Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serious question: MCPS has a $2 billion budget and you buy pencils for your classroom? I think that's an issue you need to raise with your Principal and ask him/her to get you pencils out of the MCPS budget, or ask the PTA. You don't know until you ask and teachers should not be buying pencils.

Janis, just stop!

You have your own site to post on.

I'm not Janis but if you really want to be martyrs and buy your own pencils, then you should feel free.

I hear you OP. I couldn't find the supply list for our school so I called the school and they said to look under the PTA section of their website because they weren't able to upload the info but the PTA could. Why would I have thought to look there? Its not so big a deal - except there has been a lot of confusion about everything so far... (DD is starting K). I think maybe it gets easier once you've been at the school a while and know the ropes. I know a lot of K moms feeling the same way.

OP here. This post got out of hand quickly. Again, for me it's not the issue of the school supplies. It's that it's one more way the school has shown that it's generally disorganized. That's the vibe I've gotten over the past year--like nobody talks with one another outside of the teachers for their specific grade. We were told there was ONE list per grade for supplies. I come to find out there are 2 and they are different. So, I call to find out what to buy. During the year I will be asking the teachers what they need me to get for the classroom as well.

Anonymous wrote:Serious question: MCPS has a $2 billion budget and you buy pencils for your classroom? I think that's an issue you need to raise with your Principal and ask him/her to get you pencils out of the MCPS budget, or ask the PTA. You don't know until you ask and teachers should not be buying pencils.

Janis, just stop!

You have your own site to post on.

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, teachers are HOARDERS. I recommend that you do not buy any supplies, especially for K, until you have talked with the teacher to see what s/he actually needs. Take a look in their supply closets if you get a chance, you'll be amazed. If your kid is just excited and wants to buy a few things and you do it for fun, then okay, but don't go overboard. Also I recommend in future years just purchasing through school. Most schools have that program so you don't have to worry about it.

Hoarders?

So. . . if teachers - particularly elementary - have supplies FOR their students, that's a bad thing?

You're an idiot.

I used to donate the multi-box package of tissues from Costco for the classroom, along with 3-pack Lysol and big bottles of hand sanitizer and liquid soap.

I found that the teacher was passing on my supplies to other classrooms too. (In the grand scheme of things - not a bad thing because it prevents germs from being spread, but I felt as if I was being used)

So after that I started rationing things. Now I give one box of tissues and 1 can of Lysol the very first day of school. I also write a note to the teacher asking her to let me know if she needs more supplies...

Serious question: MCPS has a $2 billion budget and you buy pencils for your classroom? I think that's an issue you need to raise with your Principal and ask him/her to get you pencils out of the MCPS budget, or ask the PTA. You don't know until you ask and teachers should not be buying pencils.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, teachers are HOARDERS. I recommend that you do not buy any supplies, especially for K, until you have talked with the teacher to see what s/he actually needs. Take a look in their supply closets if you get a chance, you'll be amazed. If your kid is just excited and wants to buy a few things and you do it for fun, then okay, but don't go overboard. Also I recommend in future years just purchasing through school. Most schools have that program so you don't have to worry about it.

Do you have any idea how many of those supplies in the supply closet the teacher has purchased herself? Many of my students show up to school with very few supplies. I purchase pencils and journals in bulk from Staples. This past year I actually went through over 400 pencils. Kids need them, so I provide them.

My spouse is a teacher. They hoard like crazy. The PTA reimburses for supplies and she is at a focus school.

Not all teachers are hoarders. PTA doesn't reimburse me for my purchases. Yes, teachers usually receive a small budget to order approved items from the county's warehouse, but you would be surprised how fast that money disappears. For example, an electric pencil sharpener costs close to $40. With a $300 materials budget, a few big-ticket items can cut into the budget quickly. Sometimes I purchase items because the students don't have the materials. I send home notices asking parents to replenish supplies, but when nothing comes in I go and make the purchases myself. Pencils are essential items. Last year, three families each sent in one box of tissues. Well that got us through September. I end up buying things like these in bulk simply because I need them for my classroom.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, teachers are HOARDERS. I recommend that you do not buy any supplies, especially for K, until you have talked with the teacher to see what s/he actually needs. Take a look in their supply closets if you get a chance, you'll be amazed. If your kid is just excited and wants to buy a few things and you do it for fun, then okay, but don't go overboard. Also I recommend in future years just purchasing through school. Most schools have that program so you don't have to worry about it.

Do you have any idea how many of those supplies in the supply closet the teacher has purchased herself? Many of my students show up to school with very few supplies. I purchase pencils and journals in bulk from Staples. This past year I actually went through over 400 pencils. Kids need them, so I provide them.

My spouse is a teacher. They hoard like crazy. The PTA reimburses for supplies and she is at a focus school.

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, teachers are HOARDERS. I recommend that you do not buy any supplies, especially for K, until you have talked with the teacher to see what s/he actually needs. Take a look in their supply closets if you get a chance, you'll be amazed. If your kid is just excited and wants to buy a few things and you do it for fun, then okay, but don't go overboard. Also I recommend in future years just purchasing through school. Most schools have that program so you don't have to worry about it.

Do you have any idea how many of those supplies in the supply closet the teacher has purchased herself? Many of my students show up to school with very few supplies. I purchase pencils and journals in bulk from Staples. This past year I actually went through over 400 pencils. Kids need them, so I provide them.

In my experience, teachers are HOARDERS. I recommend that you do not buy any supplies, especially for K, until you have talked with the teacher to see what s/he actually needs. Take a look in their supply closets if you get a chance, you'll be amazed. If your kid is just excited and wants to buy a few things and you do it for fun, then okay, but don't go overboard. Also I recommend in future years just purchasing through school. Most schools have that program so you don't have to worry about it.

Hard to imagine that this such a big deal that someone would even think about going in with their guns a blazing. Honestly who cares. Pick a list. Buy the stuff. If you're missing so ethi g the teacher will tell you or he/she will give your child the missi g items.

Maybe the grade level teachers need different things. for example, one 1st grade teacher may have the students put all their writing in journals, while another uses regular writing paper and has no use for parents to buy journals.

I can find more important matters to get worked up over.

I hear ya, OP. I am finding some of the same types of frustrations with the school where DD is going to be starting K next month. I hope we all can figure things out as we get more into the community and gist of everything, but right now some things feel confusing and unresolved to me, and it ticks me off. Grrr. I am trying to be patient and understanding and hopeful that this is not an indication of things to come. I don't think it is and I don't want to go into this new community with my guns a 'blazing, so I am (publically) adopting a blasé attitude, but inside, it is annoying me also! Hang in there. . . hopefully things will improve for all of us. . .

My DD's school has two different school supply lists for her grade. One is on the main website page. The other is under the grade/teacher page. Now, in the grand scheme of things this is not a big deal. They are somewhat different lists, so I called the school to ask. I'm just annoyed that this makes the school look (and feel) like they just can't get it together. This is a public school BTW. And that is the vibe that I will carry with me throughout the year unless I see they are making an effort to not look like a bunch of disconnected people working in the same building. That's it. Vent over.