Group Collection- how much to ask from parents for each teacher?
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Anonymous
| 2 teachers 18 kids, $20 per parent? |
Anonymous
| Is this a public or private school? What age? |
Anonymous
| I've found that you get more by not asking publicly. If people do ask I tell them some people give $10, other significantly more (which is true). The range then becomes between $20 and $50 for those who donate. FWIW, this is a DC charter school. |
Anonymous
| This is a public school. You have no idea what parents' financial situations are, and now you're putting them in an awkward position. If they don't donate, they risk disapproval. I'm a charter school parent, and I hate this shakedown. |
Anonymous
| And even I'd someone doesn't donate, please don't omit their name from the card. |
Anonymous
| Op here- public, elementary but curious what private give in a group situation. How does one ask people privately- call them. This sounds like too much work and makes people uncomfortable. Maybe I'll ditch it and get something on my own. |
Anonymous
Yes, please do that. Smart move. I'm someone who can contribute, but have decided that my kids and I will bake cookies for their teachers. That's just where we are. And FWIW, I was an elementary classroom teacher for 15 years. I never received a class group gift. I have always loved and appreciated all the individual gifts--the homemade baked goods, the tacky ornaments, the hand drawn cards and the bath gift items that I would never use. I would hate it if any family felt pressure to donate money for a gift for me. That's not why I did my job. |
Anonymous
What we do is give $50 and ask that half be counted as from my child, and half be counted from a child whose parents can't financially contribute. We always pay double the amount for field trips for the same reason as well. |
Anonymous
| This year one class was $30 and the other 35 to support several class parties and teacher gifts..... We aren't asked to donate throughout the year...even food as this fund will cover it. |
Anonymous
| Private, we contribute $25 and give $5o on our own |
Anonymous
| Public charter and we give $50. I'm also a teacher and would ask people to PLEASE not send cookies, chocolate or Starbucks gift cards. In my case, most of it ends up at homeless shelters because I realistically can't eat that much. I know the recipients are happy, but it can be a lot of time and energy to try to unload this stuff or risk spoilage. |
Anonymous
Agreed. I am by no means ungrateful and write thank you notes to all the students, but I travel at Christmas and most of these gifts just can't get used in my home. I disagree about the Starbucks cards though. I love those!! Even our non-coffee drinking teachers enjoy the cold drinks there. Our school asks the parents for $40 dues at the start of the year. That pays for all class parties, a group gift for myself, our aide and specials teachers at Christmas and end of the year and other miscellaneous things. |
Anonymous
| There are kids in my son's school who live in million dollar houses, and others whose families can't really afford lunch. Be careful about asking a set amount. It is very alienating, and school shouldn't be alienating. |
Anonymous
|
$20 is very reasonable.
The vast majority of parents can afford it. Ones who really can't can opt out, of course. |
Anonymous
Teacher here, please don't do this. Please please don't do this. If you want to give me a gift that's fine. If you want to send out 1 email saying "If anyone wants to join, please give at your discretion", but setting a cost, or implying that people need to "opt out" rather than "opting in", is absolutely unacceptable. I would much much rather get nothing than know that you're creating this kind of class division in my class. |