Tuesday, November 20, 2007
We have returned from a visit to the world's most perfect grandchildren (midwest contingent). I will cast my vote for the candidate who will promise to find a way to finance public education that does not involve turning schoolchildren into door-to-door salesmen. Actually, my grandchildren are lucky. The schools they attend are in neighborhoods where parents can afford to buy magazines, cheese spread etc. What, I wonder, are schools in less affluent neighborhoods doing without?
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I, too, dislike the fundraisers for a variety of reasons. When Justin was at Garden School, I'd make a donation directly to the school and cut out the middlemen(also a tax deduction). I wonder if I can do that with the public school system?
The answer to your question is something that money can't buy - Parents. Parents feeding, clothing, guiding, caring for their kids. This is a consolidated school district so to a great extent the schools that are able to raise funds from outside sources free up funds for the more needy schools. The more needy the child the more it costs the school system to educate him/her. Someone has to provide the child with food, access to medical care, clothes and school supplies. By the time the teachers accomplish meeting the basic needs of these children how much time do they have to spend on education? The poorer schools do have less technology(fewer computers). But what they really need more of are parents who care about their children. (Rant off)
Got to love the candy, pizzas, fruit. For one class, selling candy was a graded activity.
Brooks’ school has a mix of families who can afford all this stuff and families who can’t. A frequent extra credit assignment is to bring in pens, pencils, paper, Kleenex and hand sanitizer for the teacher to redistribute to the students who have trouble bringing this stuff in.
Guess that still doesn’t answer the question of what do schools do when they can not afford this stuff at all.
I hate the door to door sales. It is not only annoying but it makes it difficult when 10 kids in the same neighborhood are "hitting" the same houses.
I loved the fundraiser we had in WI. It was Market Day. Once a month, a brochure was handed out and you could order grocery items and the school would get a certain percentage of the profits. The orders could be done by brochure or online and pickup was at school after hours on designated days. It was a win win situation...something you could use and money towards the school.
As far as school supplies, classes/and families that can't afford...I like the idea of what the elementary school does here. They have a wish tree with different items listed that are needed by teachers. Each leaf color represents a certain grade level. It might be something as simple as Scotch Tape listed. It provides a chance year round to pick up little extras for the school to help out. AND this way, you know what they need. They also stress instead of teacher gifts, to pick an item from the gift tree. I would rather help out in this way than to buy wrapping paper that is not really needed. Also I know that the supplies are being used for kids who can't afford to bring them in.
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