Reply to Boosterthon Runs at MCPS schools?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Looks like they are planning one at Wilson Wims ES. [/quote]

They're in the middle of it. As a parent I don't like it. My kid is in K and totally focused on the prizes. Plus it seems like a lot of work on the teachers part to track progress and hand out the corresponding prizes.

I also work in a high FARMS school and it kind of makes me mad that there is such a discrepancy regarding the haves and have nots. The school will make thousands from this which is great for my kid, but that creates a further divide between schools with PTAs who can raise tons of money and schools with PTAs who can't. Some of the things Wims says they'll do with the money are additional assemblies, author visits and teacher stipends for running clubs. My students won't get any of that and teachers at my school are pressured to run clubs with no stipend because the county doesn't provide them and our PTA surely can't. [/quote]

county doesn't provide them?  You mean your union doesn't provide them.  Your union gets the perks they want.  You elect your union reps. This is on you. [/quote]

Huh? The union doesn't create the budget or write the checks. We had stipends when I started 15 years ago and then they silently disappeared. We only found out after we had already been running after school clubs for weeks. The principal still expected/pressured teachers to sponsor clubs without them. Those of us who teach know that the union is useless in any event.

How is this on teachers again?[/quote]

Why are your teachers being asked to run after-school clubs at your school?  Yes, the PTA should absolutely be on this!  I am the PTA President at my child's school as well as (separately) and after-school activities vendor at other schools in the county.  The way after-school activities works at many schools is the PTA selects outside vendors like - hip hop classes, yoga, art, science, etc. The PTA helps with advertising the classes, but the registration is run through the vendors, the vendors pay for after-school room rentals, have their own insurance, etc.

At our school, and a number of other schools, these outside activities vendors are required to provide 1 need-based scholarship to a student at the school per session. This helps increase access for more kids to participate.

There is no reason why Wilson Wims can't do this - if you provide your email address, I'm happy to either talk to one of your PTA board members on the phone about how to do this or send an email with info.  It's really not difficult and doesn't cost the school or PTA anything, and definitely lets teachers off the hook for running clubs.

Back to Boosterthon - I'm the poster above who said to get on the PTA board if you want to get rid of Boosterthon - that's exactly what I did at my school. There are many other ways of raising money for the PTA without running a program that goes against MCPS and National PTA guidelines for fundraising activities.[/quote]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. My child attends Wims and it's like you described. There are a million club opportunities brought in by outside vendors and I guess Boosterthon money will help fund stipends for teachers who want to run additional clubs.

The school where I teach doesn't have a population that can afford clubs run by outside vendors so teachers are pressured to run after school clubs completely uncompensated. PTA doesn't have funds to give stipends to teachers who run clubs, but we are still expected to provide opportunities for students to have those experiences and there is no cost to the students. The PTA does pay for an activity bus that runs once a week but that's the extent.

That was my point about haves and have nots. Wims will raise thousands and thousands of dollars because the families will donate but schools with populations that are higher poverty do not receive the same opportunities because there isn't as much money to fund them. [/quote]

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