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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

no, wasn't saying as a third option, but rather as the only option or the 2nd option (buy yourself or just pay a fee unless below an SES threshold where the fee is waived)

Not trying to complicate things with a third option just simplify actually. It seems other public school districts can do this in a more simplified way, so not sure why Fairfax chooses a more complicated way that is less efficient for both the school and the parents. Also more expensive in the end given buying in bulk would be cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

They use them to make their own “text books” dumb busy work. Very stupid indeed.

Feel free to join the teaching industry and show us how you can do everything better.

The system is broken and it has been broken for a long time. If you are defending a system that asks 3rd - 6th graders to bring in crayone, scissors and glue sticks to create their own text books and for the purpose of taking notes, then you are indeed part of the problem. Common sense has gone out the window. Why are upper elementary kids cutting and pasting at all. It's absolutely absurd. They are doing it because so many lack the fine motor skills to hold a pen or pencil much less actually use one to form actual letters that anyone can read. So they can't take notes, and there are no textbooks so they have no reference materials other than google slides.

I get needing a job and going with the flow, and wating out your pension, so not giving an actual F, but honestly you can't with a straight face tell me that upper elementary students should be going through 40 glue sticks, becasue they are spending a significant portion of their time cutting and pasting, when a better use of their time would be reading actual textbook and writing on actual paper. I mean barring that how about teacching keyboarding to 3rd graders, they don't do that because it isn't developmentally appropriate, but they also don't teach penmenship anymore either... which is actually develpmentally approriate, so this is why we need 5 spiral notebooks in 5 separate colors, 40 glue sticks and 5 boxes of crayons for little Johnny in the 6th grade.

I remember my FCPS back to school list in upper elementary, of course this was many years ago, a spiral notebook, college ruled paper and pens/pencils and a book bag to carry by text books back and forth. Even the poorest kid's parents could afford the above.

[Anonymous]

Our school's boxes from Campus Survival Kits were cheaper than what Target and Amazon were going to charge me based on the school list and that was with things out of stock. I just ordered the darn kit. They did have an option to choose no headphones. So I did that and ordered some better ones but not crazy expensive in a favorite color. I also let mine pick out there own pencil pouches if they don't use the school kit one, I'll use it for Girl Scout supplies. I do wish you could specify lefty scissors with the box.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school's boxes from Campus Survival Kits were cheaper than what Target and Amazon were going to charge me based on the school list and that was with things out of stock. I just ordered the darn kit. They did have an option to choose no headphones. So I did that and ordered some better ones but not crazy expensive in a favorite color. I also let mine pick out there own pencil pouches if they don't use the school kit one, I'll use it for Girl Scout supplies. I do wish you could specify lefty scissors with the box.

Mom of 2 lefties here. If the box provides Fiskars it doesn't matter. They really do work for both handed-ness-es (that cannot be the correct word).

[Anonymous]

I priced out the PTA box and it wasn’t much more than buying from Amazon/Walmart. Especially given the number of each item they need.

I don’t want to send my kid with a cheaper supply list or missing items. He gives the teacher his huge box with his name on it.

Teachers talk and they size up parents. Little things matter. And my kids got sent home with extra supplies at the end of the year.

But we go to one of the nicer elementary schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I priced out the PTA box and it wasn’t much more than buying from Amazon/Walmart. Especially given the number of each item they need.

I don’t want to send my kid with a cheaper supply list or missing items. He gives the teacher his huge box with his name on it.

Teachers talk and they size up parents. Little things matter. And my kids got sent home with extra supplies at the end of the year.

But we go to one of the nicer elementary schools.

What does that mean? Nicer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get super frustrated because my kids will tell me about things they never used, but nothing ever gets sent home. Are teachers selling these things on the black market or something? Is there a secret stockpile of black composition books and flair pens in a bunker under the school?

The teachers keep them and store them. Many have huge rubbermaid totes filled with the supplies.

Found this out when my kid was in 3rd grade. I asked the teacher why didn’t she use them for the class and she said well she was saving them just in case. She had two totes worth accumulated over 3 years and yes each year she was still asking for many multiples of everything. After that we never again bought everything on the list. we would send the very basics and even those came home.

My favorite was the index cards in 2nd and 3rd grade at the end of the year they came back opened with a couple missing. I asked my child what they did with index cards and they asked what those were. I showed them and they said oh that I just used those for indoor recess once to play a game.

I also don’t think the glue sticks and crayons are needed past 2nd grade. Art is a special and they have a separate supplies provided for that. Those stupid little paper books and things the teachers think are so cute and make learning fun are just a timer filler and of no value. Kids learn nothing from them except how to do busy work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

No.

Inefficient? Yes.

Another lazy parent not being fiscally responsible to make sure their child has what they need.

You had the child. You pay for what it needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

No.

Inefficient? Yes.

Another lazy parent not being fiscally responsible to make sure their child has what they need.

You had the child. You pay for what it needs.

Yes, OP wants to pay, that is entirely the point of the post

[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.

That's nice, but nit typical.

I moved a lot when I was young, due to my dad's career.

School 1 (kindergarten): We had to have our own pencils, crayons, scissors, glue sticks, folders, etc.

School 2 (first grade): We had to have our own pencils, crayons, scissors, glue sticks, folders, etc.

School 3 (second and third grades): We had to have all our own supplies, including a protractor, bingo blotter, artist's colored pencils, etc.

School 4 (fourth grade): We had to have all our own supplies.

School 5 (fifth and sixth grades): We had to have all our own supplies.

School 6 ( seventh and eighth grades): We had to have all our own supplies, including a scientific calculator.

School 7 (ninth and tenth grades): We had to have all our own supplies, including a graphing calculator.

School 8 (eleventh and twelfth grades): We had to have all our own supplies, including a graphing calculator.

I went to eight different schools in a few different states, and we had to supply all our own supplies. I think that the norm!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I priced out the PTA box and it wasn’t much more than buying from Amazon/Walmart. Especially given the number of each item they need.

I don’t want to send my kid with a cheaper supply list or missing items. He gives the teacher his huge box with his name on it.

Teachers talk and they size up parents. Little things matter. And my kids got sent home with extra supplies at the end of the year.

But we go to one of the nicer elementary schools.

What does that mean? Nicer?

You know what it means. Wealthy families only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

They use them to make their own “text books” dumb busy work. Very stupid indeed.

Feel free to join the teaching industry and show us how you can do everything better.

The system is broken and it has been broken for a long time. If you are defending a system that asks 3rd - 6th graders to bring in crayone, scissors and glue sticks to create their own text books and for the purpose of taking notes, then you are indeed part of the problem. Common sense has gone out the window. Why are upper elementary kids cutting and pasting at all. It's absolutely absurd. They are doing it because so many lack the fine motor skills to hold a pen or pencil much less actually use one to form actual letters that anyone can read. So they can't take notes, and there are no textbooks so they have no reference materials other than google slides.

I get needing a job and going with the flow, and wating out your pension, so not giving an actual F, but honestly you can't with a straight face tell me that upper elementary students should be going through 40 glue sticks, becasue they are spending a significant portion of their time cutting and pasting, when a better use of their time would be reading actual textbook and writing on actual paper. I mean barring that how about teacching keyboarding to 3rd graders, they don't do that because it isn't developmentally appropriate, but they also don't teach penmenship anymore either... which is actually develpmentally approriate, so this is why we need 5 spiral notebooks in 5 separate colors, 40 glue sticks and 5 boxes of crayons for little Johnny in the 6th grade.

I remember my FCPS back to school list in upper elementary, of course this was many years ago, a spiral notebook, college ruled paper and pens/pencils and a book bag to carry by text books back and forth. Even the poorest kid's parents could afford the above.

You're insane. I remember bringing in all of the above (crayons, glue sticks, etc...) when I was in elementary school in my very wealthy community in the 1980s. Parents have always been required to bring in school supplies, including crayons and glue. I distinctly remember cutting up pieces of paper and gluing them into a notebook. This has been going on for many, many years. Stop the outrage, you crazy person.

[Anonymous]

Teachers don’t size up parents. It’s the insecure parents that think this,

What gets me every year is the wipes, tissues and sanitizer and ziploc bags we have to supply. You mean docs didn’t provide janitorial supplies? And no tissues for kids that sneeze. I find this ridiculous.

I’m also not sending in 40 glue sticks. I’ll send 4, if they run out I’ll buy more. And for Christs sake 4 packs of 12 pre-sharpened pencils? I buy one pack and sharpen them. My child has never used an entire pencil but somehow needs 48??

To the op- you’re completely correct. Makes no sense at all. The pta runs a fundraiser to supple the box for the following year but it’s completely overpriced. I think ours was $140 for grade 1. I bought the supplies for $60. I also hate pooled supplies. If it’s pooled it should be provided from the taxes we pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers don’t size up parents. It’s the insecure parents that think this,

What gets me every year is the wipes, tissues and sanitizer and ziploc bags we have to supply. You mean docs didn’t provide janitorial supplies? And no tissues for kids that sneeze. I find this ridiculous.

I’m also not sending in 40 glue sticks. I’ll send 4, if they run out I’ll buy more. And for Christs sake 4 packs of 12 pre-sharpened pencils? I buy one pack and sharpen them. My child has never used an entire pencil but somehow needs 48??

To the op- you’re completely correct. Makes no sense at all. The pta runs a fundraiser to supple the box for the following year but it’s completely overpriced. I think ours was $140 for grade 1. I bought the supplies for $60. I also hate pooled supplies. If it’s pooled it should be provided from the taxes we pay.

Not every class or school is like that. I posted earlier. Our grade level’s supply list asks for 4 glue sticks. We ask for 24 pencils. We have soap at the sinks so we don’t need hand sanitizer. In my 31 years teaching I’ve never asked for hand sanitizer or wipes. Our grade level team also doesn’t pool supplies.

[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.

Well, you see private school parent,

We don’t pay for the school, so paying for the supplies isn’t really a big deal for many parents. I am also willing to pay for the kids who don’t have supplies by giving extras. As a teacher in a Title 1 school, I readily and constantly donate to my school kids as well as my children’s school.

Hope you aren’t “shaken down” by your private!