Annual Private School Dinner/Auctions

[Anonymous]

what's the most anyone has ever seen an item sell for at a live auction?
so far, i've only been to preschool auctions, so the most i've ever seen is about $3,000 for a weekly vacation rental. these other auctions sound very different.

also re: the class projects - at our preschool, they often sell the orginal of a class project for bidding to the highest bidder, and then offer posters of it for $25-50 which is a great way to raise money for the school but also let everyone be involved.

[Anonymous]

The most I've heard is the use of a private plane and crew to go anywhere within so many miles for a few days - I think it went for about $15,000.

[Anonymous]

Gosh, I had no idea people hated the volunteers so much! Or working moms or SAHMs. Or unattractive moms. I am not attractive (not my fault- just bad genes and no interest in going under the knife) work part-time, and I also volunteer at my kid's schools so that I can be around my kids' schools more and contribute to the schools and their communities. Thought it was a good thing, but I guess now I know that everyone hates me.

I'll keep volunteering though, because it's fun.

[Anonymous]

All of this discussion just reinforces why I do not care for the auction scene. Yuck.

[Anonymous]

I'm new at Beauvoir, but I haven't seen any of what the negative posters are talking about - everyone has been nice and anytime you want to volunteer they are welcoming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People call the auctions prom because the event has the same social dynamics of high school, IMO.

The Cliquey SAHMs put together an event, that only they think is "fabulous" and then they go around and tell each other how wonderful they are. Many times they drink heavily and make asses out of themselves. Then after the auction they get to talk about how tired they are and how much it took out of them. These people are insecure bullies, social climbers and control freaks. The auctions are not about the teachers, kids or schools, oh no--it is about a small group of women trying way to hard.

I vote for raising tuition and eliminating auctions.

Yow. Sounds like you and your school are NOT a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People call the auctions prom because the event has the same social dynamics of high school, IMO.

The Cliquey SAHMs put together an event, that only they think is "fabulous" and then they go around and tell each other how wonderful they are. Many times they drink heavily and make asses out of themselves. Then after the auction they get to talk about how tired they are and how much it took out of them. These people are insecure bullies, social climbers and control freaks. The auctions are not about the teachers, kids or schools, oh no--it is about a small group of women trying way to hard.

I vote for raising tuition and eliminating auctions.

Yow. Sounds like you and your school are NOT a good fit.

*sigh* OK, I'll explain this in simple terms--the school is great for my DC. It's the bitchy women, kinda like you, who make life difficult for down-to-earth moms. I have a lot of friends, they just don't "do" the auction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People call the auctions prom because the event has the same social dynamics of high school, IMO.

The Cliquey SAHMs put together an event, that only they think is "fabulous" and then they go around and tell each other how wonderful they are. Many times they drink heavily and make asses out of themselves. Then after the auction they get to talk about how tired they are and how much it took out of them. These people are insecure bullies, social climbers and control freaks. The auctions are not about the teachers, kids or schools, oh no--it is about a small group of women trying way to hard.

I vote for raising tuition and eliminating auctions.

Yow. Sounds like you and your school are NOT a good fit.

*sigh* OK, I'll explain this in simple terms--the school is great for my DC. It's the bitchy women, kinda like you, who make life difficult for down-to-earth moms. I have a lot of friends, they just don't "do" the auction.

I'm a totally new poster to this thread, and I'm not bitchy at all.

Your "simple terms" completely belie your earlier post. Go back and re-read your own comment. It sounds like you genuinely don't like or respect the women who are (at least as you describe them) the center of the community of your school. If you have such disdain for them personally, how can you possibly want your child inculcated with the values that this powerful clique can't help but instill in their own offspring? If they're truly as beastly as you describe, then you've left your own little lamb among their wolf cubs. These are your lines I'm reading between honey, and it's not a deep read. I'm a very down-to-earth person myself. So much so, that I can't see putting my child in an environment where I so intensely dislike the families of all my child's classmates and playmates. And you call ME a bitch? Crazy!

[Anonymous]

when you say they don't 'do' the auction - do you mean don't volunteer to be on a committee? or do you mean you don't attend actual event and/or bid online? - seems like it's all for a good cause, so no reason not to support it just b/c you don't care for the women running it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your "simple terms" completely belie your earlier post. Go back and re-read your own comment. It sounds like you genuinely don't like or respect the women who are (at least as you describe them) the center of the community of your school. If you have such disdain for them personally, how can you possibly want your child inculcated with the values that this powerful clique can't help but instill in their own offspring? If they're truly as beastly as you describe, then you've left your own little lamb among their wolf cubs. These are your lines I'm reading between honey, and it's not a deep read. I'm a very down-to-earth person myself. So much so, that I can't see putting my child in an environment where I so intensely dislike the families of all my child's classmates and playmates. And you call ME a bitch? Crazy!

Where on earth did you get that these women are the center of the community of her school or that they are a powerful clique? Or that she intensely dislikes the families of ALL her child's classmates? That's not reading between the lines; it's making up new ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your "simple terms" completely belie your earlier post. Go back and re-read your own comment. It sounds like you genuinely don't like or respect the women who are (at least as you describe them) the center of the community of your school. If you have such disdain for them personally, how can you possibly want your child inculcated with the values that this powerful clique can't help but instill in their own offspring? If they're truly as beastly as you describe, then you've left your own little lamb among their wolf cubs. These are your lines I'm reading between honey, and it's not a deep read. I'm a very down-to-earth person myself. So much so, that I can't see putting my child in an environment where I so intensely dislike the families of all my child's classmates and playmates. And you call ME a bitch? Crazy!

Where on earth did you get that these women are the center of the community of her school or that they are a powerful clique? Or that she intensely dislikes the families of ALL her child's classmates? That's not reading between the lines; it's making up new ones.

They are a tight clique that runs the auction every year which is the center of the fundraising activity. It takes a pretty good number of people to run a successful auction and these women do it all the time. Ergo, it's not really a stretch to call them the center of the community or a powerful clique. And not only does she not like these women, but the language she chooses to describe them is so over-the-top that it makes her sound like she's got issues. Furthermore, she doesn't mention anyone that she actually does enjoy - her post is all about the negativity of the experience, apparently unmitigated by the presence of anyone she actually likes enough to make it bearable. If she found anyone like-minded that should have merited mention, but she didn't. The comment is utterly without balance - not the sign of mixed feelings, but rather strictly negative ones. Again, not a stretch to read that she's not finding any families like her own in the community. It begs the question, why is she there? If they're all birds of a feather, maybe she should find a school with fins instead of wings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are a tight clique that runs the auction every year which is the center of the fundraising activity. It takes a pretty good number of people to run a successful auction and these women do it all the time. Ergo, it's not really a stretch to call them the center of the community or a powerful clique.

The auction is the center of fundraising for financial aid. It hardly represents the center of the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People call the auctions prom because the event has the same social dynamics of high school, IMO.

The Cliquey SAHMs put together an event, that only they think is "fabulous" and then they go around and tell each other how wonderful they are. Many times they drink heavily and make asses out of themselves. Then after the auction they get to talk about how tired they are and how much it took out of them. These people are insecure bullies, social climbers and control freaks. The auctions are not about the teachers, kids or schools, oh no--it is about a small group of women trying way to hard.

I vote for raising tuition and eliminating auctions.

No one is stopping you from making a big donation to the school in lieu of participating in the auction. I assume you did that, right?

Auctions ARE hard work, and are an important component of providing financial aid. I didn't help with our school's auction or even attend. But we did make contributions (financial and in kind) and bought a number of items through the online auction and by mailing in our bids for the silent auction items. All in all, I'd say that we made up the difference between DC's tuition and the "actual cost" of his schooling.

Personally, I'm grateful to all those auction volunteers that seem to get under your skin so much. Why is it so hard for you to give credit where credit is due?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I vote for raising tuition and eliminating auctions.

I guess easy for you to say if you can afford it. Have you considered that the impact each year is for families that are sacrificing to make tuition payments? I am grateful for every dime that is contributed though fundraising, matching grants etc that help offset larger tuition increases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are a tight clique that runs the auction every year which is the center of the fundraising activity. It takes a pretty good number of people to run a successful auction and these women do it all the time. Ergo, it's not really a stretch to call them the center of the community or a powerful clique.

The auction is the center of fundraising for financial aid. It hardly represents the center of the community.

I hope I am sending my kids to a school where the kids and the teachers are the center of the community not the small group of people who enjoy spending lots and lots of time on volunteering for the school auction night AND think they are the center of the community. I am very happy that a number of people have that much time to invest in the school but not so thrilled that they might think they are the 'center' of the community. Yikes.