I buy the fancy/special things that I like, such as unique paper clips, specific brand of pens, etc... I also buy tissues, hand sanitizer, and Clorox wipes, which are not provided by the school. I took advantage of the thing target did and already stocked up for this year! Anything the kids are using or that I don't care about getting something specific goes on my list that the Secretary collects each year. She puts in one big order and then sorts it out for all of us. Things on that list include tape, staples, white out, pens and pencils for my students, etc...
Each site in my district has a supply closet. When teachers need something, they ask one of the secretaries. When we're low on something, my office manager orders it and I sign off on the order. I don't hoard supplies nor do I stash things away for my favorite people. Everything goes through the clerical staff.
We cannot ask, or expect, students to bring supplies, although many do. Each teacher gets a (quite generous) budget allotment for consumable supplies--paper, pencils, notebooks, etc. I do sometimes spend a bit of my own money on things that I know I can't get through our vendors.
My principals (P and VP’s) supply everything and when I say everything I do mean everything. It’s a beautiful thing!
I always copy and paste all of your brilliant ideas for when I go into administration. You’re so efficient, haha!
Have you cleared this with your principal? I believe collecting money from students in this manner is illegal.
I may have spoken too soon. Perhaps the laws regarding school fees differs from state to state. This article is about current restrictions that apply to California public schools
This is ridiculous! Makes me glad I work in a private school because I don’t have to deal with this nonsense.
Yeah this is a state by state thing. We don't have laws like that here. We also don't REQUIRE them to bring the supplies - if a kid just doesn't/ can't then I usually do supply it myself. However, my school does NOT supply it in that case, I do personally. Most kids bring what we ask or are happy to give me a few bucks for the convenience of not having to search out the right kind of notebook.
It seems like every year more and more is expected for free. Breakfast, lunch (for some),school supplies, sometimes schools give kids clothing. Are we going to send them home with dinner too?
Agreed. I student taught in a low-income school where most of my kids were responsible with their supplies. My mentor teacher also did not provide extra pencils, etc. The kids would have to borrow a pencil or used a colored pencil, so most kids learned that they needed to bring a pencil to class. I honestly feel that if a kid can afford an iphone, expensive headphones, and $200 shoes, then they can bring a binder and pencil to class.
I would routinely ask about the cost of my students clothing (I know it's not PC) out of curiosity. This was at a super low SES school district in one of the poorest parts of the state. To give you an idea, the district had it's own mobile dental clinic ($200,000) that routinely made its rounds to all the schools. Anyway, the expensive jerseys ($60), watches ($50), shoes ($100+), pants ($50) made one wonder why so many of them qualified for free meals and snacks, free bikes, free holiday meals, free shoes and clothing, free tutoring services, free dental and medical care, free telephones . . .
I guess my question is, how many $60 jersey's do they own? 10? How about watches? 15? How about shoes? 5? Sure, the families could be better about what they spend their money on, but it won't make up for the cost of medical/dental costs and insurance, the cost of a cell phone with service, etc. Many of those costs are so high, that the costs of those frivolous buys won't touch the costs of the services they get for free. The other issue is that if the families save money, the services are taken away and they don't have the money to pay for the services because the cost is too great. Our help for the poor is broken like just about every social service in our country. If a family has 2000K in the bank, their services are removed. The system is designed for what you see and not designed to help people really get ahead. It is frustrating to see these things when so many sacrifice wants to pad their savings for later or to just get by living just ahead of the poverty line.
Precisely. “I can afford to buy little Johnny’s $500 pair of shoes and get him the latest iCrap, but I can’t afford to buy him pencils and paper! What am I to do?!”
