OMG I can't afford to send my kids to public school!

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And others steal them.....

I just wanted you to know I wrote my sons name on the back of the calculator AND inside the battery compartment it was still stolen and my son knew who took it but the kid removed the permanent marker with alchol(he told my son he did this) after much hassle a meeting was arranged with the teacher, school principle,my son, the other student & parents from both parties(the other students parents said my son was the thief) we all sat at the meeting the principle asked to see the calculator which now had the other kids name on it....I failed to tell everyone one other thing I did...I scratched my sons initials & name into the calculator in two places which I told the principle about and he quickly located them on the calculator turns out it "WAS" my sons....so somewhere I advice scratthing the initials or name into it.
 
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Not saying I don't appreciate our teachers. I do. They do have a tough job. Our teachers have online programs that keep the parents updated on progress reports, grades, homework, etc.
No paper or ink required. We are always required to send our kids with pencils/pens/notebooks etc. The elementry school have asked the parents to send in kleenex, antibactieral gels and wipes. We already have fundraisers for sports/band. For our band (which my kids are in) they do carwashes, road cleanups, restaurants fundraisers, etc. It is frustrating though when I know how much our teachers do get paid. They have terrific benefits that are paid by us the taxpayers. I also know that most people here are lucky if they have jobs and healthcare for that matter, most likely have not had raises in some time, and now we are expected to do so much more. My kids still have their calculators they were required to have all through middle school. I always label everything as the school suggests to be done as well. Sorry I am rambling, but when people have trouble paying their mortgages and then all these other expenses arise it becomes very frustrating. I know many people have there houses for sale to move out of state because it is no longer affordable to live here. Problem is no one is buying. There is even an exit tax to leave this state. Most of the tax problems in this state are due to the property taxes which are so high because they are what fund our public schools. That is a something that is being worked on, but most likely won't change anytime in the near future.
 
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And others steal them.....

I just wanted you to know I wrote my sons name on the back of the calculator AND inside the battery compartment it was still stolen and my son knew who took it but the kid removed the permanent marker with alchol(he told my son he did this) after much hassle a meeting was arranged with the teacher, school principle,my son, the other student & parents from both parties(the other students parents said my son was the thief) we all sat at the meeting the principle asked to see the calculator which now had the other kids name on it....I failed to tell everyone one other thing I did...I scratched my sons initials & name into the calculator in two places which I told the principle about and he quickly located them on the calculator turns out it "WAS" my sons....so somewhere I advice scratthing the initials or name into it.

Good tip!
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When I was in school (grad in '08) my teachers would buy the pencils and paper and ran a store of sorts when kids forgot supplies. It was like 25 cents for a pencil and stuff like that. It was a way for them to get back the money the spent on supplies and a way for the students to start remembering their own supplies. Of course I don't know what grade you teach but for the older kids this works really well.
 
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Now if I, in my budget conscious mind go to e-bay to buy a used calculator, I will not be getting these points.
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Then I would write a letter to the teachers saying:

In this budget-conscious time, I can not but a new calculator at the regular price. I must buy used, which in turn will not get the school any extra points. Sorry for this inconvience..
 
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Intestingly enough my son (16) has applied for quite a few jobs. He tried last year many don't want you until you are 16 and some not until 18. Other he has never heard back from. Since there is so much unemployment, etc. the jobs usually taken by teens have already been filled by the unemployed or older people who would usually be retired, but can't.

As far as budget is concerned I'm blaming the after school fees on that, not the calculator. Of course my 16 year old will be a junior taking Algebra II and he has not be required to get this particular calculator.
 
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I also want to say I'm not bashing teachers at all, just our teacher's union, and how things are run overall in our state. For example: I don't know the number of school districts in most states, but our small state of NJ has 611 school districts. Not all of these even have a school in them. Each school district has it's own superintentant. Most making over 180k per year. Most not necessary. Just in our township was have an elementary school and a middle school. 1 superintendent for both schools. Our high school has 4 sending towns. Each town with it's own superintendent. There are 31 school districts that are currently identified as Abbott Districts. Abbott Districts are school districts in New Jersey covered by a series of New Jersey Supreme Court rulings, begun in 1985,[2] that found that the education provided to school children in poor communities was inadequate and unconstitutional and mandated that state funding for these districts be equal to that spent in the wealthiest districts in the state. The Court in the Abbott II ruling of 1990 explicitly limited the Abbott programs and reforms to a class of school districts identified as "poorer urban districts" or "special needs districts." In 1997, these districts became known as "Abbott districts." The Court identified the specific factors used to designate districts as "Abbott districts." These districts:

must be those with the lowest socio-economic status, thus assigned to the lowest categories on the New Jersey Department of Education's District Factor Groups (DFG) scale;
"evidence of substantive failure of thorough and efficient education;" including "failure to achieve what the DOE considers passing levels of performance on the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA);"
have a large percentage of disadvantaged students who need "an education beyond the norm;"
existence of an "excessive tax [for] municipal services" in the locality where the district is located

Many of these town do fall in this category and are well deserving of state monies. Several towns no longer fall into these categories yet still get the state monies. Supposedly it is under investigation, but these these take years.

Oh well I'm rambling again.
 
I think it comes down to, too much is wasted on the these managerial positions, making buidings a bit fancier and not enough is really spent on getting quality teachers. The after school programs unless they are linked to actual education should be paid for with separate funds. Fundraising, alumni and sponsorships from businesses. Teachers really do not have the resources needed to educate our kids properly and tax monies should go to that. If the waste was cut, then taxes should be lowered at that point. With the taxes lowered parents would be more able to afford these necessities.

The calculator though really is needed. They will not just use it in high school but college. I have a graphing and a finance calculator that was always with me in college. The graphing one has been with me since high school. It took me a long time to finish college but I did eventually finish and still have the same calculator, 19 years later. And no, the teachers could not tell me how to work it. Apparently they had not seen that model for a while. lol

Just impress upon them how important it is that they not lose it, because they might have to sell a kidney or something or skip prom to replace it.
 
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We were required to send these items with our kids since they were in Kindergarten.

Something happens in high school in the students don't come in with these supplies. I have called home to parents before because the same child came to class day after day after day without a pencil. The response was " there are tons of pencils here at the house" , but that did not seem to translate to tons of pencils arriving at school .
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I put a request out every year for things like hand sanitizer and kleenix. I receive very few brought in by students. I see 125 students a day - - - that is a lot of tissues during the cold season.
 

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