<p>I’m annoyed and very surprised to learn this morning that my nephew’s new elementary school has a relatively long list of required school supplies that parents must provide. I’ve never seen such as this before!!! Particularly not in a relatively prosperous suburban school district. My nephew and his parents just relocated to the Atlanta metro area. Is this the way things are done in Georgia and other southeast states? I’m imagining all kinds of stereotypes about educational priorities in the southern states. Am I overreacting? Glue, copy paper, hand sanitizer? What, is there no soap in the washrooms in elementary schools? What’s a 3rd grader to do when he needs to clean up after an art project or prior to lunch period?</p>
<p>It’s not just the South that has a huge supply list. Not only did we need to buy 400 sheets of college rule paper, notebooks, folders, 3 ring binders, pens and pencils to name some of the standard things, but we also had to buy paper towels, 2 boxes of tissues, hand sanitizer and a roll of duct tape (for science project). This is for an 8th grade class in Ohio. We are also waiting to hear if we will even start school with our regular teachers or if they will go on strike. Many of the area school districts have been without contracts since this past June. School levies aren’t passing since in Ohio about 50% of schools are funded by property taxes. The school system in this country really needs an overhaul.</p>
<p>Yup. Especially in elementary school, we had lists that included zip lock bags, (often designated as quart or gallon, or A-M quart and N-Z gallon), kleenex, hand sanitizer, pencils, markers, folders, paper, etc etc. Then, you could pull a request off the request tree and donate printer cartridges, certain books for the classroom and other teacher supplies. Then, you could “adopt” a classroom for the semester or year for $200/yr to cover even more classroom extras. And when they sent home the scholastic book forms for inexpensive book orders, there werre always teacher requests for the classroom. It went on and on. We were lucky to be in a position that we could sent the stuff, and on occasion pick something off the tree to send in, etc. I think that it was mentioned that if one could not manage the list, to let the teacher know. And the reason for pooling the kleenex, hand sanitizer, etc was that there were always some kids who just could not bring it in… so they planned for that by making the items “community” items for the classroom.</p>
<p>I’m from Florida and we always had the mandatory school supplies lists. They encourage you to buy extra and donate to your school for those who can’t afford to buy them. Is this not the way it’s done in other areas of the country? I guess I never really gave much thought to it.</p>
<p>Well, Lake Washington, in the Lake Washington School District (suburban Seattle), there is a long list of “required” school supplies that ranges from pencils and pens, paper, and notebooks to glue sticks, zip lock bags, and kleenex.</p>
<p>I will also point out that the federal government allows teachers to deduct $250 off their taxes for the purchase of supplies for their own use. Obviously, no one thinks that the school districts supply everything.</p>
<p>This is typical throughout the country. Shoot, in our district, we even have to pay $150 per student for them to do sports, clubs & music … thanks to people who hate to pass school levies.</p>
<p>Actually, I do expect the district to supply stuff such as hand soap. And I realize that unfortunately many empty nesters AND PARENTS vote against school levies for selfish reasons. I just get annoyed reading about students who must make do with little or nothing unless parents cough up personal monies.</p>
<p>Here in the Northeast, we’ve always had to provide our kids with school supplies. (The school does supply soap in the bathrooms, but the hand sanitizers are for classroom use - very helpful during cold & flu season!) In fact, I remember back in the dark ages shopping for my own glue, pencils, paper, etc.</p>
<p>Recently we’ve had to send in printer paper to the high school.</p>
<p>They do have soap provided, but the hand sanitizers are REALLY a good idea in the classroom. With kids sneezing and runny noses etc, it cuts down on the passing around of viruses. Using sanitizers after using a community keyboard, a classroom book, even opening up the doorknob to exit the bathroom AFTER washing hands is a good practice. At home I do not have antibacterial soaps in my kitchen and bath as I think they can create resistant bacteria. But in the classroom, with soooooo many people in close quarters, they can reduce the spread of both viruses and of staph and strep bacteria.</p>
<p>oops posting at the same time!</p>
<p>This has always been done around here. As a Catholic school kid, I was pleasantly surprised at how much the public school DOES supply. I am hearing grumbling, though, because our town just voted some huge salary bumps for administrators. They’ve also (wisely) mandated that all AP students sit for the exam, so they are now agreeing to pay for them. And our middle school is being renamed, which will cost thousands in signs & new stationery. More grumbling…</p>
<p>Ive been going to Costco for years and buying printer paper , packages of pens and pencils to donate to the school.
Schools never have enough paper & even though they have a contract with IKON that services their copiers to buy the paper from them- that leaves teachers without enough paper for handouts- and doing things like voicing questions outloud on tests- instead of having them written down, even for subjects with similar sounding terms like marine biology.</p>
<p>But I agree, I think it should be furnished by the schools- particularly in elementary.
It really is an area where if you are a “have not” you will stick out- as you either wont have the supplies- or if the PTA has funded extras you have to wait till you get to school to recieve them.
For a 2 grader- to have a box of 8 crayons or to have a box of 64 is a big deal. ( I know, I always had the smaller box)</p>
<p>Have school budgets been voted down in your area? Is there a big anti-tax attitude and movement? Are there legislative caps on tax and/or spending increases?</p>
<p>If so, this is why you have to pay out of your own pocket for expenses that used to be seen as a community responsibility.</p>
<p>Maybe things were different in other parts of the country, but in NJ, we always had to buy our own supplies - not copier paper, but our own pencils, paper, notebooks, crayons, pens, glue etc. And our own supplies for our own projects. I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t think the expenses were ever considered a “community responsibility”.</p>
<p>I also think that there are a lot more “necessities” now, given technology. Copiers in my day were rare; teachers used the much less expensive mimeograph machines (remember purple ink all over your hands?). So no copy paper expenses. Printers? What’s a printer? You mean a typewriter with carbon copies? Ink cartridges? You mean the cheap typewriter ribbon that lasted for years? When I asked my father for a calculator, he handed me a pencil & a piece of paper. Not today.</p>
<p>But no school could exist today without printers and copiers (which in addition to ink cartridges require toners), or without their computers, all of which increase schools’ energy costs. And let’s not forget the astronomical increases in health insurance costs & in retirement and pension benefits.</p>
<p>So costs have been increasing exponentially, while incomes (and therefore taxes) haven’t. It’s not just an “empty nester” or “no new taxes” phenomenon. The entire cost structure has shifted.</p>
<p>what i know for a fact that we’ve always gotten
notebooks, pens, pencils, crayons and stuff for elementary school ive always loved going school supply shopping
ms its binders notebook paper pens pencils calculators u name it u get it…
hs we had a huge load for first yr and u got a notebook for the first day and u would get all the lists from all the classes(diff. teachers wanted diff. things)
soph.-sen. yr I’m at a private school where u send a check in to get your School supplies u provide the backpack</p>
<p>We too always have had long school supply lists…in addition, a few years ago S had a teacher send home a list of items that if provided by the parent the student would get extra credit toward his grade! That practice has since been outlawed by the school.</p>
<p>Our lists in elementary school were so specific it drove me crazy. One red 2 pocker folder, on purple two pocket folder, one green composition book with graph paper, one chartreuse 1 1/2 inch binder with cover insert thingee – :(</p>
<p>I was one of the ornery moms who just bought a bunch of stuff and sent it in. I couldn’t be bothered with getting every little item just right. My kids didn’t seem any the worse for the wear.</p>
<p>Once my kids got into 7th grade at the Jesuit school, poof, no more lists (other than book lists).</p>
<p>The PTAs around here generally sell school supply packages as a fundraiser. Or the parents can do their own shopping.</p>
<p>Our schools ask students to bring in a ream of paper, a box of Kleenex, and 2 poster boards. These are collected and then distributed to teachers as needed. Perhaps the hand sanitizer will be used similarly?</p>
<p>One of my favorite stories from my previous employment in a junior high:
Grandmother calls in, complaining about how expensive it is to buy a binder for her granddaughter. I’m a bit puzzled and ask her how much the binder is. Grandmother then describes the very expensive Mead zipup binder granddaughter has selected. I explain that we certainly don’t require a Mead binder and perhaps she could purchase a less expensive binder, Grandmother huffily said, “Of course not! My granddaughter chose this binder!”</p>
<p>wow, at our elementary schools we always just had a “recommended” supply list with the necessary things (pencils, pens, colored pencils/markers/crayons, paper, glue sticks, scissors, etc)…but the district and/or teacher always provided these things as well…it was just more convenient for each student to have their own than for the whole class to share the room’s supply.</p>
<p>We had supply lists all through middle school. It usually included a box of tissue per student. (At HS we still by school supplies, but there’s no “list”)</p>
<p>I am a teacher in a middle school. It would drive me absolutely crazy to have a student come to school with a bad cold, sneezing and wheezing, and not bring tissues for the day. Of course I would share my tissues, but was I expected to buy the tissues for my students? I would go thru a couple of boxes a week and during flu season, I would easily use a box a day. I came up with an idea that has really worked for me. During the summer, I purchase school supplies when they are on sale (you know - the $.10 composition book, the pack of pencils for a nickel, that type of thing). I put them in a supply box. Then on the back to school letter for parents, I ask parents to donate a box of tissues for the class. When a child brings in a box, they get a school item/prize in exchange. That way, I get a nice box of tissues and it usually only costs me no more than a dime. Everybody is happy and I always have enough tissues for the year. I try to get some really cute items so that the students feel like they are getting the better deal. It works.</p>