I think it’s pretty clear the teachers are telling you they aren’t provided. Hence the requests! |
| Actually would love if the teachers union ( or FCPS but they don’t want to know the real answer so will skip asking!) could take a poll on this matter: how many classroom teachers spend their own $$ on cleaning supplies and/or tissues and/or supplementing basic school supplies and what is the estimated amount of these purchases each year. I bet it is a lot higher and more pervasive than one might think. |
And so what parents should be doing is asking the principals why. Not deciding it’s the new expense for the parents to cover. |
What a teacher on this thread said was she asks for wipes from parents because that’s easier than requesting paper towels in advance and using the provided cleaning spray. She prefers Clorox wipes and so asks the parents. |
You don’t need Clorox wipes to do your job. Please be serious. But to your point, yes, parents should be contacting the school board to ask why there is enough money for endless extras but not enough money in the budget— though it’s in the budget— for janitorial supplies. Then they will either be told the supplies are in fact purchased for the school, or that the school is in violation of health codes. |
I think it was already explained earlier in this thread but children make messes all day and so yes, cleaning up after them is part of the job. Teachers need to be able to quickly do this so they can transition to their next activity, teaching! |
She prefers the Clorox wipes because the school provided paper towels suck for actual cleaning. Imagine using something equivalent to those super thin free gas station napkins to clean your house. Subpar cleaning result and lots of wasted time and effort. That is why there is a preference for the Clorox wipes, because they quickly and effectively get the job done. |
Sure, but the PP ahead of you is saying that teachers aren’t requesting supplies because they don’t like what’s been given— which is exactly why you’re saying they’re requesting supplies. I am sure you are right that Clorox wipes are nicer. The question is why it’s a parents job to buy a teacher nicer supplies. |
I think it’s twofold: there are subpar cleaning supplies provided and in addition, there are not enough supplies provided to begin with. So not only do the tissues/paper towels suck so you need to use 4x as many of them, there were never enough to begin with so they run out quickly. Again, if teachers are consistently asking for these items, year after year and it keeps happening across the county, isn’t this a question that should be directed towards leadership rather than individual teachers? This is not some one-off situation, as noted it is pretty pervasive across the county. |
Who is buying supplies “for the teacher”? They are supplies that benefit the whole class. It’s not like the teacher is taking them home to wipe down his/her kitchen counter. |
+1 The supplies are helping the teacher maintain a clean space to teach their class in. |
This. I wipe down student desks and computers to help keep students germ free. Our janitorial crew does not wipe down student desks, tables, or computers, and I am trying to help students stay healthy and not transmit illnesses among them. |
It’s fine for parents to advocate, but in the mean time when kids are spreading germs now the solution shouldn’t be that teachers pay out of their pocket to keep your kid healthy while your proposal to change school funding takes years to go through. |
|
I have been a teacher in FCPS for a decade. The only time the school provided wipes was during the pandemic. Specialists teachers (music, ESOL, special ed, speech, AAP, etc) do not get anything from the school. I always give them some supplies to start off and hope other classroom teachers do the same.
I’ve spent thousands of my own dollars on things for my classroom (hundreds each year.) People on here are absolutely ridiculous. |
I am given the opportunity to send kids to the bathroom to come back with wet and dry brown paper towels that don’t absorb water, leave a drippy mess, and don’t kill germs, they just spread them out, and make the desks too wet to work on. They also would run out fast if we used them for cleaning, and then I would be forced to wait a week before I moved the drippy germs around the desks. |