Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > August > 26 > Entry
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.)
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: The Parent-Teacher Divide
Comments
By Dave Johnston
August 30, 2006 10:29 AM | Link to this
I think OldProf is blaming the wrong people here. At least out here on the left coast in California, school funding has risen, year after year and yet teachers are asking for parents to buy more and more of the classroom supplies. Where did all that extra money go? It isn’t in the legislature. It went to the local school district. They’re just using it for something other than classroom supplies. Is it time to demand that your local school district supply teachers with the classroom supplies that they need? DaveBy Keith
August 28, 2006 7:06 AM | Link to this
In those schools not supplying full supplies for the classroom teachers, you can be sure the administrators’ offices are air conditioned, more than adequately supplied, have the best computers, and have secretaries/assistants to help do the job.By Dave
August 27, 2006 10:12 PM | Link to this
I saw the “fund raiser” approach in West Virginia in the early 80’s. It worked well. Then I moved to Houston, where all the grocery stores made up packets. You simply picked up a “Ward Elementary Grade 3” (or whatever) packet. There was no markup on that — the labor of putting the packets together was a “loss leader” to get customers in the store. It also worked very well.By SDSmith
August 27, 2006 9:29 PM | Link to this
I purchase these “kits” every year from our school and it is TOTALLY worth it!! The kits are cheaper than buying the supplies individually, I don’t have to fight crowds to find items on multiple lists, and the kits are delivered to the school so I don’t have drag everything to the school. And the school receives a percentage of the sale price…I will always buy these kits from now on!!By Oldprof
August 27, 2006 9:03 AM | Link to this
Again we see the ethical bankrupcy of our legislators. Any company that refuses to provide its employees with all of the resources needed for their work is doomed to failure—yet our legislators refuse to fund those essential supplies for our classrooms. There are no corporations that expect employees to bring essential supplies to a training session—but we burden our public school students with that responsibility regularly. Look at that teacher who must require students to bring the dry-erase markers for the whiteboard because the school isn’t providing them. Don’t you imaging that the teacher— while grateful that it’s at least not a chalkboard!—wishes that Boehner, Husted, and the Fordham Foundation would figure out how to put the money where it’s REALLY productive?