School supplies - why not just allow parents to pay a fee?

[Anonymous]

The glue stick used to be for gluing worksheets into conposition notebooks to make "textbooks". I thought it was idiotic.
After covid, my dc's school didn't do this any more because everything was now on google slides. Honestly, the worksheets were at least tangible and involved pencil on paper abs fine motor skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was a typo when the supply list said 40 glue sticks but I was told that was correct. I am not buying 40 glue sticks

Your kid will use that many.

Just send in a new pack every 6 to 8 weeks.

I promise that the glue sticks will get used. Trust the experienced parents on this one.

They will not use 40. And if they do- the teacher needs to come up with better lessons. Gluing paper on paper is stupid.

That seems like a lot. Our list asks for 4 glue sticks, 24 pencils, 1 box of crayons (12 count)… I don’t know why they would need anywhere close to 40 glue sticks per student.

ES Teacher

[Anonymous]

Private school parent here who stumbled onto this from Recent Topics (sorry).

This is unconscionable that PUBLIC schools — which you and I have already paid for — require you to spend your own funds to facilitate access to the curriculum. Wtaf?

My mother, father, aunt, sister, uncle and 1 cousin are all public school teachers in a Midwestern state, middle class school districts, and I assure you this nonsense doesn’t occur there. They aren’t forced to buy paper FFS. The only things they spend their own funds on are “lifestyle” items for the poor, homeless or very at risk kids who would otherwise come to school without a clean shirt. Or a “nice to have” piece of equipment that’s a luxury (3D printer)


What is up with the DMV shakedown for essential supplies? Seriously messed up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private school parent here who stumbled onto this from Recent Topics (sorry).

This is unconscionable that PUBLIC schools — which you and I have already paid for — require you to spend your own funds to facilitate access to the curriculum. Wtaf?

My mother, father, aunt, sister, uncle and 1 cousin are all public school teachers in a Midwestern state, middle class school districts, and I assure you this nonsense doesn’t occur there. They aren’t forced to buy paper FFS. The only things they spend their own funds on are “lifestyle” items for the poor, homeless or very at risk kids who would otherwise come to school without a clean shirt. Or a “nice to have” piece of equipment that’s a luxury (3D printer)


What is up with the DMV shakedown for essential supplies? Seriously messed up.

It's a PTA fundraiser that they can pass off as required

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was a typo when the supply list said 40 glue sticks but I was told that was correct. I am not buying 40 glue sticks

Your kid will use that many.

Just send in a new pack every 6 to 8 weeks.

I promise that the glue sticks will get used. Trust the experienced parents on this one.

They will not use 40. And if they do- the teacher needs to come up with better lessons. Gluing paper on paper is stupid.

That seems like a lot. Our list asks for 4 glue sticks, 24 pencils, 1 box of crayons (12 count)… I don’t know why they would need anywhere close to 40 glue sticks per student.

ES Teacher

In a mixed SES school, some kids will bring in the list and some kids will bring in nothing. It all gets pooled, so telling kids to bring in 40 makes up for half the class bringing in none

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New to Fairfax county schools from DC. In DC our public school just had us pay a fee for school supplies at the beginning of the year and the school would buy them in bulk. The fee could be waived for lower income families.

Why don't Fairfax county schools do that? It seems so ridiculously inefficient to have parents buying different brands/versions of x size folder or sticky note.

Because school employees have more important things to do to prepare for the school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Walmart has all the school lists on their website. If you type in the school and select the grade you can add everything in your cart and be done with this in les than 5 minutes.

This is a fantastic tip and why I can't quit DCUM. Thanks, PP! Although my 4th grader's list came out as $91 on Walmart, which is ridiculous, and that was with binder and folders out of stock and removing headphones!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New to Fairfax county schools from DC. In DC our public school just had us pay a fee for school supplies at the beginning of the year and the school would buy them in bulk. The fee could be waived for lower income families.

Why don't Fairfax county schools do that? It seems so ridiculously inefficient to have parents buying different brands/versions of x size folder or sticky note.

Because school employees have more important things to do to prepare for the school year.

But it literally would take them less time in the end - order in bulk and you don't have to deal with individual parents turning in 10 different versions of this or that which needs to be sorted - you can buy a box of 40 scissors rather than sorting through 20 different bags turned in by parents with other assorted items.

It would be more efficient for them, not less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New to Fairfax county schools from DC. In DC our public school just had us pay a fee for school supplies at the beginning of the year and the school would buy them in bulk. The fee could be waived for lower income families.

Why don't Fairfax county schools do that? It seems so ridiculously inefficient to have parents buying different brands/versions of x size folder or sticky note.

Because school employees have more important things to do to prepare for the school year.

But it literally would take them less time in the end - order in bulk and you don't have to deal with individual parents turning in 10 different versions of this or that which needs to be sorted - you can buy a box of 40 scissors rather than sorting through 20 different bags turned in by parents with other assorted items.

It would be more efficient for them, not less.

We have loads of scissors that come back at the end of each year. Why does every kid need new scissors every year? They can just keep using them until they break, which isn’t very often. Not everything needs to be brand new every year, more recycling would be useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dunno - I actually find the supplies needed for elementary very reasonable. We’re talking maybe $30 worth of stuff. I also feel like getting the supplies is a ritual and gets kids excited.

Boxes are a rip-off but I guess good option if you don’t feel like shopping.

+1. There’s more to life than Amazon 1-click. If the kid knows how to write, get them to write out the list, gather items they already have, cross off items once they find or purchase them. It’s an exercise to train them for… life

If you have more than one kid this is time consuming, frustrating, confusing (for the kids) and just inefficient (i have 3). Tried it this year and going back to the pta box next year. The kids wanted to pick it out and we still ended up buying from amazon when target didn’t have the right folders or highlighters or whatever. Never again! Not worth saving a few bucks over given the hassle.

+1. It’s actually not easy to shop for the very specific supplies that they ask for (plastic folder in xyz colors, certain size pencil pouch with clear cover, composition book in 3 different specific colors, specific brand and size of dry erase markers).

+2

Maybe school lists vary so some don't have to deal with that as much? I spent quite a bit of time searching specific individual items, and where one store was out of stock, going to another store, and on and on.

[Anonymous]

I’m a teacher and I think 40 glue sticks is over the top but maybe 60% of the kids in my school don’t bring in supplies. I have kids leave extra supplies in their lockers in large ziplock bags so if there is anything left at the end of the year, they take it home. I have a bag of my son’s extra supplies here in my room because his MS teacher did the same thing. It is easier just to pool everything but it sends kids the message that they don’t have to be responsible for their stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school parent here who stumbled onto this from Recent Topics (sorry).

This is unconscionable that PUBLIC schools — which you and I have already paid for — require you to spend your own funds to facilitate access to the curriculum. Wtaf?

My mother, father, aunt, sister, uncle and 1 cousin are all public school teachers in a Midwestern state, middle class school districts, and I assure you this nonsense doesn’t occur there. They aren’t forced to buy paper FFS. The only things they spend their own funds on are “lifestyle” items for the poor, homeless or very at risk kids who would otherwise come to school without a clean shirt. Or a “nice to have” piece of equipment that’s a luxury (3D printer)


What is up with the DMV shakedown for essential supplies? Seriously messed up.

It's a PTA fundraiser that they can pass off as required

But ultimately, to their point, yes, schools should be given sufficient funds for supplies without having to rely on fundraising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prefer buying my own stuff. Is it really that hard.

No.

Inefficient? Yes.

The toolbox thing has really bad quality items; I gave up after year 1. Head phones look like dollar store ones - for the same price you can get ones that you can reuse on a plane or with other devices.

I found the same with rulers, erasers, etc.

Yes - time consuming but your kid has better quality items for a lower cost.

I wouldn't mind paying extra if the quality was there to match. Most of the money seems to go into labor and profits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prefer buying my own stuff. Is it really that hard.

No.

Inefficient? Yes.

The toolbox thing has really bad quality items; I gave up after year 1. Head phones look like dollar store ones - for the same price you can get ones that you can reuse on a plane or with other devices.

I found the same with rulers, erasers, etc.

Yes - time consuming but your kid has better quality items for a lower cost.

I wouldn't mind paying extra if the quality was there to match. Most of the money seems to go into labor and profits.

But again, why can't schools just have parents pay a school supply fee and they can order exactly what they need directly rather than through a third party vendor? And the fee can still be waived if low income, etc. If other public schools can do this, why not Fairfax?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prefer buying my own stuff. Is it really that hard.

No.

Inefficient? Yes.

The toolbox thing has really bad quality items; I gave up after year 1. Head phones look like dollar store ones - for the same price you can get ones that you can reuse on a plane or with other devices.

I found the same with rulers, erasers, etc.

Yes - time consuming but your kid has better quality items for a lower cost.

I wouldn't mind paying extra if the quality was there to match. Most of the money seems to go into labor and profits.

But again, why can't schools just have parents pay a school supply fee and they can order exactly what they need directly rather than through a third party vendor? And the fee can still be waived if low income, etc. If other public schools can do this, why not Fairfax?

Because they don’t want to…
You have the option to buy on your own. You have the option to buy from the school choose whichever one works best for you, but the school is not required to do a third option.