I'm comfortable contributing less, but in line with what we can afford. I know others can, and do, pay the full price.

Difference is, I can't afford to pay full price for a ticket + a babysitter + purchase things at the school auction. So I shouldn't be able to go? I'd be happy volunteering- which I already do- and to purchase items as well. But why does it have to be all or nothing? Smacks of elitism.

Oh, and I happen to be a teetotaler. Happy not to eat if that would make you feel better. But imposing an artificially high ticket price for entry into an event hosted by and for a public institution SHOULD be accessible to all in the community.

If you are so wealthy, why don't you allocate, or purchase extra tickets so the less well off amongst us can also attend? (And no, I'm not on any type of social welfare program, have a job, provide for my child, but can't squeeze out an extra $300 for this.)

I know Mundo Verde and ITS get beat up a lot on DCUM, but they have a better way of handling things. As does Ross. I don't feel good about only the rich, disposable income types attending. That is the opposite of community building. Seems like more about building a wall.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are we picking on Janney? Here are the peer auction prices.

Lafayette: $75
Murch: $75
Janney: $85
Key: $90
Mann: $75

BC Janney started the discussion.
BC Janney did not indicate that there was any mechanism to ensure that it was possible for those of different means to be able to attend and support the school. If its really about raising $, wouldn't you accept donations to the best of the donor's ability? (FWIW- this is what my school offers, as do cultural institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of NY.)

Not if it doesn't cover the cost of the ticket. And while you are welcome to visit the met for any donation, you are not invited to a met benefit if you can't pay.

And it's really uncomfortable not to pay full price at a museum even on a Tuesday. They give you the stink eye.

So true.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are we picking on Janney? Here are the peer auction prices.

Lafayette: $75
Murch: $75
Janney: $85
Key: $90
Mann: $75

BC Janney started the discussion.
BC Janney did not indicate that there was any mechanism to ensure that it was possible for those of different means to be able to attend and support the school. If its really about raising $, wouldn't you accept donations to the best of the donor's ability? (FWIW- this is what my school offers, as do cultural institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of NY.)

Not if it doesn't cover the cost of the ticket. And while you are welcome to visit the met for any donation, you are not invited to a met benefit if you can't pay.

And it's really uncomfortable not to pay full price at a museum even on a Tuesday. They give you the stink eye.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are we picking on Janney? Here are the peer auction prices.

Lafayette: $75
Murch: $75
Janney: $85
Key: $90
Mann: $75

BC Janney started the discussion.
BC Janney did not indicate that there was any mechanism to ensure that it was possible for those of different means to be able to attend and support the school. If its really about raising $, wouldn't you accept donations to the best of the donor's ability? (FWIW- this is what my school offers, as do cultural institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of NY.)

Not if it doesn't cover the cost of the ticket. And while you are welcome to visit the met for any donation, you are not invited to a met benefit if you can't pay.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are we picking on Janney? Here are the peer auction prices.

Lafayette: $75
Murch: $75
Janney: $85
Key: $90
Mann: $75

Um... because the OP posted about Janney.

Exactly. All of these schools do the same thing to raise funds. I personally have no issue with it, but it's not a school-specific thing. If you want to crap on DCPS PTA rules, fine. But picking on Janney for raising money like everyone else seems weird.

Anonymous wrote:Why are we picking on Janney? Here are the peer auction prices.

Lafayette: $75
Murch: $75
Janney: $85
Key: $90
Mann: $75

BC Janney started the discussion.
BC Janney did not indicate that there was any mechanism to ensure that it was possible for those of different means to be able to attend and support the school. If its really about raising $, wouldn't you accept donations to the best of the donor's ability? (FWIW- this is what my school offers, as do cultural institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of NY.)

Anonymous wrote:Why are we picking on Janney? Here are the peer auction prices.

Lafayette: $75
Murch: $75
Janney: $85
Key: $90
Mann: $75

Um... because the OP posted about Janney.

Seriously.

Need help understanding that equity and equality are not the same?

https://medium.com/@CRA1G/the-evolution-of-an-accidental-meme-ddc4e139e0e4

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And for another approach, look how Ross Elementary manages their auction:

https://one.bidpal.net/rossauction2019/welcome

(No child at Ross, but like the idea!)

Janney has 4 times the enrollment of Ross (vs. 700+ kids vs. 175 kids). Having all the parents attend for free probably wouldn't work for most of the spaces they use.

The auction is at the school and has been since the renovation in 2010-11. I really think this has been the last minute price for a years, tickets were 75$ until a few weeks ago, now 85$ until the end of the month I think. Janney has less per pupil funding than many schools. If funding was even per pupil across the board I think it would be more reasonable to pool auction resources, but I also think they would raise a lot less as parents like helping their own kids’ schools. Janney has in the past both shared a portion of its auction proceeds (this was a number of years ago) and done fundraisers specifically for other schools.

Also, many families, even parents of the younger grades, bought years ago for under $1M. Lots of fed lawyers. Doing well but not wealthy.

If you own a house that's worth close to $1 million, you're wealthy, even if you don't feel like you have the cash flow to spend $150 on auction tickets.

All the elderly widows holding onto their Capitol Hill rowhouses, which they bought for 100k and could now sell for a million, would disagree. Even I would disagree, and we paid 400k for ours over a decade ago. If we sold, where would we live?

Gee. Wherever could you find a home to live with proceeds your 1 million dollar home. P.S. Few elderly widows have Janney aged kids.

Why are we picking on Janney? Here are the peer auction prices.

Lafayette: $75
Murch: $75
Janney: $85
Key: $90
Mann: $75

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty sure if you can afford a 1.5 mil house you can afford $200 for the auction. Also, you don't have to go.

Are you saying al of the families at Janet live in 1.5 mil houses or is that the average? It’s it’s the average, shouldn’t you care about those below the average? This is sad.

Pretty much. Its about 98% in 1.2 and above. Many now in 1.5+.

Where did you pull that stat? There are many families that bought >10 years ago. There are also renters that are already stretched with their housing and can’t swing $200 to go to a school event. The snobbishness of Janney stinks.

Oh cry me a river. Stretched thin in a million dollar house??? I'm in bounds for Murch and live paycheck to paycheck as a single parent just so my son can go to a decent school. I rent a very old 2 bedroom apartment. There is no way I will ever own in that neighborhood. Anyone who can afford a house zoned for Janney isn't struggling (or at least shouldn't be). Get real.

Maybe you didn’t fully read my post. I clearly said stretched to rent. I have a friend that is a single mom paying $3000 to rent a shack in Janney. She is not wealthy by any means. Doesn’t earn 6 figures. If her ex missed one month of child support, she wouldn’t be able to pay her rent. She is house poor so she can send her kids to Janney. $100 auction ticket is a slap in her face.

First, that's insane. She's paying in excess of 50% of her take home pay in rent. Absent really, really hefty support (both child and spousal) payments, it's crazy.

Second, it is a fundraiser. The entire purpose of the event is to . . . wait for it . . . raise funds. No one is expecting (or should be, at any rate) people who are stretched to attend, or bid on expensive items. It's not a mandatory attend event. The funds raised help all the kids at the school.

You are seriously suggesting that a volunteer organization should suppress the funds it raises because some people in its community can't afford to make the donation required to participate in a fundraising event? The goal is not participation, it's money!

Come on, people, get your collective heads out of your collective a$$es.

This exactly. +100

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And for another approach, look how Ross Elementary manages their auction:

https://one.bidpal.net/rossauction2019/welcome

(No child at Ross, but like the idea!)

Janney has 4 times the enrollment of Ross (vs. 700+ kids vs. 175 kids). Having all the parents attend for free probably wouldn't work for most of the spaces they use.

The auction is at the school and has been since the renovation in 2010-11. I really think this has been the last minute price for a years, tickets were 75$ until a few weeks ago, now 85$ until the end of the month I think. Janney has less per pupil funding than many schools. If funding was even per pupil across the board I think it would be more reasonable to pool auction resources, but I also think they would raise a lot less as parents like helping their own kids’ schools. Janney has in the past both shared a portion of its auction proceeds (this was a number of years ago) and done fundraisers specifically for other schools.

Also, many families, even parents of the younger grades, bought years ago for under $1M. Lots of fed lawyers. Doing well but not wealthy.

If you own a house that's worth close to $1 million, you're wealthy, even if you don't feel like you have the cash flow to spend $150 on auction tickets.

All the elderly widows holding onto their Capitol Hill rowhouses, which they bought for 100k and could now sell for a million, would disagree. Even I would disagree, and we paid 400k for ours over a decade ago. If we sold, where would we live?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And for another approach, look how Ross Elementary manages their auction:

https://one.bidpal.net/rossauction2019/welcome

(No child at Ross, but like the idea!)

Janney has 4 times the enrollment of Ross (vs. 700+ kids vs. 175 kids). Having all the parents attend for free probably wouldn't work for most of the spaces they use.

The auction is at the school and has been since the renovation in 2010-11. I really think this has been the last minute price for a years, tickets were 75$ until a few weeks ago, now 85$ until the end of the month I think. Janney has less per pupil funding than many schools. If funding was even per pupil across the board I think it would be more reasonable to pool auction resources, but I also think they would raise a lot less as parents like helping their own kids’ schools. Janney has in the past both shared a portion of its auction proceeds (this was a number of years ago) and done fundraisers specifically for other schools.

Also, many families, even parents of the younger grades, bought years ago for under $1M. Lots of fed lawyers. Doing well but not wealthy.

If you own a house that's worth close to $1 million, you're wealthy, even if you don't feel like you have the cash flow to spend $150 on auction tickets.

Let's call it as it is. Some wealthy people are cheap about public goods. They'll happily buy an expensive handbag, tickets to Disney, or pay for travel soccer, but 150$ that will go to help someone else's kid, that's "a luxury."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And for another approach, look how Ross Elementary manages their auction:

https://one.bidpal.net/rossauction2019/welcome

(No child at Ross, but like the idea!)

Janney has 4 times the enrollment of Ross (vs. 700+ kids vs. 175 kids). Having all the parents attend for free probably wouldn't work for most of the spaces they use.

The auction is at the school and has been since the renovation in 2010-11. I really think this has been the last minute price for a years, tickets were 75$ until a few weeks ago, now 85$ until the end of the month I think. Janney has less per pupil funding than many schools. If funding was even per pupil across the board I think it would be more reasonable to pool auction resources, but I also think they would raise a lot less as parents like helping their own kids’ schools. Janney has in the past both shared a portion of its auction proceeds (this was a number of years ago) and done fundraisers specifically for other schools.

Also, many families, even parents of the younger grades, bought years ago for under $1M. Lots of fed lawyers. Doing well but not wealthy.

If you own a house that's worth close to $1 million, you're wealthy, even if you don't feel like you have the cash flow to spend $150 on auction tickets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And for another approach, look how Ross Elementary manages their auction:

https://one.bidpal.net/rossauction2019/welcome

(No child at Ross, but like the idea!)

Janney has 4 times the enrollment of Ross (vs. 700+ kids vs. 175 kids). Having all the parents attend for free probably wouldn't work for most of the spaces they use.

The auction is at the school and has been since the renovation in 2010-11. I really think this has been the last minute price for a years, tickets were 75$ until a few weeks ago, now 85$ until the end of the month I think. Janney has less per pupil funding than many schools. If funding was even per pupil across the board I think it would be more reasonable to pool auction resources, but I also think they would raise a lot less as parents like helping their own kids’ schools. Janney has in the past both shared a portion of its auction proceeds (this was a number of years ago) and done fundraisers specifically for other schools.

Also, many families, even parents of the younger grades, bought years ago for under $1M. Lots of fed lawyers. Doing well but not wealthy.

Fed lawyers with homes worth $1 million (even if they bought at lower prices), can afford a 75$/85$ ticket.