Boosterthon Runs at MCPS schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boosterthon NEVER EVER says: Donate money to the school and we as a company will pocket 48-60% of it for showing up a few days and then the rest goes to your school. It is a deception that 80-90% of the parents and families do not know about. The kids do not know about. Extended families who the kids plead for money 100% do not know about it.

Send home a Boosterthon flyer that says 50% of the proceeds go back to the school and 50% go to Boosterthon. See how that goes over....

Well fwiw, Booster correctly, imho, leaves communication with parents up to the party that contracted with them (the PTA, PTO, or maybe the school itself).
It's THOSE parties who make no effort to let people know up front how much is sent to Booster from the monies that the children worked to bring in.

I can't think of a reason why they wouldn't be more transparent unless it involves deception. And then is underfunding the schools the reason people use to justify this deception?

[Anonymous]

I can't wait to get the flyers about the annual wrapping paper sale, and to crumple them up and put them in the front of the school in protest. Wrapping paper sales are so 1950's.

[Anonymous]

Our Bethesda elementary is doing one for the first time this year. On top of asking every family in the school for a $200 contribution on top of PTA dues. I'm interested to see what all the fuss about. I find it very confusing that people complain about not enough prep time for the standardized testing yet all the stupid pep rallies will take instructional time out of the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our Bethesda elementary is doing one for the first time this year. On top of asking every family in the school for a $200 contribution on top of PTA dues. I'm interested to see what all the fuss about. I find it very confusing that people complain about not enough prep time for the standardized testing yet all the stupid pep rallies will take instructional time out of the day.

I don't understand why they need boosterthon for more money. Whatever you donate, half will go to boosterthon. If you were going to donate $100 for boosterthon, then it makes more sense to just donate $50 straight to the pta.

Yes, the amount of instructional time taken away from kids is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boosterthon NEVER EVER says: Donate money to the school and we as a company will pocket 48-60% of it for showing up a few days and then the rest goes to your school. It is a deception that 80-90% of the parents and families do not know about. The kids do not know about. Extended families who the kids plead for money 100% do not know about it.

Send home a Boosterthon flyer that says 50% of the proceeds go back to the school and 50% go to Boosterthon. See how that goes over....

Well fwiw, Booster correctly, imho, leaves communication with parents up to the party that contracted with them (the PTA, PTO, or maybe the school itself).
It's THOSE parties who make no effort to let people know up front how much is sent to Booster from the monies that the children worked to bring in.

I can't think of a reason why they wouldn't be more transparent unless it involves deception. And then is underfunding the schools the reason people use to justify this deception?

That is not true. Boosterthon has flyers, emails and websites for donations - all made by Boosterthon, and none of them say a percentage of ANY kind, let alone 50%, goes back to their for-profit company. I sat at a fundraising meeting and was told specifically by the two moms running it, NOT to let families aware of the percentage going back to the school or that they wouldn't make much money. One laughed and said "Grabdparents write the check. They don't care where it goes!" It was terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our Bethesda elementary is doing one for the first time this year. On top of asking every family in the school for a $200 contribution on top of PTA dues. I'm interested to see what all the fuss about. I find it very confusing that people complain about not enough prep time for the standardized testing yet all the stupid pep rallies will take instructional time out of the day.

I don't understand why they need boosterthon for more money. Whatever you donate, half will go to boosterthon. If you were going to donate $100 for boosterthon, then it makes more sense to just donate $50 straight to the pta.

Yes, the amount of instructional time taken away from kids is ridiculous.

It is not the parents. It is the extended family members and neighbors they make the kids ask for donations. They are in the dark. They see Fun Run and donations to school and have no idea. Parents then get guilted because little Johnny comes home crying that other kids in his class are getting prizes for getting donations and he is not. The kids are pitted against each other. The teachers hate it.

[Anonymous]

The kids really are pitted against each other, PP. It's practically the Hunger Games, right? Sheesh - get a grip.

[Anonymous]

Jeanette Dixon is running for school board and is against these fun runs. When I contacted Phil Kaufmann about it, he didn't seem to care. If you are against these scam runs, vote for Jeanette Dixon this year (FYI - I've never met her and am not working for her campaign. I contacted her specifically about this issue earlier in the year and was very happy with her supportive response ).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The kids really are pitted against each other, PP. It's practically the Hunger Games, right? Sheesh - get a grip.

I am not the PP and I agree with her. They have a representative of Boosterthon come in daily to each class and basically shame the kids who haven't gotten donations. Then they hand out awards in front of all the other kids to the ones who are raising funds. Then he leaves with "If you want any of these prizes, you need to raise more money. Raise your hand if you are going to raise the most!!" So yes, it is a terrible process.

Maryland PTA bylaws specifically says kids can not be used to fundraise and you can not use school time to fundraise but yet Boosterthon does both.

[Anonymous]

You are simply making things up, PP. that is not how the boosterthon operation works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are simply making things up, PP. that is not how the boosterthon operation works.

You are wrong. That is exactly how it works. Representatives come in daily for 5 days to hang out prizes for kids who reach certain levels. And tell the other kids if they want those prizes, they need to make it to those levels too. The push for prizes is real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are simply making things up, PP. that is not how the boosterthon operation works.

So please tell us how they work. They don't use class time? They don't encourage the kids to call all their family members? They don't hand out prizes and show the kids what they need to do to get those prizes. Please let me know how you think they work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are simply making things up, PP. that is not how the boosterthon operation works.

So please tell us how they work. They don't use class time? They don't encourage the kids to call all their family members? They don't hand out prizes and show the kids what they need to do to get those prizes. Please let me know how you think they work.

+1. I am curious about this too, because from what I have heard, Boosterthon works exactly as PP described.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Send home a flyer for ratty wrapping paper and see how that goes

And? The school will close? What is all this money for DT?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are simply making things up, PP. that is not how the boosterthon operation works.

That's precisely how it works.

And Boosterthon takes their cut on a sliding scale/ First you pay out 2k to them, and then they take up to 70%, depending on how much you raise.