Anonymous wrote:DW and I are both ES teachers. I have over 30 years in FCPS. We have never had to use our own money to buy things like crayons and pencils. I’ve never pooled supplies and I go through maybe 3 containers of wipes in a school year.

So, does that mean that the desks are never cleaned and the wipes get used for the doors? That nothing gets cleaned and the wipes are used for emergencies? I’m genuinely curious.

I worked in an elementary/middle school in another district. My office had two tables and my desk. Every day I cleaned my desk, the tables, and the doorknobs. So, that’s a minimum 20 wipes a week —or a roll of paper towels and spray. What were you not doing that you only used maybe 3 containers of wipes in a whole school year?

I bought my own supplies, including huge bottles of hand sanitizer and emergency toilet paper.

Anonymous wrote:From what I gather from this thread, some parents do not want to send supplies to school because:

1. I don’t want to share my money with others.
2. Teachers should supply the materials
3. Teachers should put up with whatever quality supplies the school can give them. If they run out, too bad.
4. Teachers should do a better job of keeping track of pencils, instead of preparing and delivering quality lessons.

IMO the only reason parents shouldn’t send supplies is if they cannot afford them.

Well isn’t that why teachers don’t want to buy the material for their classroom? They have other things they need to do with their money?

Believe it or not, that is also true of parents. Who have already “shared” the money for the supplies in question by paying our local taxes. So if the decision is: do I want to share more money with a classroom who already has cleaning supplies (but perhaps the teacher had to proactively ask for the supplies, or they aren’t the preferred brand) and sharing my money with my family, or any of the other people in our community who desperately need help right now and don’t have the privilege of saying they don’t want to have to wait two days for paper towels.

Anonymous wrote:From what I gather from this thread, some parents do not want to send supplies to school because:

1. I don’t want to share my money with others.
2. Teachers should supply the materials
3. Teachers should put up with whatever quality supplies the school can give them. If they run out, too bad.
4. Teachers should do a better job of keeping track of pencils, instead of preparing and delivering quality lessons.

IMO the only reason parents shouldn’t send supplies is if they cannot afford them.

The only one I agree with is the bolded, within reason. All people in all workplaces are expected to put up with whatever quality supplies their workplace orders.

But the accountability should be with the schools and the administrators. It should be very hard to look at a parent in FCPS and say there’s no budget for paper towels to clean classrooms. Teachers begging from parents just saves the administrators that difficult discussion.

Anonymous wrote:Are the school janitors also expected to use these “subpar” supplies? Who should they ask to donate things so they can have the brands they prefer?

The janitors only empty trash cans at my school. Nothing else is done to clean classrooms. That’s why teachers request wipes. I guess they could request spray and real paper towels instead.

From what I gather from this thread, some parents do not want to send supplies to school because:

1. I don’t want to share my money with others.
2. Teachers should supply the materials
3. Teachers should put up with whatever quality supplies the school can give them. If they run out, too bad.
4. Teachers should do a better job of keeping track of pencils, instead of preparing and delivering quality lessons.

IMO the only reason parents shouldn’t send supplies is if they cannot afford them.

Are the school janitors also expected to use these “subpar” supplies? Who should they ask to donate things so they can have the brands they prefer?

Anonymous wrote:Try this PP. Dump water on the floor and then use a piece of newspaper to clean it up. Let us know how that goes.

Are you wiping down desks or scrubbing floors now?

Spraying the desks with disinfectant and letting it dry is probably doing more for killing germs than the Clorox wipes anyway. Yes the brown paper towels aren’t great, we also have them in my office, but they wipe down a desk sufficiently.

Anonymous wrote:I hope nobody complains about their kid’s teacher being out sick for a week, because the teacher-bought clorox wipes and tissues had run out by October.

Also, is “Disenfecting all classroom surfaces” part of the teacher’s job description? Or is it just another “assumed task” teachers are expected to do?

Haven't taught in a long time, but I never did this.

Anonymous wrote:You really don't understand how many pencils ES kids lose. I sent a 40 pack or something stupid last year for my 6th grader and within the semester she'd lost almost all of them. Kids just lose stuff or it gets broken. This stuff isn't that expensive it you hit the sales this weekend. Just go with it and don't think too hard about it.

This. I used to teach primary. The (rare) kids who had their name on every pencil, crayon, and marker had enough to get through the year. Use a Sharpie. Yes, it’s a hateful task, and nobody is making you. You could also get custom pencils, but the Triconderoga pencils really are better. The leads are always centered.

I hope nobody complains about their kid’s teacher being out sick for a week, because the teacher-bought clorox wipes and tissues had run out by October.

Also, is “Disenfecting all classroom surfaces” part of the teacher’s job description? Or is it just another “assumed task” teachers are expected to do?

Try this PP. Dump water on the floor and then use a piece of newspaper to clean it up. Let us know how that goes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious and this is mostly to teachers- why does each child need 96 crayons and 120 Ticonderoga pencils? In a class of 20 children that is 1.920 crayons and 2.400 pencils! What do you do with the leftover at the end of the year? Also why do you need paper towels and wipes? Aren’t these janitorial supplies?

Lists this year are MUCH more reasonable than other years. I purchased most supplies for under $40 each child (K and 4th) the pta box is almost $100 each! But still genuinely curious about these excessive amounts of items.

Schools don't supply enough of these for the classrooms. At our school you get a spray bottle and a couple of packages of crappy paper towels. You need a handful to do anything and refills are limited.

Can you say more about this? If you go to the admin of the school and say you’ve used your paper towels and need to clean the desks, they say…?

Because I feel like a parent calling and asking would not be told a teacher wasn’t allowed paper towels.

They would say “ask the janitor” and the janitor would say “I’ll drop them off later” and then they arrive 2-7 days later. The thing is, the paper towels are awful. I’m requesting an item that is very subpar. I’d rather ask the parents to bring some in.

Ok this feels very inconsiderate. You don’t like what’s provided free and so you want parents to buy them. The area is experiencing a major economic event, maybe this year use what the school provides (i.e. taxpayers already paid for) and save the asks for things you’re genuinely not provided (like decent tissues)

Anonymous wrote:Clorox wipes - 75 count are expensive. Asking us to do 3 of those at over $5 a pop is ridiculous. I’ll donate 1 now and then one mid year.

And why do kids need 2 full packs of dry erase, when most of the curriculum is on schoology on a laptop?! And an eraser? How about an old sock which works just as ell and is cheap.

PLEASE pick out your husband’s oldest sock, the ones with holes in them, and make your child use that instead of an eraser. I’m sure all their classmates will admire them and envy them for their ingenuity and frugality. Their teachers will select them for Lunch Pals and the school will put up a picture of your child in the front office.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious and this is mostly to teachers- why does each child need 96 crayons and 120 Ticonderoga pencils? In a class of 20 children that is 1.920 crayons and 2.400 pencils! What do you do with the leftover at the end of the year? Also why do you need paper towels and wipes? Aren’t these janitorial supplies?

Lists this year are MUCH more reasonable than other years. I purchased most supplies for under $40 each child (K and 4th) the pta box is almost $100 each! But still genuinely curious about these excessive amounts of items.

Schools don't supply enough of these for the classrooms. At our school you get a spray bottle and a couple of packages of crappy paper towels. You need a handful to do anything and refills are limited.

Can you say more about this? If you go to the admin of the school and say you’ve used your paper towels and need to clean the desks, they say…?

Because I feel like a parent calling and asking would not be told a teacher wasn’t allowed paper towels.

They would say “ask the janitor” and the janitor would say “I’ll drop them off later” and then they arrive 2-7 days later. The thing is, the paper towels are awful. I’m requesting an item that is very subpar. I’d rather ask the parents to bring some in.

lol OK.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to all the teachers out there dealing with these crazy penny-wise pound-foolish parents. They worry more about buying too many pencils and Clorox wipes than making it easier for their children’s teachers to do their jobs. Some like to complain that teachers are not doing enough to educate their kids and the quality of education in FCPS is declining. Yet, they want teachers to monitor dropped pencils and force kids to pick them up so parents can save $5.50 a year on ‘excessive’ pencils.

This! +1000
And if most families spent an extra $10/year to contribute to tissues and wipes, the underpaid teacher doesn’t have to spend hundreds of their own $ on enough for the whole class for the whole school year.
I’m embarrassed by this thread and it makes me feel even more for the teachers.

I’m happy to chip in the $2 that a 24-pack of paper towels and a 2 bottles of Clorox coat with all the other parents. That can last a year. Kids can bring own tissues. This really is not that complicated. It’s a kind of litmus test to find the parents who are most Type A and anxious about doing everything right.

What to do with the kid who forgets their tissues?

TP or their sleeve. It’s OK.