"student support fees" in upper NW DCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is the auction less weird? I would think the public display of wealth that is inherrant in auction participation would be ickier.

it's a silent auction. No one knows what I spend.

Well the auction committee members know, the person doing the thank you notes knows, the person handling checkout knows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you seem to be looking to pick an odd battle. If the best you can come up with in describing your views is that it "feels yucky" you must know your full of shit. Somehow have annual income that allows you to donate tens of thousands of dollars but your unwilling to recognize the value of throwing some money into a pot that helps your child. And his/her classmates? Ugh. Please just go private or move out of the District already. This might be a shocker to you, but DC does not typically pay for all the bells and whistles that many WOTP schools have been able to bring to their schools that to you seem like standard practice because families before you worked their butts off to get them. All you have to do is write a check, which you are clearly able to do. Please devote you energy to more worthy arguments.

OP here. I'm not "full of shit". I don't have some ulterior motive for not giving. I give money to several charities that work with women and children in DC. I just don't think that MY kid needs SMART boards or iPads in the classroom, etc.
White boards/dry erase markers and paper/pencils would be just fine. So I take the money I'd give to the student support fund and give it to other charities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is the auction less weird? I would think the public display of wealth that is inherrant in auction participation would be ickier.

it's a silent auction. No one knows what I spend.

Well the auction committee members know, the person doing the thank you notes knows, the person handling checkout knows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is the auction less weird? I would think the public display of wealth that is inherrant in auction participation would be ickier.

it's a silent auction. No one knows what I spend.

Well the auction committee members know, the person doing the thank you notes knows, the person handling checkout knows.

Well, yes, the the same way the "student support fund" is not anonymous at all either.
Neither is anonymous and neither is public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you seem to be looking to pick an odd battle. If the best you can come up with in describing your views is that it "feels yucky" you must know your full of shit. Somehow have annual income that allows you to donate tens of thousands of dollars but your unwilling to recognize the value of throwing some money into a pot that helps your child. And his/her classmates? Ugh. Please just go private or move out of the District already. This might be a shocker to you, but DC does not typically pay for all the bells and whistles that many WOTP schools have been able to bring to their schools that to you seem like standard practice because families before you worked their butts off to get them. All you have to do is write a check, which you are clearly able to do. Please devote you energy to more worthy arguments.

OP here. I'm not "full of shit". I don't have some ulterior motive for not giving. I give money to several charities that work with women and children in DC. I just don't think that MY kid needs SMART boards or iPads in the classroom, etc.
White boards/dry erase markers and paper/pencils would be just fine. So I take the money I'd give to the student support fund and give it to other charities.

You're fighting the wrong battle here. The technology is funded by DCPS. The PTA funds the art teacher and the field trips and the science program. Withholding your donations to the PTA will not get them back to slates and chalk.

[Anonymous]

Oh FFS, OP. Don't give the damn money. Whatever. Just go away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is the auction less weird? I would think the public display of wealth that is inherrant in auction participation would be ickier.

it's a silent auction. No one knows what I spend.

Well the auction committee members know, the person doing the thank you notes knows, the person handling checkout knows.

I posted before - but the more i think about it the more this annoys me.

So, you spend money to get something (and let me guess, you're paying less than value?) but you won't flat out donate money, even though you donate more than $2K/mo on charities?

Yes. Everyone associated with the auction knows. And they're also the same people who know you're not contributing to the student fund. You look cheap.

You are coming off here as cheap. Frankly I'm not sure i believe you contribute $2k/mo to charities, if you won't give your PTA (whatever it is called), which is made up entirely of volunteers who work their asses off to create a better school for your kid, a few hundred dollars. Do you volunteer your time at least? Otherwise you just come across as a freeloader.

When my chid was at an east of the park school, the entire PTA budget was around 5K. you want to "feel better" about giving money to your school? Donate a chunk to a small east of the park PTA and make their lives easier.

[Anonymous]

You give $20-30,000 to charity every year?!? Actual cash donations?

Wow, I'm impressed. I'm not that charitable, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You give $20-30,000 to charity every year?!? Actual cash donations?

Wow, I'm impressed. I'm not that charitable, I guess.

yes, actual cash. HHI about $300K

[Anonymous]

You could enroll your child in an EOTP school and then you could give a bunch to your kid's school and not feel yucky about it.

You could even move EOTP, enroll your kid in the IB school, and have more money to give to charity.

If you did this, you could also rent your WOTP house out at a rate affordable to Section 8 tenants so that a family got a chance to attend an excellent school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You give $20-30,000 to charity every year?!? Actual cash donations?

Wow, I'm impressed. I'm not that charitable, I guess.

yes, actual cash. HHI about $300K

Advice from your tax accountant...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could enroll your child in an EOTP school and then you could give a bunch to your kid's school and not feel yucky about it.

You could even move EOTP, enroll your kid in the IB school, and have more money to give to charity.

If you did this, you could also rent your WOTP house out at a rate affordable to Section 8 tenants so that a family got a chance to attend an excellent school.

Not a bad idea. I think we might fit in better EOTP than in our WOTP school to be honest.

[Anonymous]

While the students at Title I schools are needy, the schools often aren't. DCPS employs a weighted student funding formula that gives more money to ELL, Title I, at risk students, etc. (as they should). Your NWDC school is probably getting the bare minimum allowed under the formula. This situation does lead to a scenario where the more well-off parents fund the school to help make up the difference. You might want to direct your anger at DCPS for taking advantage of parents' willingness to fund schools with after tax dollars.

[Anonymous]

OP, I agree with you. I do the same things. I don't donate to my kids school except for field trip costs, etc. Even field trips for high SES kids I think are pretty silly. Almost every kid at my kids' school is taken to museums, parks, etc. I don't think my kids have not been to a place where they have later gone on a school field trip. I also don't think there needs to be extra teachers such as an art teacher when poor kids in the city don't also have access to a parent funded art teacher. I don't think kids need iPads or smartboards at school either. It somehow rubs me the wrong way too. My kids are really easy kids to educate. Bright, advanced academically, no social problems, no behavior problems. Basically average kids when compared to other higher SES families. They would do fine without all the extras. I had one PTA parent chide me for not donating when her kid uses up a substantial amount of services (one-to-one aide, special education) . I don't begrudge her kids getting services but she should realize that her kid costs substantially more to educate than mine. I never said anything to her and just walked away.It is up to the school district to provide a basic level of education to everyone regardless of whether parents donate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You give $20-30,000 to charity every year?!? Actual cash donations?

Wow, I'm impressed. I'm not that charitable, I guess.

yes, actual cash. HHI about $300K

Advice from your tax accountant...

Sounds more like tithing than tax advice. Maybe double duty.