"Congratulations" card from DCPS sent today - another complete waste of money!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My god. You people have completely lost it. And that is saying a lot. Move on. Please. You cannot keep doing these absurd rage-a-thons about the pettiest of issues.

THIS. This is the pettiest of petty, even for DCUM.

Exactly. Maybe it's a good sign -- we used to have to rage against not having books or air conditioning / heat for first week of school.

Totally! This OP is exactly what is wrong with parents who think their perspective is the only view there is!

OP if it makes you feel any better I have 3 kids in 3 different DCPS schools. Only my elementary level one got it. The other 3 (middle and high school) won't be getting a prize their first day. And oddly enough we are going to miss the first few days because of the eclipse. I am sure we won't be the only ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I received one of these yesterday and dont think the rage is misplaced.

It is a small thing, but there are so many small (and large) things that they add up to real money representing chronic waste, fraud and abuse by DCPS.

It's just one more example of chronic incompetence. I am so worn down at this point I get triggered by it too. Even if the whole mailing cost $1000, it doesn't seem worth it to me. $1000 can buy a lot of books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting kids to show up on the first day is a BIG deal for a lot of schools in DC. You'd be shocked how many families don't come until after Labor Day, and how hard that is for teachers and classmates. If a prize (which is probably like a pencil or a t-shirt or something, and may have been donated) gets kids to school from the start, then it's worth it.

I know you're in a bubble in Ward 3, but realize that the vast majority of DC students and their families lead a really different life than you, and DCPS is focused on a) the majority/average of their students and b) the ones who need the most help. So rather than getting all worked up every time DCPS does something that doesn't make sense to you and assuming you know best, maybe stop to think about why it could make sense for them to do what they did for families facing quite different situations than your own.

Show me the data that proves this incentive changes behavior, and I will be OK with the waste. But seriously, is a pencil or a T-shirt going to change the behavior of PARENTS who are responsible for ensuring the kids get to school on the first day??? The kids might respond to this, but they still rely on parents to 1) ensure they get to school on the first day and 2) ensure the child gets the mailing and holds on to it all summer. I don't see that happening with enough impact to warrant something like this.

And, of course, they'll have to give the silly prize to everyone, whether they have the postcard or not because you can't punish kids for things they have little control over (eg, usps, parents, hungry puppies, and homelessness), making the whole exercize pointless.

Not to mention the new kids who move here over the summer... if they show up on time, do they get a prize even without a postcard? And are they all the same prize regardless of age? I assume DCPS knows the right amount to order to ensure that everyone who needs one, gets one, but that there isn't too much leftover/waste. I am sure the school officials are thrilled at the idea of managing this on day one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are about 47,000 kids in DCPS. Assume 2000 graduated this year, so 45,000 could be returning.

It costs about 4 cents for a full-color postcard at http://www.www.cactusmailing.com/. So that's $1800.

According to https://savepostage.com/bulkmail101/rates.html it could be as low as 9.9 cents to mail each postcard since DCPS is a nonprofit. Figure 10 cents each and that's another $4500.

Figure 10,000 kids actually show up with the postcard on the first day of school (that seems kinda high to me but whatever) and they spend a dollar on each prize. So $10,000 more.

I'm now up to $16,300 and let's round it up to $19,000 for printing addresses and whatever else needs to happen.

For $19,000 you could do some things that could help a small number of kids, but you can't do much. You can't hire another staff member or put a kid in a private special ed placement or renovate a playground. You could reduce aftercare by $100 a month for 19 kids. You could probably buy and install a kiln for art classes, or get the supplies for a garden. You could get a classroom set of laptops and related technology. And none of those would be terrible choices. But sending out postcards is also not a terrible choice. Getting some more kids to come to school on time is valuable, not just for them but for their teachers and classmates. And I'm not sure that the other ways of spending $19k will affect as many kids. Because I'm not an educational expert and I don't spend my career immersed in DCPS.

I will eat my hat if DCPS did this for less than $200k with almost all of it going to staff time and/or a contractor with convenient ties to someone high up in the organization. Not that I'm calling for an audit! (that would be throwing good money after bad)

It's just another annoying symptom of the system. Move along.

+1000

Don't forget, the card had to be written, designed, reviewed, edited, redesigned to be culturally inclusive, etc etc

This screams "consultant" at $200 an hour.

There are at least 4 versions of the cards - I have seen 4 different cards with pictures. So they made multiple versions, revisions, etc.

[Anonymous]

Whiners gonna whine.

[Anonymous]

I think outreach is a great idea. A personalized letter from teachers / principal and a couple of phone calls would be more effective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has been in title one schools since the beginning (5th grade now) and has NEVER had classmates show up for the first time after labor day. Who are these kids not showing up at the beginning of the year??

Things get much worse once you get to high school, unfortunately. I've only been at this for three years, but I remember being really optimistic at the end of my first week. My assistant principal cautioned me to not get too excited. "The ones you're gonna have problems with won't show up until after Labor Day." She was so right. All of the kids on my roster who I assumed got into charters and never came off the list magically showed up after Labor Day. It had to be at least 20% of ninth grade class.

Since I started, I've learned that they don't come to school until after Labor Day, they don't come to school when it rains, and they rack up at least 20-30 absences apiece. Some consistently come to school around second period as if they have a special schedule. All of those SIG grants go to making school more attractive than whatever is out there in the streets, hence all of the field trips, parties, and gifts. Nine times out of ten, when you call home the parents say that they thought the kid was at school. I've had some come up to the school just to make sure we weren't lying about them disappearing for weeks at a time.

And no "prize" is going to change that behavior. Waste of money.

Oh, you get no argument from me. I was just explaining that the late arrivals are real. DCPS hasn't changed much from when I was a kid. We went a whole year without a Math textbook one year. The teacher just kept making copies of the teacher's guide chapter by chapter. That was the same year they bought us all Newsweek subscriptions to supposedly help our reading scores on the Stanford 9.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP unclench.

Bulk mail doesn't actually cost that much. My rising 5th grader loved it. I bet kids across the city did. Great for DCPS to be engaged. We have been in the system for the last 14 years and it just keeps getting better.

My child attends independent school and I/we love all the bright cheerful mailers they send. The issue for me with DCPS (which I worked for once) is how Unresponsive the big bad system is. Anything that speaks to personalization, while staying within a reasonable budget, is a good move in my books. If only there was follow through throughout. I'm not a helicopter parent, just someone who likes my child to attend a school rather than an education factory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has been in title one schools since the beginning (5th grade now) and has NEVER had classmates show up for the first time after labor day. Who are these kids not showing up at the beginning of the year??

Things get much worse once you get to high school, unfortunately. I've only been at this for three years, but I remember being really optimistic at the end of my first week. My assistant principal cautioned me to not get too excited. "The ones you're gonna have problems with won't show up until after Labor Day." She was so right. All of the kids on my roster who I assumed got into charters and never came off the list magically showed up after Labor Day. It had to be at least 20% of ninth grade class.

Since I started, I've learned that they don't come to school until after Labor Day, they don't come to school when it rains, and they rack up at least 20-30 absences apiece. Some consistently come to school around second period as if they have a special schedule. All of those SIG grants go to making school more attractive than whatever is out there in the streets, hence all of the field trips, parties, and gifts. Nine times out of ten, when you call home the parents say that they thought the kid was at school. I've had some come up to the school just to make sure we weren't lying about them disappearing for weeks at a time.

And no "prize" is going to change that behavior. Waste of money.

And teachers have to pay for paper and copies mid-year, snacks and rewards EOTP so yeah it is a waste, and shows what a bubble downtown live in!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I received one of these yesterday and dont think the rage is misplaced.

It is a small thing, but there are so many small (and large) things that they add up to real money representing chronic waste, fraud and abuse by DCPS.

This spring our pta President had to use pta funds to buy paper to carry the school through the end of the year because dcps screwed up the order.

Buying paper is 1 of at least 1 million better uses of these funds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I received one of these yesterday and dont think the rage is misplaced.

It is a small thing, but there are so many small (and large) things that they add up to real money representing chronic waste, fraud and abuse by DCPS.

This spring our pta President had to use pta funds to buy paper to carry the school through the end of the year because dcps screwed up the order.

Buying paper is 1 of at least 1 million better uses of these funds.

Teacher here. Yes, I remember teaching at a 'good' DCPS and we had to carry our own measly paper allotment to the copier. We constantly ran out and were total hoarders. Also, lending any to someone else was a very big deal. What an awful place. Really.

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing the idea of the mailing is to make kids and parents feel more connected to DCPS - sort of like it is one big happy family. DCPS has always been very standoffish to families and perhaps they are trying to change that image. Not necessarily a bad thing I imagine. As far as waste goes - I would focus on the big things. For example I hate how their centralized database system is Aspen. Wilson used to have Jupiter which was so much better but someone in central probably decided to spend millions on a contract with Aspen and now the entire school system is being forced to use it. Everyone hates it but we are stuck with it. Lots of inane decisions at central.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing the idea of the mailing is to make kids and parents feel more connected to DCPS - sort of like it is one big happy family. DCPS has always been very standoffish to families and perhaps they are trying to change that image. Not necessarily a bad thing I imagine. As far as waste goes - I would focus on the big things. For example I hate how their centralized database system is Aspen. Wilson used to have Jupiter which was so much better but someone in central probably decided to spend millions on a contract with Aspen and now the entire school system is being forced to use it. Everyone hates it but we are stuck with it. Lots of inane decisions at central.

Because the folks that make the decisions are out of touch, not teachers or at least haven't taught very long and far removed from the daily grind, trying to be cute!!! And these postcards are not it...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I received one of these yesterday and dont think the rage is misplaced.

It is a small thing, but there are so many small (and large) things that they add up to real money representing chronic waste, fraud and abuse by DCPS.

This spring our pta President had to use pta funds to buy paper to carry the school through the end of the year because dcps screwed up the order.

Buying paper is 1 of at least 1 million better uses of these funds.

Teacher here. Yes, I remember teaching at a 'good' DCPS and we had to carry our own measly paper allotment to the copier. We constantly ran out and were total hoarders. Also, lending any to someone else was a very big deal. What an awful place. Really.

Tell me about it! Other teachers ask me for paper and it's like "Who is it for? If it's for you, then I have some I can spare. If not, then I don't have it." Finding paper in the copier is like finding money someone dropped. There's guilt and excitement at the same time.

I DARE a child to write on my classroom copies! LOL

[Anonymous]

Bump