Over at Ohdeedoh they are talking about School Supplies today. Namely the useless ones that never get used. Like protracters and eraseable red pens, planners and pencil cases. What items do you remember buying as a kid that you never used? What items are you buying now as a parent that have you scratching your head?
Personally, I think the thing that bothers me the most is the sheer quantity of items that a lot of public schools ask for now. Because you aren’t just buying supplies for your own kid, but for the entire classroom. At MM’s school at least, most of these supplies are going to be massed together and the items that you buy, your child may never use. So there’s no point in buying items you specifically want for your child (like say an eco-friendly brand), because they may end up using the ones another mom bought who had completely different standards in mind.
It also bothers me that parents are required to buy so many basic supplies for the classrooms like tissues and sanitizing wipes and glue sticks, when I’m betting the schools could buy these items in bulk for a much better cost. I’d honestly rather the school buy all the supplies not specifically purchased for my child in bulk and split the bill up over the families and call it a Supplies Fee (which by the way, they do have a supplies fee, audaciously enough, what for I couldn’t tell you) and be done with it, rather than sending me on a goose chase through Target, Staples and Walmart trying to figure out how large of a large box of crayons I should be getting and where the best price on hand sanitizing wipes is.
Here is MM’s school supply list for the Kindergarten classroom:
- 2 small bottles of Elmers glue
- 10 Glue Sticks (Scotch or Elmers) – really? 10 glue sticks? Do they really need 300 glue sticks to get through one school year?
- 4 boxes of dry erase markers – black – Now I really doubt any of the 5 year old kids are going to be using dry erase markers, this to me is clearly us buying things for the teacher, not the kids – and again for a 30 child classroom, that’s 120 dry erase markers
- 2 boxes of large Crayola markers
- 1 pack of plain yellow pencils, sharpened – no Rose Art brand
- 2 boxes of facial tissue – What size box exactly? Should I buy the smallest boxes I can find? Even though price-wise they are a total rip off.
- 2 boxes of crackers / healthy snack item, plus 1 box each month (That’s roughly 360 boxes of crackers all told)
- 1 pair of child size Fiskars scissors
- 1 box each of ziplock plastic bags (snack size, quart) Again, I say, really. The school won’t buy the poor teachers bags?
- 2 small bottles of pump-style hand sanitizer (my 2 year daughter opened one bottle within minutes of purchasing them. Thanks BB – anybody know how to close a pump bottle without squirting it everywhere?)
- 2 canisters of Sanitizing wipes
- 1 paint smock (adult t-shirt large enough to fit over your child’s clothing – PRINT CHILD’S NAME ON BACK IN LARGE PERMANENT LETTERS)
- Child size back pack with your child’s name written in permanent ink, that will fit a pocket folder (which coincidentally is not on the list)
- Tennis shoes for gym
- Rest mat
Of all of those things, the only things my kid will actually be specifically using are the items bolded. Now, I know that kids are hard on their supplies, especially kindergartners, but I really feel perturbed by the fact that parents are responsible for the classrooms having basically any supplies at all. Doesn’t that seem crazy? Because I’m pretty sure when I was a kid, I was required to bring a backpack, lunch box, a folder and probably some pencils and paper. Then a trapper keeper and an expensive calculator by middle school & high school. Sure parents were buying pencils and crayons and markers, etc – but those were items for their children.
This just seems like some weird economic scheme wherein they know that we can’t exactly say no and leave our kids with no school supplies. Like raising gas prices because they know we’ll pay it – we have to. 10 years ago I could fill my gas tank for $20 and the school supplies my dad bought were for ME (Okay, that was more than 10 years ago, shut up). Today I spend $50 at least to fill my gas tank and I’m paying for the name brand only school supplies for the whole classroom. Because I have to.
I’m sure there is some bigger picture that I can’t see and I’m sure that more of these supplies will get used than I can imagine, but that doesn’t change the fact that there is an easier way to do this. Also, I want to make it clear that I in no way blame the teachers for my gripes and that I in no way claim to be an expert on how many school supplies 30 five year olds can go through in a school year. I know this situation is probably more complicated than my understanding of it, but still, it irks me. Still, I think there must be a better way.
What do you think?
Mommablogsalot 
15 responses to “The School Supplies Rant”
wow
i did not know they did community bins…
guess that is something i need to prepare for now…
thanks for the heads up
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I felt exactly the same way when I saw my daughter’s kindergarten supplies list a few years ago. Community property? Really??? Later that year when a teacher asked me to sort through his box of classroom glue sticks–toss all the dried-up ones, put brand new ones separate–even he thought there was enough there for a few years’ worth of classes. Lots of teachers must have spoken up, because the next year there were only 6 glue sticks on the list, instead of 12. Still…
What everyone else is saying is true–teachers don’t get a lot for classroom supplies. That’s part of the reason schools/districts do supplies this way.
The other reason, though, is that kids who honestly can’t afford supplies don’t end up having shitty stuff (box of broken crayons, beat-up binder) while other kids have all the super fancy things that make other kids jealous. Personally, I like that kids’ belongings *appear* to be more equal this way. Anything that lessens the bullying opportunities…
If it makes you feel any better, just wait a few years and there is a lot less of the community property requested–kids provide supplies for themselves only. My kids are going into 4th and 6th this year and the only classroom supplies they have to bring are Kleenex and hand sanitizer–which I am more than happy to provide! 🙂
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My child’s school is like this. This is nothing more than pure communism in practice with sprinklings of socialism. We are basically making everyone equal and spreading the wealth. Our nation here in America is no longer the nation we grew up in. It has become very socialist and they are now starting with our kids. Teaching them that it is their job to make sure everyone has everything just the same as they do. See it for what it is!
I have NO issue with donating extras to help out those who can not come up with everything. I have issue with making my child put everything into a community classroom bin, as they are called here. They are not teaching them at all to care for their own supplies, to be responsible in making sure they bring all required items to class. Then they stop this by high school and wonder why kids never have supplies HA, What idiots our education system is.
I will not allow my child to participate in the community supply bin and if the teacher punishes her, which she fears, I will remove her and home school her.
Supply costs this year:
5th grader: $60
12th grader: $35
My 5th graders list included 4 boxes of pencils, 6 packages of loose leaf paper, 2 boxes of crayons etc… all for the bin.
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1. To close the hand sanitized, put it in the sink, depress the top, and twist.
2. At orientation, the kindergarten teacher gave us a list: backpack, a snack, and folder. They provide breakfast, lunch, and all the school supplies.
3. That hasn’t stopped me from buying a ton of crayons, pencils, etc for us to use at home and donate to the school. You can usually find everything on sale for about .10 each.
4. I’ll post to your facebook wall the list of prices I try to match/beat on school supplies.
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Yeah your school sounds pretty rocking – definitely jealous of that!
And yeah I’d be buying the supplies anyway for use at home / homework, etc. and would have no problem bringing in occasional supplies throughout the year like as my kid’s glue stick gets used up or whatever. And maybe for kindergarten it is easier to just have a mass supply rather than expecting the kids to keep track of their own things. It will be interesting to see if and how it changes as the kids get older.
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I got $50 for school supplies as a high school teacher every year. That had to cover everything, including white board markers, pens, pencils, red pens, etc.
I went through a box of pencils a week (easy) because my kids didn’t have supplies. So, I would have loved it the kids had to provide some for the class.
And, at their age, I can see how they could go through that many glue sticks in a year and some of those other supplies…you’d be surprised.
Now, ask me next year when I have to buy supplies (instead of now being in private school they are included) and I’m sure I’ll vent, too.
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$50 a year? Ouch that is really absurd and clearly not enough to supply an entire classroom. I think maybe in my mind this situation is easier than it really is because I do understand the supplies have to come from somewhere. And yeah I’m sure the kids are harder on the supplies than I can even begin to imagine.
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Ah! I think that’s crazy. I don’t have any kids in school (yet) and I can’t even imagine what it will be like when I do. I completely agree with you that this list seems a bit ridiculous. But I also agree that some kids are going to show up with nothing, and the teachers aren’t kidding paid enough (and the school doesn’t get enough funding) to supplement. It sucks, but seems to be the way things are going.
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Yeah I mean honestly, at the end of the day, I don’t mind buying the stuff, I can afford it and it’s not a big deal, but I still feel compelled to complain a little! lol
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I hear your pain sister Jen. It’s ok to rant about it. I totally get that the school doesnt provide enough and the teachers pay a lot out of pocket. It’s sad really.
It does bother me also that everything becomes “community property” for the most part. The other part that bothers me is the copy paper requirement. All 3 of my kids are required to bring atleast 2 reams of heavy duty copy paper. I honestly get the most basics they need and send the addtional stuff as the year goes on like hand sanitizer, zip loc bags ect. I’ve never been reprimanded for the kids not having all their supplies the first day. 😉 The teacher usually sends the kids home with a note if additional stuff is needed through out the year and that’s when I start to send it. I just can’t afford to spend hundreds of dollars for all 3 boys to have everything in one full swoop.
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Yeah I don’t even want to think about when both kids are in school. 3 boys all at once, yes, craziness! Sounds like your system is working out well!
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I know it seems like a lot but teachers don’t get any extra money these days. Most spend their own money for supplies, etc and they don’t get paid what they should and deserve.
I never really questioned the supplies list before. I guess I just thought everything is needed. There will be kids who show up without any supplies on the first day which is probably why certain items go into a classroom pool. I always ask my kids’ teachers what they need throughout the year b/c stuff just runs out and they already supplement so much with their own money.
Glue sticks seem to be the item that always run out mid-year…I swear kids eat them. Dry erase markers — my son’s kindergarten class wrote on their white board every day which is probably why they are on the list.
I guess I’m the freak that likes school supply shopping. My kids don’t care for it but there’s just something about new notebooks and crayons…
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I really think I wouldn’t mind the list if it weren’t for the collective pool thing, I don’t know why that bothers me so much, but it does.
It’s not like I think the teachers should be buying all these supplies, that does seem absurd to me also, I guess it just saddens me that the school’s budget is so poor that all of this ends up falling on the teachers and parents – and again, I have no problem buying my kids markers, crayons, pencils, etc. but it irks me that we aren’t actually buying the products for OUR kids.
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Most schools are only given so much money to spend on classroom supplies. Our PTO designates a specific amount to give to each teacher at the beginning of the year because the truth is that they spend crazy amounts of money out of pocket, and what they get from the PTO only makes a small dent in those expenses. The school gets money from the district, which gets money from the state. And with recent budget cuts, the amount the schools will get for these types of items will only get smaller. It sucks.
As for collecting a fee and then buying the supplies, I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad idea, but many parents would rather hunt down sales themselves than to just fork over money, not quite sure where it would end up, you know? And then someone (aka the teacher or a secretary) has the added job of buying those supplies.
I do think it’s crazy that everything you didn’t bold is shared amongst all of the kids. We provide tissues and dry erase markers (or clean white socks, they’re cheaper and last longer) that are shared in the classroom, everything else is for the child who brings it in.
You may want to think about attending a few meetings of your school’s PTO/PTA/parent-teacher group, and ask questions about these type of things. I suspect the answers will be surprising.
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Thanks for your comment, I am definitely thinking about joining the PTO/PTA whatever it’s called here. I think I’m going to be that mom who wants to be involved and know the inner-workings.
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