Back to school, Backpacks, School Supplies, and Shoe drives?

[DesertIguana]

Was out look for some SWAG items for our upcoming Non Profit fundraiser, and final spoke with lady who overseas promotion, etc., for group of car dealerships.

She told me that her dealerships were in middle of Back to school, Backpacks, School Supplies, and Shoe drives? Told her good luck, and on way outer I started thinking. She was doing four separate item raisers this weekend.

Back in day families took care of kids needs, when I was in Elementary School about all I paid for was pencil a couple of time a year. don't recall cost but was like Nickel. Got new pair of shoes each year, couple pair jeans, and shirts, that family bought without help.

Today WalMart is full of school supplies, parent come with long list of needed items, and optional items. Teacher also are buying own supplies.

Maybe I am wrong but know in my State each kid in Elementry is funded $6,000.00-$6,800.00 by state, education is big item in Stater budget.

Anyone see problem?

 

[House Boy]

Just big marketing and it starts earlier every year. My granddaughters didn't use half the stuff they were told to buy. I don't know who gets more excited buying this stuff the parent or the kids.
Some schools in my day had a small supply store were I could buy a pencil or 2 or a pad of paper and a folder.
And btw I hated the scuff resistant shoes my mother bought me every year, geez there were ugly, and the drive to the store was on the other side of town which took away a lot of playground time with friends.

 

[DesertIguana]

Just big marketing and it starts earlier every year. My granddaughters didn't use half the stuff they were told to buy. I don't know who gets more excited buying this stuff the parent or the kids.
Some schools in my day had a small supply store were I could buy a pencil or 2 or a pad of paper and a folder.
And btw I hated the scuff resistant shoes my mother bought me every year, geez there were ugly, and the drive to the store was on the other side of town which took away a lot of playground time with friends.

Back at Fairlawn Elementary in Miami, Florida in Mid 50’s they had supply store, they sold pencils, gum erasers, crayons in the big 72 Color Packs. Everything else like rulers, triangles, protractors, erasers, were supplies by school.

Today if I was a parent with kid in Elementary School I would buy noting. I would ask superintendent what the did with the 6000 bucks a year plus they get per kid. Know answer, it is nice furniture for admin folks, and layer of staff with one or two assistants sucking up the money allocated to educate.

 

[mikey517]

Catholic grammar School in th 50's - White shirt, green tie with school emblem, green slacks, and black shoes. That's it. Girls had similar uniform switching pants to green pleated jumper.

There was a local store in Hackensack, NJ (the name escapes me) who stocked all the uniforms for all the area religious schools. (If there's anyone here from that area, the store was across from Woolworth's on Main Street).

I do remember if a family could not afford the entire compliment, it was pay what you could and the parish picked up the difference.

 

[beginish]

Back at Fairlawn Elementary in Miami, Florida in Mid 50’s they had supply store, they sold pencils, gum erasers, crayons in the big 72 Color Packs. Everything else like rulers, triangles, protractors, erasers, were supplies by school.

Today if I was a parent with kid in Elementary School I would buy noting. I would ask superintendent what the did with the 6000 bucks a year plus they get per kid. Know answer, it is nice furniture for admin folks, and layer of staff with one or two assistants sucking up the money allocated to educate.

It’s been awhile since you were inside a public school, huh?

 

[DesertIguana]

It’s been awhile since you were inside a public school, huh?

Well as I was talking about 1950's assume you kidding.

 

[Whisky]

Today if I was a parent with kid in Elementary School I would buy noting. I would ask superintendent what the did with the 6000 bucks a year plus they get per kid. Know answer, it is nice furniture for admin folks, and layer of staff with one or two assistants sucking up the money allocated to educate

Sorry, but that’s absolutely not true. If anything a lot of schools are still using the furniture they bought in the 50s. A lot of it goes to technology. All the kids have tablets, multiple computers in classrooms, STEM equipment and supplies. In the world we live in today these are all necessary items to keep the US competitive with other countries. Schools around here are literally begging for help teaching. You can be a substitute WITHOUT a degree because there’s a lack of people willing to teach. Teachers salaries are also staring to creep up, still way lower than they should be in my opinion, but a portion of that money goes to salaries.

We buy the school supplies in a package that the PTA puts together. It costs about $125 a kid, but that’s all the supplies you have to buy all year. There’s are supplies left over at the end of the year, but they bring all those home and we use them for their craft projects.

 

[beginish]

Well as I was talking about 1950's assume you kidding.

Nope

 

[DesertIguana]

Sorry, but that’s absolutely not true. If anything a lot of schools are still using the furniture they bought in the 50s. A lot of it goes to technology. All the kids have tablets, multiple computers in classrooms, STEM equipment and supplies. In the world we live in today these are all necessary items to keep the US competitive with other countries. Schools around here are literally begging for help teaching. You can be a substitute WITHOUT a degree because there’s a lack of people willing to teach. Teachers salaries are also staring to creep up, still way lower than they should be in my opinion, but a portion of that money goes to salaries.

We buy the school supplies in a package that the PTA puts together. It costs about $125 a kid, but that’s all the supplies you have to buy all year. There’s are supplies left over at the end of the year, but they bring all those home and we use them for their craft projects.

Well pardon me as I said in my State Arizona K-12 Schools get 6-6.8K/Student From State to educate kids. Not sure where you are but that is how thing go in Arizona.

One of the problems I saw living in Northern California while living there was most of the School Districts were heavy in Administrative Personal, and the funny thing was many people could not describe their job description if asked.

Recall when Sacramento City School district moved their Administrative Office from old unused School on "K' or "N" Street to High Rent District on Capitol Mall, let say they upgrade in rent was crazy, new furniture of course, and the people at class rooms level suffered. Student & teachers.

Like I said if I had a child in K-12th Grade, I would be questioning where the district spend education money. Plus I would not be spending my own money to buy supplies too send child back to school with.

Maybe people should stand up and ask how come when I was a Student all I need supply was a Pencil, now a a parent your school district expects you to supple what you got for free..

 

[MrSpeedy]

Well pardon me as I said in my State Arizona K-12 Schools get 6-6.8K/Student From State to educate kids. Not sure where you are but that is how thing go in Arizona.

One of the problems I saw living in Northern California while living there was most of the School Districts were heavy in Administrative Personal, and the funny thing was many people could not describe their job description if asked.

Recall when Sacramento City School district moved their Administrative Office from old unused School on "K' or "N" Street to High Rent District on Capitol Mall, let say they upgrade in rent was crazy, new furniture of course, and the people at class rooms level suffered. Student & teachers.

Like I said if I had a child in K-12th Grade, I would be questioning where the district spend education money. Plus I would not be spending my own money to buy supplies too send child back to school with.

Maybe people should stand up and ask how come when I was a Student all I need supply was a Pencil, now a a parent your school district expects you to supple what you got for free..

You clearly have no idea how funding p/student works or is budgeted.

Gotta love how you would make your hypothetical student suffer in school because of your "principles". But it would be the schools fault your kid didn't learn anything, right? /smh/

 

[House Boy]

Back at Fairlawn Elementary in Miami, Florida in Mid 50’s they had supply store, they sold pencils, gum erasers, crayons in the big 72 Color Packs. Everything else like rulers, triangles, protractors, erasers, were supplies by school.

Those gum erasers were tasty

 

[DesertIguana]

You clearly have no idea how funding p/student works or is budgeted.

Gotta love how you would make your hypothetical student suffer in school because of your "principles". But it would be the schools fault your kid didn't learn anything, right? /smh/

Well 30 plus years chasing News is away to learn what public don’t know or see.

Sorry my opinion offend you, it that my opinion.

People need start asking question like why, how come, where is money being spent, and in what?

 

[Whisky]

People need start asking question like why, how come, where is money being spent, and in what

I’m pretty sure most public school districts are required to post their budget for review before approval.

A lot of that money is because teaching school has become a lot more expensive in the 70yrs since you were in school. You can no longer get by with a pencil, paper, ruler, compass, and slide rule. I went to school in the early 80s and even then we were required to buy school supplies. It’s nothing new.

 

[DesertIguana]

I’m pretty sure most public school districts are required to post their budget for review before approval.

A lot of that money is because teaching school has become a lot more expensive in the 70yrs since you were in school. You can no longer get by with a pencil, paper, ruler, compass, and slide rule. I went to school in the early 80s and even then we were required to buy school supplies. It’s nothing new.

Yes and many Schools dropped industrial art programs, because of civil litigation.

Those program were hreat for kids going into skilled trades.

Cost of everything is on rise even Chicken Wings.

 

[brucered]

Having a child entering nto g12 and one who is entering second year university, the OP's opinions and thoughts are funny to say the least.

I can't say his opinions are wrong as they are just opinions, but they are ignorant and based on "I know a guy..." and "I have a friend who' works in...".

If you had a kid today in school and refused to pay anything, that just means all the other parents who did pay, would be making up the shortfall of you not paying your fair share. That way little Johnny wouldn't be embarrassed that his parents refused to pay his or couldn't afford them. Kids can be cruel, we know that

I have zero issues if a child's parents can't afford to pay and they use supplies from the group pool (how it works here). Even if their parents are stubborn and can afford it but refuse to pay, I wouldn't want them to feel outcast and would happily allow them to use from the supplies pool.

We have paid school fees every year and sucked it up. At the end of the year, we get back a whack of supplies and keep them for our own use or roll them over to next year's list or donate them.

Our school district allows parents to buy items from the list themselves or pay a flat fee. We have done both methods.

A 5 cent pencil in 1950 would be 65 cents today. I can get 10 pencils for less than that. You got ripped off.

 

[Whisky]

Yes and many Schools dropped industrial art programs, because of civil litigation.

Those program were hreat for kids going into skilled trades.

Cost of everything is on rise even Chicken Wings.

I agree with some of this but civil litigation isn’t the only reason they dropped them. Large shop tools cost a large amount of money, the student to teacher ratio has to be smaller for safety reasons so more teacher salaries, and we, as a society, stopped pushing trades and started pushing college on every kid in school so there was a substantial drop interest from the kids. I talked to my old shop teacher shortly before he passed away a couple of years ago. He said by the time he retired in the early 2000s the number of kids enrolling in his classes had dropped from the 100’s in the 70s to the teens. The school couldn’t keep the classes because there was no interest. It’s ironic because that same school has had to, in the past 5ish years, reopen their shop and ag classes because there’s been a big push from parents to get kids back in the programs.

 

[MrSpeedy]

Well 30 plus years chasing News is away to learn what public don’t know or see.

Sorry my opinion offend you, it that my opinion.

People need start asking question like why, how come, where is money being spent, and in what?

If you think I am offended, you don't know what that word means. You seem to think the $6K p/student that AZ spends on a child goes directly to giving them everything in the classroom. I'm telling you that is wrong, and that's a fact.

Yes and many Schools dropped industrial art programs, because of civil litigation.

Those program were hreat for kids going into skilled trades.

Cost of everything is on rise even Chicken Wings.

Non-sequiter; has nothing to do with paying for school supplies.

 

[beginish]

I’m pretty sure most public school districts are required to post their budget for review before approval.

A lot of that money is because teaching school has become a lot more expensive in the 70yrs since you were in school. You can no longer get by with a pencil, paper, ruler, compass, and slide rule. I went to school in the early 80s and even then we were required to buy school supplies. It’s nothing new.

Don’t forget all the money that’s going to security these days.

 

[mcee_sharp]

You can opine the good old days, but they never really existed.

 

[mcee_sharp]

I agree with some of this but civil litigation isn’t the only reason they dropped them. Large shop tools cost a large amount of money, the student to teacher ratio has to be smaller for safety reasons so more teacher salaries, and we, as a society, stopped pushing trades and started pushing college on every kid in school so there was a substantial drop interest from the kids. I talked to my old shop teacher shortly before he passed away a couple of years ago. He said by the time he retired in the early 2000s the number of kids enrolling in his classes had dropped from the 100’s in the 70s to the teens. The school couldn’t keep the classes because there was no interest. It’s ironic because that same school has had to, in the past 5ish years, reopen their shop and ag classes because there’s been a big push from parents to get kids back in the programs.

My HS had great shop classes, even a full auto shop. Kicking myself for not considering those options, might have skipped uni altogether.

Was an aimless mess in HS tho, so is all perfect hindsight.