that are supposed to fund schools except that since that was started? Schools have a lower budget now than before lotteries were advertised as helping schools. Tax money goes to rich people, special interests, and all kinds of stuff. Not roads, infrastructure, and schools.
There are some supplies from the school, but some teachers like their kiddos to have separate notebooks for math, and the budget doesn't always cover that. If it's private school, parents often supply most stuff, frankly. It kind of depends. What's going on here, though, I have never heard of.
Absolutely involve the principal. Also, make sure daughter has the principal's ear if teacher mistreats her after the meeting.
What school do you work at??? I have worked in many schools and never once have I seen a supply room with these times!
A lot of the comments seem to be from people who don't teach in the United States. Supply rooms are not very common in most schools in the United States because there is no budget for extra supplies. Most teachers end up digging into their own pockets.
I live in the US and worked for my city school district for 12 years. I assure you, every one of the8 schools in our district had supply rooms. Every teacher had an individual budget for supplies. Our district had the second highest rate of families on welfare in the state. But we still didn't steal from the kids. Supplies were donated by church groups, local businesses, and other members of the community that could help out. I am really saddened to hear this is happening in some parts of the country, but please don't perpetuate any more negative stereotypes on this site. We are 50 states that might as well be 50 separate nations at this point, because it seems like every one is a nation unto itself.
This! I work in a high poverty school district, we not only have a supply room but we ALSO serve breakfast and dinner to all of our students for free. My high school on the other hand was in a wealthy area, and it was the total opposite despite having more funds and a wealthier community. That’s why I work where I work now.
I've taught low income middle school students for 20 years in 3 states. Let me start by saying I have never (nor heard of) taken student supplies to share out with the class. We have always had supply rooms and supplies. The problem, especially in recent years, has been the selfish entitlement of many students to care about those supplies. Parents, you may buy the supplies, but it doesn't mean they use them. Numerous brand new pencils broken and left on floor. Markers shaken and snapped to spread ink over walls like blood splatter. Tape is used as fake fingernails. Glue spread like paint on desks. Many don't bother bringing a pencil to class (no matter how many days in a row I've given). Many parents buy supplies and then check out for the year. Why does your kid walk around with an empty backpack? Why do you believe them when they say they never have homework? Why are pencils too expensive but they have the newest iPhone? Why can I never reach parents by phone, email, mail?
Still not the parents problem. Parents who puts food on these teacher's tables mind you. This is THEFT!!!!
Teachers are doing more for most parents than most parents and even most tax payers, or even most tax payers, are doing for most teachers. When money that could go to better schools (or improving something for many citizens instead of a few rich property owners) goes to a stadium or a local monopoly or national oligopoly, THAT'S theft. And honestly, if we stopped funding all schools, most people wouldn't see a huge drop in taxes, but if we stopped funding the military we would see our national debt go to zero even if we cut our taxes by half. Tell me, are schools a waste while a trillion dollar military that "solves" toxic waste disposal by "just throwing it in a pit and burning it" is essential?
Wow, you've definitely mixed some topics here. I agreed with everything you said up to the stop funding schools vs military. Schools are mostly funded by local taxes. The impact of these taxes varies by locality. So you've studied the local tax base of every locality in the US in order to make this wide ranging universal claim? Send us the link to your data and research.
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Teachers are not self funding for students supplies. They're putting up rainbow flags and BLM posters.
Really? Is this normal in the US? Dutch schools do have these things at school. Kids can also bring their own but it's not necessary.
Today, the only things American kids get in public school are: 1. Beat up 2. Raped 3. Pregnant / STDs 4. Killed 5. Indoctrinated
It's very common in a lot of areas. Funding for public schools is quickly going the way of the bird, especially as right-wingers push for more charter/private/religious schools.
Where do you live and do you pay taxes? SCHOOL TAXES GO UP EVERY YEAR. I pay 3x more in school real estate taxes. The reason charter schools are rising is greed. The money we're paying for public schools is not benefitting ANYONE. More money has not led to better outcomes. Time to make a change.
School taxes rise every year and schools see less and less of that money. Rich people get that money. Special interest groups get that money. More money going to actual schools WOULD lead to better outcomes.
PARENTS, DEMAND TO SEE HOW THE PRINCIPAL AND DISTRICT IS SPENDING THE SCHOOLS DISCRETIONARY FUNDS. Mr.J, might I suggest you do your research and get off MSNBC. My left-wing principal spent over $15,000 to pay some CRT nut-job to come talk to us. Everyone was forced to read his book and discuss weekly. Liberals are scared because society is finally seeing what liberal educators and principals are doing with their money. Conservative teachers have been screaming out for years about the damage that zero accountability and responsibility for student behavior and lack of effort is doing to society. Conservative teachers believe in vouchers because the money follows the student rather than just automatically funneled into local public schools. PS, charter schools are public schools.
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Considering that some of the best funded public schools have the worst budgeting problems and student outcomes, perhaps competition will help. They'll figure out where all that money is going and they'll spend more time actually teaching instead of indoctrinating kids into socialism like this stupid teacher.
Puck, Im actually responding to Strawblurries above (for some reason they domt have a reply under their comment)... STRAWBLURRY, many teachers are funding in addition to what school/students bring. ESPECIALLY AS A SCIENCE TEACHER I spend hundreds every year buying supplies for labs. But please be specific, LIBERAL TEACHERS are putting up BLM posters etc, and LIBERAL principals are allowing it. CCONSERVATIVE TEACHERS ARE TEACHING AND HOLDING STUDENTS ACCOUNTABLE.
I work in a high poverty area in south Texas, we have a supply closet but I also spend a LOT of money myself so I rarely (if ever) have to ask my student’s families to. However, I also went to high school in a wealthy area of Austin, (as a kid from a broke family) there was no such thing as a supply closet and teachers were pretty rude about not being able to afford supplies. The community has a lot to do with it.
In Ontario, (at least in my school board) the school provides pencils, papers, stationery, etc for students. If they bring their own things, that's great, but those things belong to THEM! When I was a kid, we had to bring our own pencils, etc, but again those things were ours, they weren't taken away to be shared with the class. Now, if there is a child like my brother was, who tends to loose supplies every day, I might ask parents to send their own, but I would have them put their child's name on it anyways, so it wouldn't be an issue anymore! (Hopefully.)
Where in Ontario? I'm in Toronto and that hasn't been the case for my kids in like 7 years. We give them everything. The school gives you nothing. And want money for agendas? Nonsense.
I'm in Windsor and our elementary school provides everything needed for in class work. We can purchase a yearly agenda for $5 and I send I notebook to use for extra communication notes between myself and my son's teachers and aides because he's autistic and I like to stay on top of any issues that pop up. He literally starts school with his backpack, lunchbox and indoor gym shoes.
Durham region here......25 dollars for an agenda and we provide everything. I think it was 20 bucks for my sons last year's "year book" laser printed on regular white paper and held together with pins...lol not impressed.
Good call on suspecting the teacher might single out the child for poor treatment later on.
I would imagine that not all schools have nice supply rooms if we are talking about schools in the US. It would also depend on what state you are in and what county/parish/district you're in. I volunteered in an elementary school and the teachers didn't even get enough copy paper to make worksheets, memos to parents, etc.
I'd be different if the teacher emailed them to say that only a % of items on the supply list were students personal items and the rest went in the extras pile for students who needed them. To let them know that, for example each child only put 4 folders in their cubby and the rest go in the communal pile so you don't need to bother with personalized folders beyond 4. I know at my school (and my cousins at different schools were the same way) when we were labeling our folders the teacher would tell us to pick our favorite folders and put the rest in the middle of the table. When we got to the age that people started showing up with mechanical pencils we were not scolded but told to put the regular pencils we brought along with them in the middle. That if we only brought multiple packs of mechanical to put the extra packs in the middle. Teachers had to coerce parents into bringing extra supplies so our poorer classmates wouldn't go without pencils. But any type of supplies was fine.
Yeah, one of my kids has a supply list clearly labeled with "shared" and "not shared" sections, and another kid is getting things bulk and just charging parents a "supply fee", and both have notes that anyone who finds supplies a hardship can talk to staff about it privately and get it waived. That seems reasonable to me and I agree that the teacher in this example needs better communication skills. I get that a lot of schools have to choose between supplies and support staff etc. but there is a difference between a clear delineated request and getting mad or demanding something more or something different post de facto.
Thank you for saying this. I am stunned to hear this, as I worked in a public school system for over a decade and unless things have changed drastically in the past few years, this would never happen in our district. I'm sure there are some poorer regions that have no choice, but this is infuriating.
I agree. The principal needs to know that the teacher us being abusive to parents I suspect she also let poor Mia know how disappointed she was!
Yeah absolutely, admin are a parent’s best friend. I’d ask for a principal or vice principal to sit in the meeting with me and the teacher. Chances are they will send the teacher’s appraiser, and that will NOT look good.
If you are a teacher then you know that not all schools, not even very many here in Cali, provide that for students. Also, escalating this to a principle? That is the worst thing you can do at the beginning of the year. It is disrespectful of the class and her policies and, quite frankly, if you put a principle in that room for this, the teacher is going to win hands down. Be reasonable first.
Teaching 20 years (title 1, free meals for students) and in 3 states (luckily never Cali) but I have never worked in a school that didnt provide the minimum paper/pencils for students, even in the roughest years when teachers had their salaries frozen for 3 years (AZ after 9/11 because the state had tied its school budget to tourism right before attack). Parents, always talk to the teacher first. Before the world went woke, I used to say to some parents, "Dont believe everything your child says about me and I wont believe everything they say about you." PS, my district publishes an identical supply list for middle schools (hasn't changed in five years). They dont ask teachers. Parents are buying supplies most students never use (example, 5 composition notebooks in addition to five spiral notebooks). How do I know? At the end of the first week (and last day of school), you'd be surprised how many unused supplies and "lost jackets" we pull out of trashcans.
I find the idea of a mandatory list already insane, but to redistribute stuff to other kids? No. Back in school I was the one with the cheapest stuff, but I still wouldn't have wanted someone else's stuff. This was mine. I picked it with my mom and I liked how it looked. It meant something to me.
Exactly. School supplies was for the child that bought it. There was a second "if possible" list of like tissues sanitizer..generic cheap stuff thats useful for all kids. And again that was if you could buy it. Not required
I've heard of doing it for supplies that it makes sense to have communal--like the other person said, tissues and hand sanitizer, maybe printer paper--and things that are only used once in a while, like glue sticks, where the kids would probably lose them before it's time to use them, but not for everyday things like pencils and notebooks.
We ended up spending around $150.00 per kid per school (4 kids, 3 schools) on the 'school supplies' REQUIRED purchases. Not the personal supplies for each kid, those were extra. ~~ We bought printer paper, white out, ink cartridges, pens, pencils, markers, & scotch tape for the front office & bandaids, rubbing alcohol, gauze, medical tape, & hydrogen peroxide for the nurse who was only there 1x a week. Per kid. It all had to be brand new in the package. They even required specific brands. We are the only renters on our block & we live in a fairly affluent area. WE are the poor family & we still had to buy classroom, office, and medical supplies for the school. ~~ Thankfully there was enough funding from the pandemic that we didn't have to buy anything except personal supplies this year for the 3 still in primary education, but it killed us for over a month financially every year. We only had a week to get everything before school started, & the lists changed year to year & school to school.
This is not normal. I'm a teacher, and supplies bought go to that child. We label everything with names the first day of school. I am either provided extras by the school, or more typically, I buy them myself. The extras go to the students who don't bring any supplies.
Why do kids not bring their own supplies as required? If it's a financial issue, of course we all should help, but...
Usually that is why yes. Kids from low income families usually are what extra supplies is for
Not all schools have it like that but I never heard that they take the kids who has their own supplies taken from them that's crazy.
I can't comment on the entire country, but in the Pacific Northwest it is entirely normal in elementary school for the majority of supplies to go to a common pool, to be pulled from as needed. Pencils, markers, blank paper and notebooks, erasers, all those kinds of things. I think part of the reason was so that kids whose parents either couldn't afford all the supplies or didn't bother/pay attention didn't go without, but also because it meant that all the kids had the same items which cuts down on poverty bullying and poverty anxiety. Similar to schools that have uniforms, or laws that prevent kids from getting singled out in the cafeteria if they don't have lunch money.
The elementary school that my child went to did the same thing they wanted you to bring in his supplies but also classroom supplies which I found 3/4 of the way through the year the stuff I brought in was still sitting there unopened. So I stopped buying supplies for the class and when the teacher asked why I told her and I pointed out the items that I had brought in that was still sitting there. Told her parents don't have enough money to bring in stuff for the teacher to hoard for the whole year and then probably take home with her.
Because they coddled the kids whose parents bought NOTHING, whether they could afford to or not.
Maybe at your school, or you didn't know what they were doing! It even happened in Canada!! I put my foot down & they stopped harassing me about it.
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