Community Chat

[RedTop]

My oldest daughter is a special education teacher here in WV.   Thru the county budget she is allotted an amount to purchase needed items for her classroom.   The only things she asks parents to help with are boxes of tissues, hand sanitizer, and sanitizing wipes, which are items used multiple times daily in her classroom.    

[wishmoon]

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@SahmIam wrote:

@wishmoon  Speaking for MY COUNTY ONLY:

Children who are identified as lower income/needing financial assistance (via federal forms filled out for free school breakfast and lunch as well a free before and aftercare) are provided with a backpack filled with all school supplies required by their grade found on the list. These are supplied via our county taxes. If you're a homeowner, you are participating in this program. No child goes without. BTW, these backpacks are given out a week BEFORE school starts so all children arrive with their supplies at the same time- this way no child can be singled out by their peers.

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Thank you for answering this @SahmIam, this makes so much more sense. It seems all I hear around where I live is how much the teachers have to pay out for student's supplies. I wish every school operated the way yours does.

[Abrowneyegirl]

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@wishmoon wrote:

Hmmm, I feel sorry for the kids whose parents can't afford to provide $200+ per child. We all know how kids can be and in school, being different isn't good.

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I feel for the children and the parents.  My friend moved here and was not aware of this system and she was given a LOT of grief for not ponying up her share!  (2 years ago)   Now she does the minimum so she and her children are not 'singled out'.  

Like others have said how many pairs of scissors and glue sticks does a class need. ??!!!  Good gracious  

They require the brand names to avoid the less fortunate from having the dollar store brand vs the name brand.  This way everyone is the same.

[SahmIam]

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@missy1 wrote:

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@Abrowneyegirl wrote:

Are back to school list the norm now or just in certain areas?

My friend (who is the Queen of thrifty shopping) has 3 children and each child has a different back to school classroom supply list based on age.

It is a list of things parents are expected to purchase to supply teacher with, from pencils to tissues and even cleaning wipes.

She completed one list and spent $208, she has 2 more to go, and she is thrifty and she bought the bare minimum.  I looked at the list and noticed it even specifies the brand name- no cheap crayons for this bunch.  !?!?

All this in addition to buying the supplies her own children like backpacks, paper, pens, calculator, etc.

What is really disturbing is we are in one of the wealthiest school districts in the state.  We have indoor and outdoor pools but can not supply cleaning wipes and hand sanitizer? .........wow

Is this the norm?

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I really don't see how this list for one child can be $208,  Name brand items are on sale at Walmart, for really cheap. Are they including Clorox wipes, tissue and that type of items on the list? I would like to see a similar generic list. Are they asking for like 4 big bottles of hand sanitizer, 5 boxes of tissues type of request?  I would not  buy that quantity.  Nope.

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@missy1   As per the list my son received on 6/21/19 (last day of school), he is to bring in the following (this is what EACH student in his grade is to bring in. There are 250 students in his grade; almost 800 in his school covering 6-8th):

* 8 16 ounce pump hand sanitizers (any brand will do but it needs to be the 16 ounce or larger size)

* 8 boxes of Kleenix tissues (prefer the ones with lotion built in)

* 1 large bulk size pack of paper towels (we will use the dowels for a project later in the year).

The bulk size they PREFER is the one from Costco but they can't say that because not all family's belong to Costco, BJ's or Sam's Club. It all goes into one large storage area and whatever is left at the end of the year goes home with the teachers. 

[Bubbles219]

Unfortunately it is the norm.  My sons are now 26 and 30 and their lists for school supplies seemed to grow larger each year.  Multiples of everything.  I volunteered weekly in my sons' classrooms ~ and even towards the end of the year there would be much left over ~ unused.  What happened to it all I do not know.  I do know none of it ever made its way back home.

[tarytoo]

The school lists are normal here. As a single mom my daughter can't afford the high price of the required supplies so I  help out. and yes indeed the price is over $200 per child. 

[missy1]

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@SahmIam wrote:

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@missy1 wrote:

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@Abrowneyegirl wrote:

Are back to school list the norm now or just in certain areas?

My friend (who is the Queen of thrifty shopping) has 3 children and each child has a different back to school classroom supply list based on age.

It is a list of things parents are expected to purchase to supply teacher with, from pencils to tissues and even cleaning wipes.

She completed one list and spent $208, she has 2 more to go, and she is thrifty and she bought the bare minimum.  I looked at the list and noticed it even specifies the brand name- no cheap crayons for this bunch.  !?!?

All this in addition to buying the supplies her own children like backpacks, paper, pens, calculator, etc.

What is really disturbing is we are in one of the wealthiest school districts in the state.  We have indoor and outdoor pools but can not supply cleaning wipes and hand sanitizer? .........wow

Is this the norm?

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I really don't see how this list for one child can be $208,  Name brand items are on sale at Walmart, for really cheap. Are they including Clorox wipes, tissue and that type of items on the list? I would like to see a similar generic list. Are they asking for like 4 big bottles of hand sanitizer, 5 boxes of tissues type of request?  I would not  buy that quantity.  Nope.

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@missy1   As per the list my son received on 6/21/19 (last day of school), he is to bring in the following (this is what EACH student in his grade is to bring in. There are 250 students in his grade; almost 800 in his school covering 6-8th):

* 8 16 ounce pump hand sanitizers (any brand will do but it needs to be the 16 ounce or larger size)

* 8 boxes of Kleenix tissues (prefer the ones with lotion built in)

* 1 large bulk size pack of paper towels (we will use the dowels for a project later in the year).

The bulk size they PREFER is the one from Costco but they can't say that because not all family's belong to Costco, BJ's or Sam's Club. It all goes into one large storage area and whatever is left at the end of the year goes home with the teachers. 

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These amounts are ridiculous to request. They can't be mandatory at a public school. I would buy what I could afford.

[Abrowneyegirl]

These amounts are ridiculous to request. They can't be mandatory at a public school. I would buy what I could afford.

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It is not mandatory.  But as my friend found out the parents and children are singled out as 'those who don't'  as she was given a little slack as she was new to the area.

My friend was really stressed out by the mean moms.

She was NOT going to put her children through that again.

I to find it to be ridiculous, based on the comments here it is not just a local thing.

[SahmIam]

@missy1  Sorry to tell ya, they are. When my boys were in private school, there were no "lists". When we switched to public, it was quite a surprise.

[missy1]

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@Abrowneyegirl wrote:

These amounts are ridiculous to request. They can't be mandatory at a public school. I would buy what I could afford.

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It is not mandatory.  But as my friend found out the parents and children are singled out as 'those who don't'  as she was given a little slack as she was new to the area.

My friend was really stressed out by the mean moms.

She was NOT going to put her children through that again.

I to find it to be ridiculous, based on the comments here it is not just a local thing.

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How would the other parents know how much the other parents bring? We don't have a room parent specified in each class here. If that room parent "which is a volunteer", could not share info due to confidentiality.