Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Saturday, August 26, 2006
Never buy school supplies again
My co-worker has had enough.
This friend, a conscientious mother of a second-grader, now knows more about where crayons are made than anyone should.
Why? Because her child’s teacher sent home a school supply list that not only specified the kids have crayons among more than a dozen items, but the teacher wanted only crayons MADE IN THE U.S.!
“I’m all for buying stuff that’s made in America,” the friend told me, “but I had to go to three stores to find them!”
School supply lists are running amok. Gone are the days when bringing in a box of crayons, a few glue sticks, some pencils and a stack of notebook paper might be greeted by an appreciative smile. Now the list of demands are ultra-specific and even beyond what many adults might nostalgically think of as school supplies — Fiskars-brand scissors (5-inch size, sharp), Clorox-brand clean-up wipes, two Dry Erase-brand black markers with wide tips, 36 No. 2 pencils, yellow only.
But what if you could have somebody else buy all this junk for you and deliver a complete box directly to your child’s classroom? Perhaps you can.
I spotted this on a brand-new MSM education blog that I recently discovered. It’s called The Hall Monitor, and it’s written by the education reporters at The Journal News of White Plains, N.Y.
This week, they highlighted their own story about companies that will buy your school supplies for you. In some cases, they partner with PTO’s for school fund-raisers, but the school in the story where they did that wanted $45 for a box of supplies! How much would you pay to have someone else buy your kids’ school supplies?
(Image credit: Holy Family School, Nazereth, Pa.)
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