Anonymous wrote:Do I sign the card from the whole class or just the names of the children whose families sent money?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sign the names of those who gave.

Only once have I not contributed and it was because the teacher was a horrible match for my kid. I was not the least bit offended to have my name left off the card.

If it's just a few people who can't or don't want to give then of course sign it from the class.

This! I don't want to be in your group gift. Who unilaterally decided that everyone needed to contribute? I hate it when a mom with too much time sets this up. I used to teach and I preferred a simple card from my student. I also have high standards and will not give a teacher a gift who I don't think is doing a good job with my child. If it is a stellar teacher, I want to be able to give 50 dollars not in a class gift, so the teacher knows our family is appreciative. I don't want to have to give 50 dollars and then contribute to the class gift.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You sound like a nightmare of a parent. Public school, huh? Otherwise, I'd send you packing. That poor child of yours.

Very unfair, it's okay for a parent to NOT like a teacher, and NOT provide an OPTIONAL gift. Not all teachers are wonderful, some are barely competent, and some are assholes. Your public school comment was very rude.

To the OP, don't worry about the total..
To be honest with you I doubt it matters how you sign the card. The teacher has been dealing with these parents all YEAR long having to collect permission slips and other things from parents, she has a good handle on what kind of class you have.

Personally I give each teacher a $50 gift card at the end of every year, sometimes $25 at Christmas and $25 at the end of the year. It's against the policy of our schools to collect for class gifts. I just think of our favorite restaurant and we tip our minimum wage waiter more than that over the course of a month. My kids get together gift bags with a homemade card and small items like chocolate and a little gift for the teacher so even if there was a class contribution I still think I would have my kids personally give our gift from our family.

That's great that you are so generous and prefer to give personally. But how does it look when the teacher gets a $50 gift card from "Susie" and then a $50 gift card from "The class"? That's the point here. Would you be OK if class gift did not include Susie's name? After reading all these, I'm thinking the teacher would be thrilled to get the $100 period. And she would probably figure out that Susie was so generous personally that the class gift is probably from like 5 people.

But then the crux of the whole situation, as people point out again and again is the people who don't bother to participate in any way. Why do they get to freeload? I think it's just one of those things and not worth stressing about. Collect what you can, use the tricks that you can (like having two people call, or insinuating there will be a card to sign when you get the contribution). But it's just not worth the stress. A nice gift to the teacher is what counts here, whatever it is! Good luck all and Happy Holidays.

Anonymous wrote:

You sound like a nightmare of a parent. Public school, huh? Otherwise, I'd send you packing. That poor child of yours.

Very unfair, it's okay for a parent to NOT like a teacher, and NOT provide an OPTIONAL gift. Not all teachers are wonderful, some are barely competent, and some are assholes. Your public school comment was very rude.

To the OP, don't worry about the total..
To be honest with you I doubt it matters how you sign the card. The teacher has been dealing with these parents all YEAR long having to collect permission slips and other things from parents, she has a good handle on what kind of class you have.

Personally I give each teacher a $50 gift card at the end of every year, sometimes $25 at Christmas and $25 at the end of the year. It's against the policy of our schools to collect for class gifts. I just think of our favorite restaurant and we tip our minimum wage waiter more than that over the course of a month. My kids get together gift bags with a homemade card and small items like chocolate and a little gift for the teacher so even if there was a class contribution I still think I would have my kids personally give our gift from our family.

Anonymous wrote:

You sound like a nightmare of a parent. Public school, huh? Otherwise, I'd send you packing. That poor child of yours.

Very unfair, it's okay for a parent to NOT like a teacher, and NOT provide an OPTIONAL gift. Not all teachers are wonderful, some are barely competent, and some are assholes. Your public school comment was very rude.

To the OP, don't worry about the total..
To be honest with you I doubt it matters how you sign the card. The teacher has been dealing with these parents all YEAR long having to collect permission slips and other things from parents, she has a good handle on what kind of class you have.

Personally I give each teacher a $50 gift card at the end of every year, sometimes $25 at Christmas and $25 at the end of the year. It's against the policy of our schools to collect for class gifts. I just think of our favorite restaurant and we tip our minimum wage waiter more than that over the course of a month. My kids get together gift bags with a homemade card and small items like chocolate and a little gift for the teacher so even if there was a class contribution I still think I would have my kids personally give our gift from our family.

You sound like a nightmare of a parent. Public school, huh? Otherwise, I'd send you packing. That poor child of yours.

Anonymous wrote:This teacher has been on my DD's ass all year. She took points off a spelling test because DD put down the wrong date. She made her sit out of recess because of coming to school late, even though other kids who are late don't get punished this way. She sent back homework to be re-written because there were eraser marks (not huge ones), when other kids turn in crumpled papers with food stains on them. She just rides her. So no, I'm not contributing to a gift. And I hope you leave my name off the card. I hate how miserable she is making my DD, and more importantly how much she is driving DD to hate school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sign the names of those who gave.

Only once have I not contributed and it was because the teacher was a horrible match for my kid. I was not the least bit offended to have my name left off the card.

If it's just a few people who can't or don't want to give then of course sign it from the class.

This! I don't want to be in your group gift. Who unilaterally decided that everyone needed to contribute? I hate it when a mom with too much time sets this up. I used to teach and I preferred a simple card from my student. I also have high standards and will not give a teacher a gift who I don't think is doing a good job with my child. If it is a stellar teacher, I want to be able to give 50 dollars not in a class gift, so the teacher knows our family is appreciative. I don't want to have to give 50 dollars and then contribute to the class gift.

Anonymous wrote:Sign the names of those who gave.

Only once have I not contributed and it was because the teacher was a horrible match for my kid. I was not the least bit offended to have my name left off the card.

If it's just a few people who can't or don't want to give then of course sign it from the class.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would send a friendly reminder email for donations and mention that you will be signing the card from only the people who donated unless you get critical mass

THIS. The others still have the option to send in their own gifts or not.

You can also sign the names of the 9 families and then say "and rest of the class".