Teacher Appreciation week - is this the norm these days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a former teacher, I found “teacher appreciation week” condescending. The only reason that it is a “thing” is because we are generally underpaid. The schools need to fork over more salary instead of asking parents to buy flowers and treats for teachers.

If they need a day of appreciation, they're probably underpaid.

Yep. That's why we have administrative professionals day. Black history month. Women's history month. Mother's day (father's day was just an afterthought).

You notice that there's no CEO appreciation week

I think there is a Boss’s Day!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interested in whether this is the norm these days or if I'm totally out to lunch in thinking my kid's preschool is going overboard with teacher appreciation week...

Preschool director sent out an email to all of the parents re: teacher appreciation month late this month. My kid has 3 teachers, and the email asked us to contribute via two separate links to a gift card fund plus a teacher lunch. Email didn't specify a suggested $ amount for either fun. Then, there was a schedule of events for the week with suggested items for us to bring each day. Monday, bring each teacher their favorite flower, Tuesday, bring them their favorite snack or drink, Wednesday bring them their favorite brand of pens, and so on (included was a list of each teacher's favorite flower, fave snack, etc.). It was this schedule of events that practically made me fall out of my chair, it was so overwhelming.

I'm all for recognizing teachers for the important and challenging work they do, but this seems like an awful lot of coordination and work... I'm inclined to politely say that I plan to give each individual teacher a gift card and a nice note. And that we won't be participating in the "extras". Is that rude? I really do respect the school and the work they do, but this just seemed "off".

For reference, this is a private, 4 mornings a week preschool. Not full-time care. I have a much older child who went through a different preschool years ago. As I recall, for teacher appreciation week, a parent collected $5 from each family for a catered teacher luncheon, and then we were on our own to bring a gift card, flowers, or whatever we wanted.

Have times changed? Or is this school just going overboard? Or am I a scrooge?

What’s a teacher to do when 4-5-6+ kids/families all bring them their favorite drink or Starbucks order on the same day?! It sounds nice in theory but not fully thought out.