Gift card policy for teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - ok so if I stick to $20 max on gift card, could we give chocolates too?

I think I did $25 or $30 last year without an issue but I don’t want to risk it. Seems embarrassing if it was turned down or if teacher got in trouble. I’ll just gift again later.

Do the chocolates have a cash value of more than $0? If so, then that would violate the gift policy.

She could have the gift card be Christmas and the chocolates be for winter solstice. You can give it five times a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - ok so if I stick to $20 max on gift card, could we give chocolates too?

I think I did $25 or $30 last year without an issue but I don’t want to risk it. Seems embarrassing if it was turned down or if teacher got in trouble. I’ll just gift again later.

Do the chocolates have a cash value of more than $0? If so, then that would violate the gift policy.

She could have the gift card be Christmas and the chocolates be for winter solstice. You can give it five times a year.

I guess if you give them at different times that works. Kind of defeats the purpose of ethics rules and tarnishes the reputation of teachers, but you do you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - ok so if I stick to $20 max on gift card, could we give chocolates too?

I think I did $25 or $30 last year without an issue but I don’t want to risk it. Seems embarrassing if it was turned down or if teacher got in trouble. I’ll just gift again later.

Do the chocolates have a cash value of more than $0? If so, then that would violate the gift policy.

She could have the gift card be Christmas and the chocolates be for winter solstice. You can give it five times a year.

I guess if you give them at different times that works. Kind of defeats the purpose of ethics rules and tarnishes the reputation of teachers, but you do you.

Given that the amount hasn't increased since 2012, if I were one to try to technically follow the ethics rules, I'd give $50 over 3 days. But I always just print out a $50 gift card and have my kid bring it in, so there is no record over email that the teacher got more than $20 in a single card.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just give cash. Seriously. Put it in an envelope and don't make a big deal of it.

But be reasonable. The year a few Tilden families gave $100 bills tucked in cards, I was really freaked out. I ended up plowing it back into classroom materials because ai was worried it would get me in trouble.

I teach elementary and have received many, many gifts over $20 in my 25 years.
i have never reported them, why would I? It’s a nice gesture from the family. I thank them and move along. Mcps has much bigger issues to deal with.

Why would you? Because your employment agreement says you have to.

I guess rules don’t apply to you.

My employment agreement also says that my duty day begins at 8:20 and ends at 3:50. I work beyond those hours all the time. I have not known a single colleague who has reported a gift over $20. As an mcps parent, I don’t adhere to the limit either. Sorry not sorry.

No wonder people have lost respect for teachers.

I know, people who regularly work extra hours and give generous gifts are the worst.

Most people agree professionals shouldn’t accept anything that gives the appearance of a bribe, which explicitly includes the kinds of gifts being discussed in this thread.

Do you think the gift rules are just there to punish teachers? What about all the other people with jobs that limit gifts?

If you think a teacher is going to bump a students grade over 50 dollars, you and my twenty five cent tipping grandma should get together and go bowling.

So true! Who is going to risk their job over $50?

It sounds like a lot of teachers do, based on this thread.

And yet there’s never a parent who posts that their child earned a higher grade solely due to a $50 gift card. Either the going rate for a grade bump is higher than $50 or gift cards don’t buy grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - ok so if I stick to $20 max on gift card, could we give chocolates too?

I think I did $25 or $30 last year without an issue but I don’t want to risk it. Seems embarrassing if it was turned down or if teacher got in trouble. I’ll just gift again later.

Do the chocolates have a cash value of more than $0? If so, then that would violate the gift policy.

She could have the gift card be Christmas and the chocolates be for winter solstice. You can give it five times a year.

I guess if you give them at different times that works. Kind of defeats the purpose of ethics rules and tarnishes the reputation of teachers, but you do you.

Given that the amount hasn't increased since 2012, if I were one to try to technically follow the ethics rules, I'd give $50 over 3 days. But I always just print out a $50 gift card and have my kid bring it in, so there is no record over email that the teacher got more than $20 in a single card.

Given that “gifts” aren’t supposed to be part of a teacher’s compensation, the concept of a COLA doesn’t apply.

I don’t know what’s worse: you refusing to treat your kids’ teachers as professionals, or your kids’ teachers flagrantly ignoring their ethics rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just give cash. Seriously. Put it in an envelope and don't make a big deal of it.

But be reasonable. The year a few Tilden families gave $100 bills tucked in cards, I was really freaked out. I ended up plowing it back into classroom materials because ai was worried it would get me in trouble.

I teach elementary and have received many, many gifts over $20 in my 25 years.
i have never reported them, why would I? It’s a nice gesture from the family. I thank them and move along. Mcps has much bigger issues to deal with.

Why would you? Because your employment agreement says you have to.

I guess rules don’t apply to you.

My employment agreement also says that my duty day begins at 8:20 and ends at 3:50. I work beyond those hours all the time. I have not known a single colleague who has reported a gift over $20. As an mcps parent, I don’t adhere to the limit either. Sorry not sorry.

I wouldn't either. I give between $30 and $50 and a small token gift. The money over the $20 is the least I can do for my kid's teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - ok so if I stick to $20 max on gift card, could we give chocolates too?

I think I did $25 or $30 last year without an issue but I don’t want to risk it. Seems embarrassing if it was turned down or if teacher got in trouble. I’ll just gift again later.

Do the chocolates have a cash value of more than $0? If so, then that would violate the gift policy.

She could have the gift card be Christmas and the chocolates be for winter solstice. You can give it five times a year.

I guess if you give them at different times that works. Kind of defeats the purpose of ethics rules and tarnishes the reputation of teachers, but you do you.

Given that the amount hasn't increased since 2012, if I were one to try to technically follow the ethics rules, I'd give $50 over 3 days. But I always just print out a $50 gift card and have my kid bring it in, so there is no record over email that the teacher got more than $20 in a single card.

Given that “gifts” aren’t supposed to be part of a teacher’s compensation, the concept of a COLA doesn’t apply.

I don’t know what’s worse: you refusing to treat your kids’ teachers as professionals, or your kids’ teachers flagrantly ignoring their ethics rules.

Oh yeah, how terrible to give A teacher who is spending hundreds of her own dollars in a supplies a $50 gift card to Amazon to thank her. Just terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - ok so if I stick to $20 max on gift card, could we give chocolates too?

I think I did $25 or $30 last year without an issue but I don’t want to risk it. Seems embarrassing if it was turned down or if teacher got in trouble. I’ll just gift again later.

Do the chocolates have a cash value of more than $0? If so, then that would violate the gift policy.

She could have the gift card be Christmas and the chocolates be for winter solstice. You can give it five times a year.

I guess if you give them at different times that works. Kind of defeats the purpose of ethics rules and tarnishes the reputation of teachers, but you do you.

Given that the amount hasn't increased since 2012, if I were one to try to technically follow the ethics rules, I'd give $50 over 3 days. But I always just print out a $50 gift card and have my kid bring it in, so there is no record over email that the teacher got more than $20 in a single card.

Given that “gifts” aren’t supposed to be part of a teacher’s compensation, the concept of a COLA doesn’t apply.

I don’t know what’s worse: you refusing to treat your kids’ teachers as professionals, or your kids’ teachers flagrantly ignoring their ethics rules.

Oh yeah, how terrible to give A teacher who is spending hundreds of her own dollars in a supplies a $50 gift card to Amazon to thank her. Just terrible.

Then raise money to buy school/classroom supplies. That has its own ethical dilemmas (e.g., think of poor vs. rich schools), but it doesn’t create an ethical problem for the teacher themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - ok so if I stick to $20 max on gift card, could we give chocolates too?

I think I did $25 or $30 last year without an issue but I don’t want to risk it. Seems embarrassing if it was turned down or if teacher got in trouble. I’ll just gift again later.

Do the chocolates have a cash value of more than $0? If so, then that would violate the gift policy.

She could have the gift card be Christmas and the chocolates be for winter solstice. You can give it five times a year.

I guess if you give them at different times that works. Kind of defeats the purpose of ethics rules and tarnishes the reputation of teachers, but you do you.

Given that the amount hasn't increased since 2012, if I were one to try to technically follow the ethics rules, I'd give $50 over 3 days. But I always just print out a $50 gift card and have my kid bring it in, so there is no record over email that the teacher got more than $20 in a single card.

Given that “gifts” aren’t supposed to be part of a teacher’s compensation, the concept of a COLA doesn’t apply.

I don’t know what’s worse: you refusing to treat your kids’ teachers as professionals, or your kids’ teachers flagrantly ignoring their ethics rules.

Oh yeah, how terrible to give A teacher who is spending hundreds of her own dollars in a supplies a $50 gift card to Amazon to thank her. Just terrible.

Then raise money to buy school/classroom supplies. That has its own ethical dilemmas (e.g., think of poor vs. rich schools), but it doesn’t create an ethical problem for the teacher themselves.

That doesn’t make sense if we believe that teachers are handing out unearned good grades to kids from generous families. If a family gives $200 in supplies to the classroom, wouldn’t you also suspect their child gets favoritism? After all, that’s $200 less out of the teachers’ own pocket. And we here on DCUM believe that teachers are too dumb to know how to grade without showing favoritism to kids who gave any type of holiday gift.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - ok so if I stick to $20 max on gift card, could we give chocolates too?

I think I did $25 or $30 last year without an issue but I don’t want to risk it. Seems embarrassing if it was turned down or if teacher got in trouble. I’ll just gift again later.

Do the chocolates have a cash value of more than $0? If so, then that would violate the gift policy.

She could have the gift card be Christmas and the chocolates be for winter solstice. You can give it five times a year.

I guess if you give them at different times that works. Kind of defeats the purpose of ethics rules and tarnishes the reputation of teachers, but you do you.

Given that the amount hasn't increased since 2012, if I were one to try to technically follow the ethics rules, I'd give $50 over 3 days. But I always just print out a $50 gift card and have my kid bring it in, so there is no record over email that the teacher got more than $20 in a single card.

Given that “gifts” aren’t supposed to be part of a teacher’s compensation, the concept of a COLA doesn’t apply.

I don’t know what’s worse: you refusing to treat your kids’ teachers as professionals, or your kids’ teachers flagrantly ignoring their ethics rules.

Oh yeah, how terrible to give A teacher who is spending hundreds of her own dollars in a supplies a $50 gift card to Amazon to thank her. Just terrible.

Then raise money to buy school/classroom supplies. That has its own ethical dilemmas (e.g., think of poor vs. rich schools), but it doesn’t create an ethical problem for the teacher themselves.

That doesn’t make sense if we believe that teachers are handing out unearned good grades to kids from generous families. If a family gives $200 in supplies to the classroom, wouldn’t you also suspect their child gets favoritism? After all, that’s $200 less out of the teachers’ own pocket. And we here on DCUM believe that teachers are too dumb to know how to grade without showing favoritism to kids who gave any type of holiday gift.

Just like political contributions don't influence politicians. Let's get rid of what few campaign finance laws are still around.

Classroom gifts don’t directly benefit the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - ok so if I stick to $20 max on gift card, could we give chocolates too?

I think I did $25 or $30 last year without an issue but I don’t want to risk it. Seems embarrassing if it was turned down or if teacher got in trouble. I’ll just gift again later.

Do the chocolates have a cash value of more than $0? If so, then that would violate the gift policy.

She could have the gift card be Christmas and the chocolates be for winter solstice. You can give it five times a year.

I guess if you give them at different times that works. Kind of defeats the purpose of ethics rules and tarnishes the reputation of teachers, but you do you.

Given that the amount hasn't increased since 2012, if I were one to try to technically follow the ethics rules, I'd give $50 over 3 days. But I always just print out a $50 gift card and have my kid bring it in, so there is no record over email that the teacher got more than $20 in a single card.

Given that “gifts” aren’t supposed to be part of a teacher’s compensation, the concept of a COLA doesn’t apply.

I don’t know what’s worse: you refusing to treat your kids’ teachers as professionals, or your kids’ teachers flagrantly ignoring their ethics rules.

Oh yeah, how terrible to give A teacher who is spending hundreds of her own dollars in a supplies a $50 gift card to Amazon to thank her. Just terrible.

Then raise money to buy school/classroom supplies. That has its own ethical dilemmas (e.g., think of poor vs. rich schools), but it doesn’t create an ethical problem for the teacher themselves.

If you want to put in the effort at your school to do that, by all means do. That's no easy task so for me sending in gift cards is how I help teachers out. If MCPS cracks down on it then I'll just start sending them in in demonimations of $20.

[Anonymous]

So how many of these denominations of 20 do you give over the year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how many of these denominations of 20 do you give over the year?

It depends how much extra “goodwill” my kids’ grades need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how many of these denominations of 20 do you give over the year?

I give $50 at the holidays and $50 at the end of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d like to get some if my high school son’s teachers gift cards.

I don’t want to insult them if this isn’t appropriate and I want to stay within the guidelines of the gift policy.

Is it really a $20 max?
If that’s the case, can I do the $20 with a box of chocolates?

A friend said her child was told she could not give a gift cards to a teacher (it was about $50 though).

I think we’ve done $25 or $30 without a problem in the past.

The rule is $20. This is part of MCPS Ethics Rules, so if teachers accept more they could risk their jobs. Teachers will understand if the gift is only worth $20.