What do I do: elementary school just ask us for 100k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I call troll. You’re not using private school terminology.

It’s not “elementary.” It’s lower school. There are basically no private schools that only serve elementary grades.

It’s not “fundraising lady.” It’s Director of Development.

It’s not “principal.” It’s Head of School.

I’ll give you a C for your troll attempt. Research the terminology before you build your character.

Not OP. But above is not correct. There are some private schools which are elementary grades 1 to 5 only or only go to grade 6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have 5 kids and this gets your panties in a bunch? Ok then.

Having 5 kids means you have a spare 100k to give away?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I call troll. You’re not using private school terminology.

It’s not “elementary.” It’s lower school. There are basically no private schools that only serve elementary grades.

It’s not “fundraising lady.” It’s Director of Development.

It’s not “principal.” It’s Head of School.

I’ll give you a C for your troll attempt. Research the terminology before you build your character.

Not OP. But above is not correct. There are some private schools which are elementary grades 1 to 5 only or only go to grade 6.

I’m not really aware of any in the DC area. Seneca is the only one I can think of. Maybe there are some Catholic schools.

I’m thinking primarily of secular private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No school asks for specific amounts.

If your school did OP leave.

Actually, they do when they know your record of philanthropy.

[Anonymous]

Maybe there’s a typo on your file somewhere in the school records

Fat fingered in an extra zero

[Anonymous]

I mean this sincerely, but you give them pocket change. Maybe $100 at most, and then you move on. This may not be the school for you. You can participate and have no obligation for anything more. If they keep bothering you after this, you switch schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You probably flaunt your wealth. That’s why they asked.[/

Really, we do not. Two cars from Carmax, no jewels, no vacation house, no trust or education trust or foundation or whatever people have. I work only part time so I can handle kids after school, so maybe that whet their appetite.

Yes, you do. Work part time, nanny and five kids in Private school. And what a million + house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our small private elementary is fundraising for a building project. They called us in to meet with the fundraising lady and the principal — and they asked us for 100 thousand dollars. Verbally and then in writing.

I am floored. My husband and I drive used cars. We have five kids, four of them in private school (and I have a part time nanny for the fifth, a baby, so I can work.) we have no need based aid but two of my kids go to a high school with merit aid and we did not give them the option of looking at the more competitive local school due in large part because we wanted the aid.

Our hhi is 500-600k and we have about 2.5 million in the stock market.

I have a very wealthy friend with a fortune of about 500 million and she did nobody has ever asked her for that much money. I’m really upset and confused.

To top it all off, these renovations will not be finished while my kids are in elementary, although they will mess up the rest of their time there with constant construction. So they will never get to enjoy them.


Also, are heads of school usually involved like this? I feel like there is a conflict if interest? The principal even referenced a minor disciplinary issue my son had earlier in the year at the start of the meeting.

What on earth are they thinking and how do we respond? We would give them maybe $500 a year. We were expecting them to ask for maybe $5000 and we would go up to a thousand. Two kids at the school and this is our second year there.

Is this CES? They are always asking for money and the objective for raising money is always a moving target.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I call troll. You’re not using private school terminology.

It’s not “elementary.” It’s lower school. There are basically no private schools that only serve elementary grades.

It’s not “fundraising lady.” It’s Director of Development.

It’s not “principal.” It’s Head of School.

I’ll give you a C for your troll attempt. Research the terminology before you build your character.

FWIW I live outside of the DMV and your terminology is wrong for the private school in my city that I'm familiar with - they absolutely have a principal, and talk about their elementary school.

That’s great. This is a DC forum so I’m going to assume OP is talking about a DC area school, unless they want to say otherwise.

1. Lots of former dc residents move out and keep up with dcum because it’s a useful resource. I found this site when I was a DMV educator, but live elsewhere now.

2. OP seems to have gotten advice that she likes from a PP. I’m not sure she’s coming back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"No" is a complete sentence.

Hahahahha I agree. It’s fine to ask and it’s fine to say no. Which school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I call troll. You’re not using private school terminology.

It’s not “elementary.” It’s lower school. There are basically no private schools that only serve elementary grades.

It’s not “fundraising lady.” It’s Director of Development.

It’s not “principal.” It’s Head of School.

I’ll give you a C for your troll attempt. Research the terminology before you build your character.

FWIW I live outside of the DMV and your terminology is wrong for the private school in my city that I'm familiar with - they absolutely have a principal, and talk about their elementary school.

That’s great. This is a DC forum so I’m going to assume OP is talking about a DC area school, unless they want to say otherwise.

1. Lots of former dc residents move out and keep up with dcum because it’s a useful resource. I found this site when I was a DMV educator, but live elsewhere now.

2. OP seems to have gotten advice that she likes from a PP. I’m not sure she’s coming back.

Op here— I am a former Capitol Hill mom who has moved to the heart of private school country in New England. In my area we have k-6, k-9 and k-12 privates in addition to many 7-12 and 9-12 privates that have no lower schools. For instance, the local prestigious boarding schools do not topically have lower schools— they have feeder schools like ours. (How’s that for terminology?!) I said elementary to highlight the fact that this is a school for small children where we will be only for a few years. This isn’t a k-12 lifer (more vocab! Wow!) scenario. I am grateful that this is not happening to me in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I call troll. You’re not using private school terminology.

It’s not “elementary.” It’s lower school. There are basically no private schools that only serve elementary grades.

It’s not “fundraising lady.” It’s Director of Development.

It’s not “principal.” It’s Head of School.

I’ll give you a C for your troll attempt. Research the terminology before you build your character.

+1. No way this is real.

[Anonymous]

OP, I’m surprised you’re stressed by this. Just say “wow, I’m not sure what happened but that’s way beyond our capacity right now. We are able to give $1000/year” or whatever your limit is. They’re the ones with egg on their face. I’m sure they’ll apologize if not explain and you all just move on.

It’s not personal. They’re not going to penalize your kids. It’s just the advancement people trying to hit a target and getting your data wrong somehow.

[Anonymous]

OP, the school knows exactly how much wealth you have when they made the ask. They wouldn't have asked if you couldn't afford it. It has nothing to do with what you've "shared" with them, for less than $2k a month they purchase wealth screening data from firms that know your exact net worth. And no one is asking for $100k from someone who can't afford it.

[Anonymous]

This is so clearly fake.