Class Participation: Where to draw the line when it comes to parental involvement in school

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  Posted by springtime Fri Sep 5, 2008 9:14am PDT

  What's equally frustrating is the back to school supply list. I called and wanted to know why my child needed 10 glue sticks for the first semester. What the heck... was she gluing something every hour of the school day??? No, they said, that helped cover the cost for those children who cannot pay. Those children should be able to participate, too, without embarrassment. I certainly agree... but why am I paying for it? The school has a miscelleous budget.

  I'm good for one field trip a year, and I do not give my email address.

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  Posted by Veronica Fri Sep 5, 2008 3:33pm PDT

  AMEN!

  And why doesn't our government fully fund education? Do city hall employees have to bring their own pens, file folders, and three ring binders to work? To the cops supply their own pens, notepads, and paperclips? Do the people that work at the Dept of Education in D.C. bring their own glue sticks, pencils, and highlighters? Do any of these government organizations FUNDRAISE to buy needed supplies? Bring in volunteers to do clerical work? Expect their office luncheons to be catered by relatives of the people in the office?

  Americans have no clear idea what it really costs to educate kids because parents (and teachers) underwrite the true costs. We need to DEMAND the funding it takes to run a school and put a pencils, gluesticks, notebooks, pens, colored pencils etc. at every desk.

  Ditto the rest too. I'm overwhelmed with parental participation.

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  Posted by wolf_angel84 Fri Sep 5, 2008 3:58pm PDT

  at this rate, we should all just home shcool our kids. at least then you know what your kids are learning and they aren't as likely to have inappropriate relationships w/ the teachers/coaches. I am not against all teachers or coaches. I just hate the fact that you can turn on the tv and hear this week's list of teachers that treat your kids badly. it's really the government that doesn't pay enough and the school boards that don't do thorough enough background checks.

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  Posted by Charlie Fri Sep 5, 2008 4:30pm PDT

  It's not fair to put all schools and systems into the same pot. Many do provide most of the needed supplies and many do FBI background checks at approximately $75 per. Life is not completely safe anywhere including in our churches. Homeschool choices should no more be based on bad press than should church nonattendance be because of the bad apples behind the pulpit.

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  Posted by HotCrossBuns Fri Sep 5, 2008 4:54pm PDT

  I'd be seriously reconsidering my choice in preschools if the place I was paying to send my child threatened to ostracize him/her over a measly soda bottle! What about the kids with families (like mine and by the sound of it, yours) that don't drink that crap?

  I'm all for sending in extra supplies such as crayons, gluesticks, papertowels, etc every now and then. After all, education budgets nationwide are not enough to meet the needs of our schools, and if all of us sat around saying "well my government should be paying for that", then really nothing gets bought and the kids and teachers suffer even more. First and foremost, fill the need.

  But I also I don't go hog wild and buy everything on a teacher's beginning of the year wish list. I buy what is needed for my child, such as folders, notebooks, pencils, etc.

  I have 3 kids in school between grades 1 and 4. There is only so much I can do, and I when I've reached my limit to the time and money I can afford to contribute, I find all it takes is speaking up and saying, "Sorry, I can't this time." I also explain to my kids when I cannot be in the classroom for a special activity (I can't be at 3 different holiday parties at 2 different schools all at the same time...) the same thing I would tell a friend who was having a party that I couln't attend: "I'm sorry I have to miss it, but please tell me all about it when you get home!"

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  Posted by green29renee Fri Sep 5, 2008 5:56pm PDT

  I agree. The line has to be drawn somewhere. I think the school system sometimes place demands on parents without a good explanation of what certain things are for. I think no child should let out of an activity for not bringing something. What about the parents with multiple kids? I think parents need some financial relief on the supplies.

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  Posted by H. Fri Sep 5, 2008 7:24pm PDT

  In a perfect world, schools would be able to supply your children with every possible need he or she might have and in that perfect world I, your child's teacher, would make a decent salary. We don't live in a perfect world. You're comparing the typical office with a school full of kids. My school has 2600 middle schoolers. It is crazy to think that we could afford to supply them with all that they need. I prepare a student supply list and a class supply list. The students keep the things that are on the student list and they give the class supplies to the class. I'd love to be able to purchase 2 dozen boxes of kleenex or a case of copy paper, but I can't do that. Asking each student to bring in one box or one pack makes more sense. Do I shine a spot light on those who don't? Of course not, and neither does any other teacher I know. I completely understand that financially it can be very difficult for parents to purchase these things when they have several children, which is why I tell my kids that if they can't get everything on the list then please just bring kleenex, heaven knows we always need that! I am 5 weeks into the school year and my students have already gone through over a dozen gluesticks, ones that I provided, so it is completely possible that your child's teacher needs 10 sticks...and I'm always dubious of the story where the teacher tells the parent that the extra supplies are for those kids who don't bring anything...most of us are capable of being a little more diplomatic than that.

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  Posted by ZASHA Fri Sep 5, 2008 8:01pm PDT

  I don't mind bringing the extra supplies even though its tight for my family. I have twins so I get smacked double hard. But I do it because I know the school is not being given the money needed to properly stock the school. They don't even pay the teachers well. In some schools the teachers are not even teaching, they are just preping kids to pass a single test every year. My teenager has never been seen with a book because they have yet to hand any out. I really don't know why we as people have accepted this for so long. Maybe we have been driven semi insane.

  I agree it may be better to home school, but my math is too weak to properly teach my kids.

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  Posted by MissK Fri Sep 5, 2008 10:33pm PDT

  As an FYI - schools don't pay for background checks, at least not in NJ. We have to pay for them ourselves. As for you parents who are being driven crazy with requests for soda bottles, etc . . . we, the teachers appreciate anything you will give us. You paid 99 cents - if we had to do it ourselves, for everyone, it would be at least 25$. If it makes you feel any better, I spend about 400$ every September and usually about 500$ throughout the course of the rest of the year. This is in addition to the classes they make me take, at my own expense. Believe me, I wish, more than any parent, that all your kids could walk into a fully stocked classroom each year!

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  Posted by Dj and Christa Sat Sep 6, 2008 8:43am PDT

  This is one of the reason I do home school. Trust me, it is better, and with all material out there, you don't need to have super knowledge in any subject to teach it.

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