What is the deal with back to school kits?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of my fondest back to school memories were from the first day. First the new outfit and then afterschool supply shopping with my mother. There was nothing like a new three ring notebook (trapper keeper anyone?) paper, reinforcements, highlighters, new folders decorated with whatever was popular at the time (cabbage patch kids anyone?). To this day I love ofice supplies.

We could be friends. I still buy pretty folders every Fall and I'm kid of ashamed to say they do make my work day a little brighter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd be really pissed if I bought my child the higher quality markers and someone else bought the cheap ones that dry out quickly and then the teacher gave my child the cheap ones. I buy everything on the supply list, and specify my child is to keep everything I send them to school with.

I buy a box of tissues for the classroom and DH drops off a box of reams of paper within the first week for the classroom. We don't believe in hand sanitizer.

Our kid's supply list specifies brands to that this problem can be avoided. If your kid picks a dried out marker out of the communal bin he can grab a different one. Your kid isn't going to be screwed over because other parents are cheap.

Our school supply list also specifies brands but that's total bs. I'll get the brands I want my child to have. Sorry but in public school you can't BOTH not provide the school supplies AND dictate which brands to buy. You can say blue pens or black, but not Bic vs. Papermate.

Most parents aren't such pains in the ass that they would refuse to buy the suggested brand and then insist that the teacher go out of her way to make sure that Suzy have exclusive use of THIS pack of markers. All the other kids notice that Suzy does things differently, and god forbid her markers mix and mingle with the others on the table because the teacher has been given EXPLICIT INSTRUCTIONS that this not happen.

I hope you are putting Suzy's name on every pencil, eraser and marker because otherwise there's little chance that they will remain hers alone in a classroom where all those items are pooled. Aside from hers, of course.

It's a total non-issue. This is what pencil cases are for. She keeps all her things in her desk. I do label her box of crayons, which she also keeps in her desk, as well as her bag of markers and her pencil case. It all stays in the desk.

I feel really sorry for your kid.

Yes, someone needs to read Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and the Selfishness Cure.

http://annieandaunt.blogspot.com/2013/07/mrs-piggle-wiggle.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see the big deal. The kits were an easy fund raiser for the PTA, the teachers got the supplies before school started- so they could organize them as they wished prior to school starting, and I didn't have to go to Staples, Target or Office Depot. Win-win-win.

I'm OP, and I think if they want families to buy all this extra classroom stuff, then the kits sort of make sense, so it's not the kids themselves I am pointing out, it's the need for the kits themselves. But my bigger question was why the parents have to buy all this stuff. Sure, I can see where they want me to supply my own child's crayons or pencils, but I was surprised that parents have to buy disinfecting wipes or hand soap or other things that to me are the school's job of stocking the classroom. The school, NOT the teacher. If indeed this is the norm, why not just charge each family a $20 activity fee and have the school purchase all of this in bulk rather than in individual kits? Probably even easier and more cost efficient, assuming indeed that it now falls on the families to supply the school with the basics.

We'll do it when the time comes, but I'm also like the PPs that loved every year picking out my folders and whether I wanted #2 Barbie pencils or #2 Strawberry Shortcake pencils. Not a big deal, definitely a first world problem, still a surprise to this FTM.

[Anonymous]

I've done the kits for a couple years but my kids have asked me not to do it for next year. They like picking out their own stuff and complained that the folders supplied in the kit didn't hold up well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'm OP, and I think if they want families to buy all this extra classroom stuff, then the kits sort of make sense, so it's not the kids themselves I am pointing out, it's the need for the kits themselves. But my bigger question was why the parents have to buy all this stuff. Sure, I can see where they want me to supply my own child's crayons or pencils, but I was surprised that parents have to buy disinfecting wipes or hand soap or other things that to me are the school's job of stocking the classroom. The school, NOT the teacher. If indeed this is the norm, why not just charge each family a $20 activity fee and have the school purchase all of this in bulk rather than in individual kits? Probably even easier and more cost efficient, assuming indeed that it now falls on the families to supply the school with the basics.

We'll do it when the time comes, but I'm also like the PPs that loved every year picking out my folders and whether I wanted #2 Barbie pencils or #2 Strawberry Shortcake pencils. Not a big deal, definitely a first world problem, still a surprise to this FTM.

If you don't want to buy the disinfecting wipes or hand soap, then don't.

I don't want the teacher to have to buy them, so I do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm OP, and I think if they want families to buy all this extra classroom stuff, then the kits sort of make sense, so it's not the kids themselves I am pointing out, it's the need for the kits themselves. But my bigger question was why the parents have to buy all this stuff. Sure, I can see where they want me to supply my own child's crayons or pencils, but I was surprised that parents have to buy disinfecting wipes or hand soap or other things that to me are the school's job of stocking the classroom. The school, NOT the teacher. If indeed this is the norm, why not just charge each family a $20 activity fee and have the school purchase all of this in bulk rather than in individual kits? Probably even easier and more cost efficient, assuming indeed that it now falls on the families to supply the school with the basics.

We'll do it when the time comes, but I'm also like the PPs that loved every year picking out my folders and whether I wanted #2 Barbie pencils or #2 Strawberry Shortcake pencils. Not a big deal, definitely a first world problem, still a surprise to this FTM.

If you don't want to buy the disinfecting wipes or hand soap, then don't.

I don't want the teacher to have to buy them, so I do.

I'll buy them. I'm just not understanding why a school system that spends $20K/yr per pupil requires me or the teacher to buy them instead of providing them. I can see if a teacher wants to do a particular project with the class that requires materials outside the normal scope, but this sort of thing stocking the basics for an entire school surprised me.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, if not wipes (huge $$ waster) why not bottles of whatever cleaner the janitorial staff uses? One in each classroom.. a cloth that can be washed.. done.

BUT.. school boards barely supply educational basics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'll buy them. I'm just not understanding why a school system that spends $20K/yr per pupil requires me or the teacher to buy them instead of providing them. I can see if a teacher wants to do a particular project with the class that requires materials outside the normal scope, but this sort of thing stocking the basics for an entire school surprised me.

Which school system in the DC area spend $20,000 per pupil per year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'll buy them. I'm just not understanding why a school system that spends $20K/yr per pupil requires me or the teacher to buy them instead of providing them. I can see if a teacher wants to do a particular project with the class that requires materials outside the normal scope, but this sort of thing stocking the basics for an entire school surprised me.

Which school system in the DC area spend $20,000 per pupil per year?

Arlington comes in at close to $20K, and DC spending close to that as well. http://www.fcps.edu/fs/budget/wabe/2014.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm OP, and I think if they want families to buy all this extra classroom stuff, then the kits sort of make sense, so it's not the kids themselves I am pointing out, it's the need for the kits themselves. But my bigger question was why the parents have to buy all this stuff. Sure, I can see where they want me to supply my own child's crayons or pencils, but I was surprised that parents have to buy disinfecting wipes or hand soap or other things that to me are the school's job of stocking the classroom. The school, NOT the teacher. If indeed this is the norm, why not just charge each family a $20 activity fee and have the school purchase all of this in bulk rather than in individual kits? Probably even easier and more cost efficient, assuming indeed that it now falls on the families to supply the school with the basics.

We'll do it when the time comes, but I'm also like the PPs that loved every year picking out my folders and whether I wanted #2 Barbie pencils or #2 Strawberry Shortcake pencils. Not a big deal, definitely a first world problem, still a surprise to this FTM.

If you don't want to buy the disinfecting wipes or hand soap, then don't.

I don't want the teacher to have to buy them, so I do.

I'll buy them. I'm just not understanding why a school system that spends $20K/yr per pupil requires me or the teacher to buy them instead of providing them. I can see if a teacher wants to do a particular project with the class that requires materials outside the normal scope, but this sort of thing stocking the basics for an entire school surprised me.

Most of that spending is on teachers, and a high proportion of those teachers are needed to address IEPs and ESOL issues that were not handled the same way a generation ago. The amount being spent on better technology, etc. is actually small in proportion to the number of teachers, aides, coaches, specialists, and counselors now in the schools.

[Anonymous]

Here's a suggestion for the folks who like to do the back-to-school shopping: find a local backpack program, choose the age of a kid you want to buy for, get the supply list, then go to Target or wherever with your kid. Have them help you pick out supplies for kids whose parents can't afford to buy them, and take the tax donation. My daughter was still in preschool last year, but we had a lot of fun going to Target and picking out school supplies for someone else's kindergartener - she took a lot of time finding just the right backpack, folders, etc. and we threw in a few extra fun things. We'll do it again this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of my fondest back to school memories were from the first day. First the new outfit and then afterschool supply shopping with my mother. There was nothing like a new three ring notebook (trapper keeper anyone?) paper, reinforcements, highlighters, new folders decorated with whatever was popular at the time (cabbage patch kids anyone?). To this day I love ofice supplies.

We could be friends. I still buy pretty folders every Fall and I'm kid of ashamed to say they do make my work day a little brighter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a suggestion for the folks who like to do the back-to-school shopping: find a local backpack program, choose the age of a kid you want to buy for, get the supply list, then go to Target or wherever with your kid. Have them help you pick out supplies for kids whose parents can't afford to buy them, and take the tax donation. My daughter was still in preschool last year, but we had a lot of fun going to Target and picking out school supplies for someone else's kindergartener - she took a lot of time finding just the right backpack, folders, etc. and we threw in a few extra fun things. We'll do it again this year.

Great idea - we may very well do this!

[Anonymous]

The truth is that the school districts are relying on middle class and wealthy families to subsidize the low income families. So the supply list is long to "cover" the percentage of students who can't provide anything. So much easier to just add to the supply list than try to raise taxes to actually cover all the stuff the school needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd be really pissed if I bought my child the higher quality markers and someone else bought the cheap ones that dry out quickly and then the teacher gave my child the cheap ones. I buy everything on the supply list, and specify my child is to keep everything I send them to school with.

I buy a box of tissues for the classroom and DH drops off a box of reams of paper within the first week for the classroom. We don't believe in hand sanitizer.

You can be pissed then