School fundraisers??

[EweSheep]

English Chick, you certainly have a point there for the fundraising part! Good doing!

Ours is thru PTA however I dont like the way they just rammed in my daughter's throat (or me) that she needs to SELL more than everyone else does like a competition game. I have seen her so frustrated simply because she could NOT sell as many as her classmates due to the ecomony. Not only that, its my gas and my time to get her to sell with relatives and friends and do I get paid for that? Nope. I told her that I will NOT support her school's fund raising unless I get all the details and see if that money they raised would be suitable for the school's needs. If it is a trip that EVERYONE goes even they didn't contribute or cant not get anyone to buy, then I am all for it. If it is something they have to sell to a limit amount before they can go on the trip, NO! For those who can not make it on the trip, did their best in getting the money together for the class trip, what example are we teaching them???????????

Even my daughter's school is in the need for parents to attend the Booster Club, I declined and the stuff they displayed are worthless and cheaply made. And there is some kind of "keep up with the Joneses" status going on which really turned me off.

Instead I am taking my DD to Girl Scouts outside of my town so they dont have to deal with the inner city pressures of making money and the leaders got a good set of minds that all the girls contribute, nothing else.

Our school financial reports, I have not gotten those. Do I look on the school's website to find out?

 

[Hoosiermomma]

[If you feel so strongly about your children doing what is effectively voluntary charity work, then it is time to take the matter up with the Headmaster/Mistress.]

I just love that Headmaster/Mistress......That just sounds so much better than Principal!!!!

 

[Boyd]

what I hate is my sons school sponsers 10-12 fundraisers a year. I help him out on the first couple that have prizes available.. and after that I tell him to creatively figure out who he hasn't hit up the rest of the year.

Besides, in Michigan, my property tax goes towards my son's school.... proposal a and all that rubbish.... and I pay plenty in taxes all year........

Then there is the list of items needed that is assigned to students.

toilet paper
Kleenix
Pencil Sharpeners.....

???????????

Really?

 

[Hoosiermomma]

Quote:
Our kids had to start contributing too......we had to send copy paper!!!!!

I started mine this year so we don't have to worry about that anymore...thank God.

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
Our kids had to start contributing too......we had to send copy paper!!!!!

I started mine this year so we don't have to worry about that anymore...thank God.

If my kid wouldn't be ridiculed for not contributing, I wouldn't. I pay a ridiculous amount in property tax, income tax, state tax, sales tax, tax tax tax....... How about you give me credit for the $5000/year per kid the schools get, and I'll enroll them in private schools.... Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrg! Then there are all the stories of graft, mismanagement of funds, fancy trips out of state for "seminars and training" Hm.... Oh yeah, and all the fraud that goes around. I betcha I know why the public school systems are going broke

Sorry, had to vent.

 

[deb1]

Until middle school, I didn't have to bring anything to school, except a pencil. Really, I didn't. The teacher gave us paper and all our supplies.

I wonder what changed? Do schools get that much less then they did when some of us middle aged people were young?

 

[silkieluver_07]

Well here in Pennsylvania, our governor still hasn't set a state budget yet. We won't have geometers or some of our English novels until the budget is set. Woah kinda went off track... anyhow...

I attend private school and our school used to many fundraisers. It was just a big hassle and now we do two. A magazine sale inthe spring and coming up now is the Race for Education. RFE raised $70,000 for my school last year. I'm pretty sure.

RFE is one day during school. There is a 1/4 mile track that middle school/high school students run or walk around for an hour. Elementary and preschoolrs run around an 1/8 mile track. Students write addresses and we send letters asking people to give a flat donation or money per lap we run. There is also trophies for the girl and boy in each grade that run the most laps in an hour.

There are prizes for elementary, middle school, and high school if they turn in a certain amount of names. For high school, if each student writes 25 labels with addresses on them, our school buys us a ticket to Hershey Park. This year if 70% of the high school participated we get to send our priniciple to spend a night up on the school's roof. If we hit 80% particiate, we get our meal provided for us at Hershey park.

Also for every five names, we get a dress down day so no yucky uniforms!

Its a maximum of four scheduled DDD's. This fundraiser works very well and there is no obligation to support the school. Even if a student sends out 25 letters and earns $25 for the school, the student still recieves the benefits of a student who earned $500.

 

[NoelTate]

I hated having to sell junk when I was in school. They always put on so much pressure! It sucked. I always swore I would never allow my kids to sell stuff for fund raisers and would keep them home and take them someplace fun on the awards day. Of course, schools need additional funding. We all know that. Seems to me, though, that 90% of parents would rather just send the school a check for $20 at the beginning of the year in exchange for not having to deal with fund raisers. Personally, I do not do them in my classroom, but my elective students do have to buy copies of some of the novels we read.

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

Quote:

I agree EC, to many times now, kids will not help with anything unless they get 'paid'. Sad, we can not be more charitable in these hard times, for us and our schools.

 

[StupidBird]

I too had gotten completely disgusted with the constant fundraisers when the darlings were in school. So every time they came home with the latest glossy catalog, I'd write a very nice letter trying to stay just this side of sarcastic, along the lines of what a shame the school doesn't have enough money, here is some...and write a check for $20. Put it in an envelope addressed to the teacher or whomever the poor person in charge of it was. After a while, these didn't come home anymore. Did it with the neighborhood kids too. Wrote the check directly to the band/swim team/whatever (for $10). Problem solved, IMHO.
And that $20 was dear to the budget too.