Buy Your Own Damn Supplies

Lizooki said:
Really?

Why did Guilford County have to pass a bond referendum a few years ago to re-build a school lost to arson?

The majority of the lotto money go to the Lotto company for "fees". The next big chunk goes to the payment of winnings, the next chunk goes to the state for "fees" and around 12% goes to education.
Then the state reduced it's edu-budget by ......... the same percentage.

I researched this thoroughly a few years ago and I'm sure the numbers may be off ...... working from memory at my age is dangerous.
But the Lotto money was NEVER about education.

Matt
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Don't get me started on Guilford County. If you live in Guilford County and your child graduates high school and is accepted into a state school, their tuition is paid for. Home - Say Yes to Education - Guilford

My wife's income is JUST over the threshold to get Pell Grant, so a big "f" you to all other NC counties.
 
This crap doesn't make sense at all. They can't afford copy paper but every classroom has smart boards, every teacher has a computer, and they had fifty(50) Mac books to share in third grade this year.
If I remember correctly we didn't have any of that crap when I grew up and I got a good edumication. But that was back when teachers actually had to teach and not stick the kids noses in a computer that teaches for them.
 
lockedup5 said:
This crap doesn't make sense at all. They can't afford copy paper but every classroom has smart boards, every teacher has a computer, and they had fifty(50) Mac books to share in third grade this year.
If I remember correctly we didn't have any of that crap when I grew up and I got a good edumication. But that was back when teachers actually had to teach and not stick the kids noses in a computer that teaches for them.
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And look at the quality of construction and finishes on the school buildings they build these days (I'm starting to sound like an old man...)
 
lockedup5 said:
This crap doesn't make sense at all. They can't afford copy paper but every classroom has smart boards, every teacher has a computer, and they had fifty(50) Mac books to share in third grade this year.
If I remember correctly we didn't have any of that crap when I grew up and I got a good edumication. But that was back when teachers actually had to teach and not stick the kids noses in a computer that teaches for them.
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Which makes me wonder how long before the demise of physical public school buildings. If everything is electronic, how long before we just go to remote classes. If you can do it for college, I don't see why it couldn't be done starting earlier. I understand the 'hands on learning/teaching' argument...but again, they manage with once a month meets in college. Of course the big issue is how many millions of people in school systems nation wide that would be out of a job. And then you have everyone that relies on school as day care. But my little brother and sister have basically been going to school for review purposes since middle school. Otherwise all their assignments, notes, etc. are captured online with school funded tablets/laptops.
 
There is no way classrooms will go away and be remote. Summer time with the kids home all day is hard enough! No way any reasonable parent would let day care, err, uh, school classrooms go away! We'd all go crazy!
 
Seriously though, most kids need the structure of a classroom setting and many home environments are far from ideal for living let alone learning. The social element of the classroom really helps with development as well.
 
I actually bitched enough that my wife only bought what my kids need for class. If they need more we will get it form them 100 times but enough is enough damn it.
 
rockcity said:
Seriously though, most kids need the structure of a classroom setting .
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I think home schooling stats/results would disagree. Although it gets really awkward if you have a hot teacher at home school. I know I know...home school is an active, dynamic, engaging, one-on-one scenario, where online school is video conference.

rockcity said:
and many home environments are far from ideal for living let alone learning. .
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That kinda ties back to the whole day care scenario I mentioned.

rockcity said:
The social element of the classroom really helps with development as well.
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The same social development most elders complain about today where kids are unable to communicate or shake a hand??? Or the social development that requires work places to implement safe places to cater to millennials?

I agree on the whole though, schools will never go away completely...too many people out of jobs and too many people that couldn't handle their kids being home. But with the prevalence of online schooling for college, online classes for advanced high school classes and most high schools having an online presence...I could see a rise in 'independent learning', especially if there are budget issues.
 
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lockedup5 said:
This crap doesn't make sense at all. They can't afford copy paper but every classroom has smart boards, every teacher has a computer, and they had fifty(50) Mac books to share in third grade this year.
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Well, there's a big difference in funding sources and costs structures for those kinds of things vs paper supplies.. Things like smart boards and computer labs are a 1-time cost that covers a need for several years - plus in most cases, those things come form grants or donations that are 1-time sources and not an annual renewing income. And often donors will give $$ to be for a specific thing, e.g. "Duke Power is setting up a complete computer lab for an underfunded school" is a lot more sexy and good PR than "Duke Power just bought 10,000 reams of paper."
 
We have the same ridiculous lists here. In talking w/ the teacher(s), the reason is that only a small % of people actually bring everything in on the list. So they make it exhaustive so that there's actually enough to spread around.
Yes, communism. It's annoying, but I don't mind throwing in more than my kid needs b/c I know overall we're doing OK and the extra $50 is pretty minimal in the long run in comparison to having a happy class overall, and as mentioned I'd rather invest in other people's kids now than have to deal with them later.
 
After seeing where some of the kids in the local school systems live and hearing about their home environments I'd gladly give double what is needed for one kid if it gives the others the same chances. Hearing about kids the only meals they eat are what's given to them at school. The school my Girlfriend has been working at has gotten support from the local churches and have a box at school for clothes and bag lunches for some kids to take home so they have dinner. It's sad that everyone thinks out country is doing so well but just below the surface there are dozens of kids on the brink of starving at her school alone. And I don't think it is just in one area I think it's all over the country.

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Loganwayne said:
After seeing where some of the kids in the local school systems live and hearing about their home environments I'd gladly give double what is needed for one kid if it gives the others the same chances. Hearing about kids the only meals they eat are what's given to them at school. The school my Girlfriend has been working at has gotten support from the local churches and have a box at school for clothes and bag lunches for some kids to take home so they have dinner. It's sad that everyone thinks out country is doing so well but just below the surface there are dozens of kids on the brink of starving at her school alone. And I don't think it is just in one area I think it's all over the country.

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The sister in law teaches at one of the worst elementary schools in my area. They had a program where they'd fill up back packs for kids so they'd have something to eat over the weekend. They ended up stopping the program because the parents ended up either eating the food or selling/trading it for drugs.
 
UTfball68 said:
The sister in law teaches at one of the worst elementary schools in my area. They had a program where they'd fill up back packs for kids so they'd have something to eat over the weekend. They ended up stopping the program because the parents ended up either eating the food or selling/trading it for drugs.
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I can see that. Her school does the same thing. Our country has a summer program where the bus runs and picks up anyone up to the age of 15 and takes them to a school and feeds them lunch then takes them home, local groups pay for the fuel school pays for the lunch... sadly very few kids came this summer.

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I dont mind buying the stuff to help the teachers have supplies as I know we have kids in the class room that dont even have food on some weekends.. so if I can help them have supplies so they can learn and hopefully get themselves out of the crap life they are in now when they are older I will gladly pay more..

the one thing I dont like is when I see classrooms at the end of the year giving out supplies to kids to take home because they have so much extra.. that tells me the teach can not plan correctly for what she actually needs for the year and needs to learn to budget and plan better..
 
BRUISER said:
the one thing I dont like is when I see classrooms at the end of the year giving out supplies to kids to take home because they have so much extra.. that tells me the teach can not plan correctly for what she actually needs for the year and needs to learn to budget and plan better..
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Either that, or they can't predict what the giving will be like.
my wife taught middle school for 9 years, and the variance between years in what she got was huge. One year could be a group of mostly rich kids, followed next year by a lot more w/o any financial backing at all - especially when the county re-drew the district lines. So there were some year she got piles of supplies sent in that were more than needed. One year she had the child of a guy who owned a local drugstore, and she got piles of leftover school supplies in the fall when they were left after the clearance sales.

Heck, one year right after the school was built, just 2 weeks into school there was a massive storm and they suddenly learned the school was in a flood plain and wasn't properly graded, and the roof wasn't done right and the hallways flooded and just happened the supply closet was the low point AND where there was a leak - they had lots of stuff ruined and had to turn around and ask for supplies again.
 
When 'we' learn that schools are not to take the place for parenting, then things will be back to normal. Unfortunately, 'we' have to let things get REAL bad before anything is done. No one seems to be able to keep it in the middle.

Schools now 'have' to provide breakfast AND lunch, before/after school care, thousands of buses, computers, sex ed, safe spaces, etc. There goes the budget for paper and janitorial service.

NONE of that is needed for the backbone of a good, usable education in elementary school, even middle school for that matter. Learn how to read and write and do math problems....then go home. That could be accomplished in 4 days a week, 4 hours a day. And take your own kid to school, or arrange carpooling, etc.
 
UTfball68 said:
The sister in law teaches at one of the worst elementary schools in my area. They had a program where they'd fill up back packs for kids so they'd have something to eat over the weekend. They ended up stopping the program because the parents ended up either eating the food or selling/trading it for drugs.
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There's a girl on my kid's bus that brings one of these backpacks home, or I should say brings one from the school. The contents of the backpack never make it home. I am told she passes out all the food to the kids on the bus and its like a feeding frenzy.
 
and how anyone with ANY brain power listens to or believes a single word that a politician says, makes no sense to me. Once they lied and cheated and lied again about the 'education' lottery, all credibility was lost. They are all, 100%, without a doubt, crooked.
 
There is another solution to the purchasing supplies issue. The wife taught private school for 3-4 years in Charlotte, and is now getting back in to private school administration in the Lake Norman area...her schools have always supplied everything the kids have needed. Only down side is, they're $15-20k/yr to attend...but at least the parents don't have a supplies list.
 
VortecJeep said:
Its already happening.
K-10 Virtual Public School | North Carolina Connections Academy
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We have enrolled my daughter in it (actually one similar). I'll let you know how it does as we are just about to start August 22nd. She is excited for it.

NC Virtual Academy is an online charter school through the K12.com system. I like that she can go at her own pace. She gets stuff quickly and is usually the one helping other kids learn the stuff she was just taught.
 
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Catawba County does the Backpak program also. One of our friends runs it. Sadly, it is difficult for her to get it into the schools. Getting the donations for food, or even the volunteers isnt that challenging, but trying to get the schools to allow it, and people to sign up isnt as easy.

RatLabGuy said:
Heck, one year right after the school was built, just 2 weeks into school there was a massive storm and they suddenly learned the school was in a flood plain and wasn't properly graded, and the roof wasn't done right and the hallways flooded and just happened the supply closet was the low point AND where there was a leak - they had lots of stuff ruined and had to turn around and ask for supplies again.
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Sounds to me insurance should have kicked in and covered supplies.... but Im sure the county/city was self-insured (by the parents).

My biggest complaint would be, they shouldnt be giving away all the supplies, they should be stocked back for the following years. When I was in school we used text books that were a decade old, it isnt going to hurt them to use some old paper or pencils.

RenegadeT said:
There's a girl on my kid's bus that brings one of these backpacks home, or I should say brings one from the school. The contents of the backpack never make it home. I am told she passes out all the food to the kids on the bus and its like a feeding frenzy.
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Our Backpak program must not give the good stuff like yall. Ours are like mac'n cheese and box/can food; not the snack stuff


UTfball68 said:
There is another solution to the purchasing supplies issue. The wife taught private school for 3-4 years in Charlotte, and is now getting back in to private school administration in the Lake Norman area...her schools have always supplied everything the kids have needed. Only down side is, they're $15-20k/yr to attend...but at least the parents don't have a supplies list.
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I personally believe that, for schools to get where they need to be, they will need to be ran like private schools/businesses; or atleast each district will be. They are given a set amount of money from the state and learning requirements, and it is up to them to manage their school and personnel. Also, just like businesses, parents are allowed to send their kids to the schools they feel provide the better education for their kid. Some schools will choose to be McDonalds and some Ruths Chris types/levels of education, but either way they will need to compete against the other schools for funding and students.
 
Ideally, all schools would be the same, if we are going to allow the government to run them. Not 'fair' to have some schools provide a better education just due to the location of it.

k-5 grade: Basic reading, writing, arithmetic and some history thrown in.....get in and get out. No need to waste money on arts/crafts/PE/health/watching movies/foreign languages/nap time/what the hell ever.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
I personally believe that, for schools to get where they need to be, they will need to be ran like private schools/businesses; or atleast each district will be. They are given a set amount of money from the state and learning requirements, and it is up to them to manage their school and personnel. Also, just like businesses, parents are allowed to send their kids to the schools they feel provide the better education for their kid. Some schools will choose to be McDonalds and some Ruths Chris types/levels of education, but either way they will need to compete against the other schools for funding and students.
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I'm all for that...I'm all for privatizing the shit out of basically everything. However, there would be, without a doubt, inequity complaints. I was actually part of a group this spring/summer against Rowan-Salisbury School Systems shutting down 6 of the highest performing elementary schools and redistributing those children, '100%, completely, coincidentally' to schools that were poor performers. Apparently the school board thought they were in danger of losing some funding. And it looks much better if a school district disbands a good school to bring the other ones up, than it does letting a poor performing school bring down the scores at a 'good' school.
 
UTfball68 said:
I'm all for that...I'm all for privatizing the shit out of basically everything. However, there would be, without a doubt, inequity complaints. I was actually part of a group this spring/summer against Rowan-Salisbury School Systems shutting down 6 of the highest performing elementary schools and redistributing those children, '100%, completely, coincidentally' to schools that were poor performers. Apparently the school board thought they were in danger of losing some funding. And it looks much better if a school district disbands a good school to bring the other ones up, than it does letting a poor performing school bring down the scores at a 'good' school.
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Thing is, these things come in waves. When my daughter started third grade, we went to her first awards ceremony and she got her little slip of paper that said A honor roll. We were all proud, but then I thought.... how hard can it be to get all A's in third grade? WAY more than half her grade had A honor roll, and well over 3/4 had some kind of honor roll. Happened again the second honor roll, but a little less this time. I compared it against the 4th grade class, where it was more like 15%/ and 50% respectively. I figured that it will get tougher to get A's in 4th grade, and Lily continued to work and get A honor roll each semester. In 4th grade, her grade was still continuing with a very high percentage of a and A/B honor rolls compared to the current 3rd grade class. On into 5th grade, same story. All together, there were 14 kids in her grade that had A honor roll all throughout their 3rd-5th grades. None of the teachers remembered that many consistently getting A honor roll prior. I attribute a little to the switch to 90% A grade vs. the previous 93% A, but that changed between 4th and 5th grade for them, so it would not have brought anyone's previous grades up to A's from B's.

Comparing to the lower grades currently and they also do not seem to shine. I have two kids that are at the same school and their classmates do not seem anywhere near where my older girl's classmates were. So it looks like we just had a really good year for kids, not necessarily a bunch of stellar teachers. Don't get me wrong, the teachers are good, but they aren't miracle workers.
 
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