Friday, July 21, 2006

SCHOOL SUPPLIES.......AGAIN

When I was young, attending public school, it was so exciting to prepare for class to start in the Fall. I would go shopping for new clothes with my Mom and we would take another day to run out and get the necessary items to put in my book bag. It usually consisted of a ream or two of paper, a pencil box, some pencils and some special pens that I took fancy to. If I was lucky, I might even get some folders with pictures of Donny Osmond or Leif Garret on it.

Well, it's time for me to go on my yearly tirade. If you don't believe me, check out my post on 8/02/2005 called "TAKING OUT A LOAN". It was a list that I compiled last year of all of the school supplies that each of my three children that attend school Way Down In Mayberry must purchase for the school year. The list is exhaustive and I won't bore you with the details. But. The. List. Is. Huge. Oh, and did I mention? Expensive.

You see, the way the teachers in the Way Down In Mayberry School have decided to work it is that instead of each child having their own notebook, folders etc., you purchase all necessary supplies for the entire school year and then two days before school starts, you bring all supplies to school and they go in to a Mayberry School "pot". The teachers start their year with all necessary items and the kids have a plethora of crayons, dry-erase markers and Kleenex to choose from. Not so bad in theory I guess. Especially if a few kids can't afford the supplies. They still don't do without.

So imagine my surprise and dismay when I read a bleep in our Mayberry newsletter about a car wash this weekend to raise money for school supplies. I'm no ogre. Really. But when I was helping the school move classrooms around this summer, some classes still had 40+ boxes of Kleenex from the years before. Is this money going towards school supplies so that I (and other parents) don't have to buy nearly as much? Highly unlikely since the school supplies list has already been posted for this year.

In December of last year, Tori came home weekly (until school got out in June) telling me her teacher needed this or that contribution of supplies and that they had run out. I'm sure Tori thought I was the worst Mom in the world. I would say, "I have spent over $300 buying school supplies for you and Christian and Leroy. I am not donating another pencil to the school. NOT ONE MORE FREAKIN PENCIL!" How can one classroom possibly go through 500 pencils in four months?

Our supplies list has totally gotten out of hand.

Where our are tax dollars going?

Why do I get so bent out of shape every year when I have to purchase supplies?

Why is this car wash sending me over the edge?

OK. My tirade is over.

6 comments:

Elle Starr said...

Sorry, but you're wrong about why they are having the car wash. They are having the car wash b/c one of the teachers that left the school took every single book out of the classroom. You know all the books we donated over the past 4 years, yeah, she took those too. The car wash is to raise money so the kids will have reading materials in the classroom b/c the dumb asses that built the school didn't find it necessary to include a library. But dont get me started on that!

tallulah said...

Maybe they should have clarified that in the advertisement. It just said to raise funds for supplies. Just goes to show you that in Way Down In Mayberry you have to be in the know. I am OBVIOUSLY NOT in the know!

Elle Starr said...

The reason they are not saying it exactly is because they are trying, and this is a novel idea for Mayberry, not to trash the individual involved. That being said, I completely agree that more people would participate if they knew the truth. However, I'm known for being too truthful at times, so maybe I'm not the one to ask.

RockerMom said...

I completely understand your viewpoint and I haven't even reached that stage yet! I have seen the school supply lists from my friends who have school-aged children, and it's unreal. It doesn't seem to matter where you live or what your taxes are (ours are $10,000 by the way) but the schools just don't ever have enough money. WTF?!?!?

Unknown said...

Amen sista. I hate it when I buy really nice supplies and the teacher hands out total crap to my kid. Someone bring me her head.

Jennboree said...

In teachers' defense, my sis is a teacher who each year has to fork out hundreds of her own money to help fill in the supply gap and she is like most teachers whose salary doesn't really allow for much.

The school system across the US is pathetic in many ways. But that's probably a whole other post~!