Rant Against "Community Supplies"

Seriously, it baffles me why folks seem to get so upset and nasty over this issue. So what if you end up spending a few more dollars so that a child can have the supplies that they need. Do you really want teachers to spend a lot of time out of their already busy day to police pencils? I always make a point of donating to the class and consider it to be a good deed. I don't think that it is worthwhile to shame a child over a pencil or a piece of paper.

This is really the same as folks getting up in arms about kids on the free lunch program. I totally get that there is probably a level of fraud in the applications for the lunch program... I get that there are parents that probably can afford lunch and supplies for their children, but choose not to. Yes, there are some parents that seem to have skewed priorities (examples in the car line, fake nails, highlighted hair, Ipads everywhere). However, I cannot control the decisions that these parents make. The bottom line is that the kids are getting their needs met...however that might be.

I simply cannot waste time worrying about paying a few extra dollars for a kid in need...that is just not the example I wish to set for my children.

After reading the replies, I wanted to add a comment about funding and why supplies are not provided here. Locally, we don't have enough money to do that. In fact, even the offices in the school are not completely funded. Secretaries often buy their own pens and whatnot. The funds they do have are well used, not wasted. The schools can make a penny scream.

Property taxes are pretty low where I live. Whenever there is a local referendum vote to raise property taxes a teeny-tiny bit specifically for local schools it gets voted down. Then those same people voting No complain and ask why the schools don't have money for XYZ.

What irks me is all of the other junk my kids come home with. The school has a. Healthy food policy-but still hands out chocolate and candy treats. Then they have a candy bar sale. The kids can't go door to door so they hawk it off on each other-or their parents schlep it to work.
I get weekly requests for supplies for the classroom throughout the year-and I volunteer so I see how few parent respond to them. But my kids come home with hair bows, toys, bracelets, Tshirts, pencils, and many other do dads. So, it's not me coddling my kids-but if the stuff is handed to them throughout elementary school how are they to learn to be responsible and not expect that?
I do my part, but can see how easy it would be for a kid to get to high school and not expect to be responsible.
Parents need to be held responsible in elementary school. You know what? Instead of sending a request for donations send a note to specific parents who's children are not prepared.

I don't think that lack of responsibility and community supplies are at all related, sorry. Community supplies can be an economically sound way to obtain the items necessary to carry out the work of education. Our school district doesn't do shared supplies, but I have friends in districts where the PTA coordinates buying supplies from a pool of donations. There is a suggested amount per family, a list from the teachers of what they think the students need, and they buy in bulk from a distributor and can get the supplies at a lower cost and save parents the hassle of running around to stores trying find random things. Everyone in 6th grade needs a protractor and a compass? Great, have someone order them in bulk for the whole grade. All second graders need composition books? Bulk order. That makes a lot of sense to me.

I find it interesting when parents who work in offices get fired up about the idea of bulk supplies and personal responsibility. You know what happens when I lose a pen at work? I go to the supply closet and get a new one. Need more whiteboard markers or tissues, post-its or a pad of graph paper? I help myself. No one is chastising me if I come into the office and happen to have left my last pen at home, in my purse or in the car. No one raises an eyebrow and asks me why I didn't bring my sticky notes from home. Why do we expect more from our children than we do from ourselves?

When I was in elementary school (1973-1980, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri) all public school supplies were provided by the district. The only things we were personally responsible for were our pencil boxes (half of us just brought old cigar boxes) lunches and keeping our desks clean and neat.
So I don't know what you really mean about "personal responsibility." I come from a generation where kids were truly educated at PUBLIC schools, where the taxpayers provided everything kids needed. Now it's turned into a class thing where people like you are bitching about having to contribute. WTH? I come from an era where we took CARE of our children, if not individually, at least society stepped up. Good God, no wonder this country continues to fall behind.

When I was a kid, we brought our lunches and wore our clothes. Everything else - the school supplied. They gave us paper and pencils and scissors and glue. School taxes paid for it all - just like they paid the teachers' salaries and the building maintenance. All the kids used supplies, the entire community provided us with an education. And nobody made a kid feel bad if they lost a pencil. Where is the sense of community responsibility for ALL our children today? A more important question than why a kindergartner feels no ownership of the pencil his father purchased.

These items are apparently not part of the operational budget of school districts because the taxpayers have to pass the budget. The board has to support the budget. And nobody wants to pay more in taxes. Any taxes. Even taxes that go to educate all of our children.

A resource-based society is actually way more efficient than what we currently have. Look up the Venus Project. Or Zeitgiest.

I have two thoughts here. 1) Some families really cannot afford all that expensive stuff. Supplies go on sale right before school starts, true. But not everyone has the forethought or money to stock up for the whole year.

2) It takes a village. Why are we as a society always judging who deserves help and who doesn't? If it was your child who needed it, I bet you'd be furious if the teachers or other students just turned away and said "oh well".

Extra tidbit: I'll bet the kids always coming unprepared have reasons for their thoughtlessness. Perhaps a dysfunctional family, absentee parents, or maybe they've even lost one or both of their parents.

Maybe the teachers of these unprepared kids need to speak with the parents to figure out a solution.

I have a rising third grader. I buy the stuff on the list expecting them to be community supplies. If a kid needs a pencil, they should be covered.
Honestly, this type of thing is something I don't get my panties in a wad over. There are much bigger problems facing our schools and students than this particular issue.

Just... wow.

I'm the M. of a to-be second grader. This year (2nd grade) the teachers ask each family for a $40 check for community supplies for the entire class. I am fairly sure that not every family will be able to afford supplies and that the price might be a little inflated to cover those less-than-fortunate families. I am fine with this. How awful it must be for families who simply do not have the money to afford supplies and have to make the hard choices of notebook paper or food.

Growing up, our family was poor, but I always had enough paper and pencils. I knew kids that didn't, some because that was just their lack of responsibility, and others because their parents didn't have the money, didn't care enough, weren't aware, foster kids (who often start school at a loss), etc. I am truly glad that these kids aren't getting embarrassed by the teachers for not having supplies as they were in my day-- so often, it may not be the kid's fault at all.

I am also of the belief that there are plenty of opportunities for my son to learn responsibility --- including responsibility to help out others who might be less fortunate. Personally, I would rather pay a little extra and know the teacher is getting in her instruction time instead of having to hunt down supplies for kids who don't have enough. Teachers pay enough out of their own pockets as it is.

I don't know the level of personal responsibility expected in midddle school, but I think, like so many things we expect the school to uphold-- this is something we should be giving our kids PLENTY of practice with at home, right? Parents who regularly keep their kids accountable and spend their own time and attention on this at home and in their kids lives-- I don't think that community supplies are going to throw a wrench in that, you know?

ETA: while I agree that there is a lot of waste in our culture, I see the parents modeling that for their kids instead of teaching them to make good with what they have for as long as they have it. It's what we teach in our home: take care of it, repair it, can you reuse it in a different way before throwing it away? This is why we've had our same cell phones for the past six years, cut old sheets into rags and compost most of our food scraps. Once again, responsibility and utility must be taught first at home.

I think everyone needs something to complain about.

Ah the inequality of public education, what a great topic. Teachers are constantly asked to do more with less. Constantly. We are required to adhere to more and more standards and tests and then for K-12, the common core. Budget supplies are almost never adequate and when new requirements are added to the curriculum, very rarely is there any plan to fund the extra supplies. Every single teacher I know uses her own money to fill needs. Should we just stop asking for contributions from parents for communal supplies and then let the teacher pay for the materials? The solution is simple. More funding is needed for supplies, which means that taxes need to be increased. And very rarely do folks agree to raising taxes hence we pass the supply cost on to the parents in other ways.
I have worked in education for years and can read a materials budget report every which way. One problem is that the newer technology is very expensive (think toner and printers too, not just the computers and white boards and the like) and very few schools have budgets that plan for those costs over the long term. At my school we funded five tech classrooms but we have no budget for printer paper. I am an English professor, so you can imagine 29 students * the 6000 word requirement per class 4 classes....that equals a lot of paper. I do use a lot of paperless assignments and we use recycled paper, but for the biggies, my students need to print and edit hard copy. We cannot charge a fee, I cannot afford all that paper and we have no budget for it, so I tell students to bring their own paper. Simple as that. If they do not bring their own paper, the can go to a print shop and pay 10=20 cents per page to print. Much easier and cheaper for them to bring their own paper. They tend to share with others when the can, which I think teaches good old fashion community values...so it is a win-win.

I have a more personal reason for not wanting school supplies shared. as far as scissors, crayons, markers etc. kids hold things and put them in their mouths, the chew on them, the scratch itchy places with the cap of the marker, the cut them selves with sissors etc. those things are then collected and put back in the big bin to be shared with the next class. And consequently passing on said germs. This is not an issue if all children are clean and healthy. but they are not. things like hand foot and mouth disease, measles, chicken pox, strep throat etc are spread through this. We had an awful epedemic of it in our local schools. they had to have a company come in and sanitize the place. I don't think they even wondered about shared supplies. this is why even at preschool level supplies should be kept separate. A big part of why they are not is that most schools have done away with the old fashioned desks where kids could keep their own supplies. most now have just a table top or if they are lucky a cubby space. but in our schools they are also doing the community supply thing. I am glad my kids are out of school.

About students borrowing pencils and returnable things from you...

Anytime a student borrowed something from me that I needed returned to me, I made them give me one of their shoes. Some days I would have quite a row of shoes under the board, but I always got my stuff back.

And no one could complain about the humiliation or whatever else they would want to hang me for because of the shoe idea, because I made it very clear to the students it was their choice. Those who complained didn't have have to borrow from me because it was their responsibility to bring their own their own supplies. Most students thought it was fun, anyway.

I haven't done middle school, yet as a parent. But when I went you brought everything you needed to each class or you hoped a friend would loan you paper or a pencil. The teachers did not hand out extra supplies, period.

Now a days if teachers refused to give Johnny or Susie a pencil or paper. I guarantee M. or dad would be up there causing all heck to break loose because the teacher didn't give their child a forgotten supply and their grade/work was effected.

In the elementary school where a volunteer, serve on pta, and substitute. Most children have a personal supply box with all their needed items in there. When they need a new glue stick or something they ask the teacher who hands them out on an as needed basis. The rule on pencils are keep two in your box. When they are dull, put them in the "to be sharpened" container and take two sharpened ones out of the "sharp" box/bucket. One child is in charge of sharpening the dull ones at the end of the day.

Any item I drop off that I do not want in the community supplies I write my child's name on in large and in black sharpie. SO the expensive plastic two brad binders I buy for my hard on items son will last longer actually gets to him and not the kid who brought in .39 cent paper ones that my son will destroy in a week.

I taught high school and I had a bucket of loaner pens and pencils. Each and everyone had a large UGLY plastic flower duct taped to it. They never ever left my classroom no respecting teenager would be caught dead with one of my ugly pens/pencils.

Once I realized how many time I forgot my sunglasses, phone, keys, drink or whatever. I really lightened up on my kids about lecturing them about it. I figure having to deal without their homework or lunch or folder teaches them more about remembering than me lecturing them. Sense I forget sometimes too.

What was this question about again??

I think another part of this problem isn't just that some families never contribute.. but rather.... people just waste supplies.. half used pieces of paper and pencils.. there is no regard for such resources because we have too easy access.. this includes books.. I find it interesting that throughout my city, stores will have FREE bins of books and often, they are still full.. whereas, in a third world country where books and supplies are hard to come by, there is respect for the material items... and how hard it is to come by them. IF people were made to earn those supplies (like say clean a blackboard for every pen they wanted) then I do believe there would be more respect.. truly, it's all just too easy here.. at my son's school, which is a private.. you still have certain people who NEVER have their supplies in order , let alone do their homework.. it's not really about have and have nots. it's about some people, rich or poor, just don't care. they have had access to too much.. my MIL... who was alive during great depression cleans and reuses her tin foil.. I mean, she doesn't waste anything... but that is how she was raised..

What I don't get is if these supplies are what the teacher needs to do the job, essentially to operate the job, then why aren't these supplies part of the operational budget?

I have worked in non for profit for years and did not have to bring my own supplies to operate my job with the exception of my lunch and work bag, or if I wanted a special pen, etc.

These supplies should be a part of the operational budget. School administrators should be more realistic, honest and transparent about operational costs and budgets. Instead most operate outside of the budget and the expect the parents to cover the tab.if our school and government cannot balance the budget or spend within their means why would anybody else? Just pass on the debt.

Supplies should be a part of the operating budget. Then each family would have equal supplies.

Instead administrators have turned it into a war between the teachers and the parents.

I think the teachers and parents need to go to the administrators together.

PS I put my kids name on everything. My kids tell me if they need new stuff, or the teacher has sent a note asking for extra supplies. I do donate those supplies. I do get most of my stuff sent home at the end of the year. Still end up spending around $50-$60 minimal per kid on top of a $300 registration fee per kid.

This isn't a new trend. I am 43 and remember way back in kindergarten that all supplies was community property.

When I was in kindergarten (1967) - we brought lunch in a lunch box to school - and that was IT.
It was a bit of a shock when our son started school (2004) and we were given a shopping list of particular supplies to bring it.
All through elementary and middle school - we had a list before school started - and it was huge.
Now he's in high school and there is no list beforehand.
They never know which teachers they will have and each teacher will have their own list of what they require supply wise for their class - that they hand out the first day of school and then there's a mad rush to go buy the stuff.
Same thing happens when semesters change over and they start new classes with a new set of teachers.
At the high school level they don't do a whole lot of sharing of supplies.
But I get real tired of doing semi annual supply runs.

totally with you on this. i'm still fuming over last year's school supply list. 100 sharpened pencils (specific brand) each. so i sent 200 pencils. well, wouldn't you know i had to send new pencils with my kids every day. they would lose the one they had, and need replacing. i kept asking where are the 200 i sent with the teacher and they'd say there are none left (from the first week of school).
really?
so this year, i ignored the number of stuff they needed, example they asked for 20 pencils for each kid. i sharpened 3 pencils each and put in their pencil box. i will give my kids new pencils every time they need them, but i am keeping the stash at home. same thing with dry erase markers, colored pencils, loose leaf, you name it.
my kids go to a catholic school, so i know, all parents can afford to send supplies for their kids, so i am stopping this year being the crazy fairy handing out 200 pencils for others.

I was shocked that our school had no list and that all supplies are provided because we are in a really poor district and low income town. Many neighboring poor schools force families to buy the supplies while the fancy schools in wealthy neighborhoods provide them. And I thought it was great, because so many families do struggle with lists in some neighboring schools.

Do I think it's terrible that my kids who COULD afford to bring notebooks and pencils from the dollar aisle at Target don't have to? Meh. We pay our taxes. We spend out the nose tons of ways. If we're offered one of the "free computers" they're planning on handing out (that burns me. REALLY, you don't have a budget to keep adequate subjects, teachers and programs in schools, but you can pass around computers to households that HAVE computers??!) we'll turn it down. I give my kids lots of responsibilities. Everywhere they go they have to remember a bunch of stuff to bring along. I don't think their character will be marred by having supplies at school.

As for the kids who can't remember their stuff at school so they always sponge.....sounds like there needs to be less of a gray area about it. It's almost like since there are "back up" supplies there, they don't have to remember them. The teachers should petition the school for stronger policy if it's a problem in their classroom.

When I was in school we had to bring our own supplies and it was a BIG SCARY THING to forget. Realizing I had to approach the teacher to ask for a forgotten supply was so frightening I barely ever let it happen. We would always ask friends first hoping for a spare this or that. I forgot what the penalty was, but there was a penalty (probably grade demerits) and after one or two times needing a pencil, you simply COULD NOT HAVE ONE. Could not do your work. And paid the penalty of a lower grade.

So if the school doesn't want kids lagging, slacking, stealing pencils, and sponging, they need to quit providing that easy option.

I'm with you, kids need responsibilities. But this one area of discipline is only one small fragment to a sense of responsibility.

We marked it ALL with her name, and she was so proud of it all.
And it got put to community in kindergarten.
Oops.
I did not know.

When I went to school we took a cigar box to keep in our desk and it had pencils, crayons, and maybe some scissors and glue sticks.

Everything else came from the main supply room for teachers only.

I think it's crazy that teachers expect us to buy all their whim stuff. Those

Our 5th grader has a bunch of things on her school list, now I will say 24 of those are pencils. But the rest is things like 10 pocket folders with brads in different colors. Must have 2 red and 2 blue but the others should all be different colors. You know those are going to go into a closet and they'll be handed out to anyone who asks.

Then on top of the 2 large packages of paper she has to bring she has to bring 6 Spiral Notebooks...plus 2 packages of copy paper plus packages of note cards.

Then she needs 6 book sox, jumbo size. Our Walmart doesn't have them. If I order online they are from $3.60 up to $5.99 each. I'm not stupid and I'm NOT paying that much money for something that should be a brown grocery sack art project for the whole class.

We also have to buy the agenda book at school and that's usually around $20.

I think teachers are out of control, sorry to those of you that teach and keep your lists reasonable.

I do have to mention that we live in a lower income area. Nearly half of the schools in our town have nearly 100% free lunches, they get kids from the country, the reservation, and outlaying areas. Only 3 schools have higher income kids and even there over half of the kids qualify for free lunches.

Our area is a low income area and people just can't afford school supplies like this. It's awful to say but I think someone needs to put a law into effect that teachers can only ask for the most basic supplies then the school has to supply the rest. The teachers may buy things out of their own wages but seriously, if the basics are covered then everything else is their choice to spend more. If they don't have simple basic supplies then the school district has to step in and buy supplies.

Paper, pencils, copy paper, crayons, markers, glue sticks, glue, things like that where they get used up, those are the school supplies we need to have.

The scissors left over from the previous years, the colored pencils that are still good, the things the teachers choose to use instead of what they are provided like chalk, those are the things I'm not willing to buy.

They should use what they're given and find creative ways to do the rest. They can do fund raisers online and other things too.

This is where schools have not kept up with technology imho. Our schools are still somewhat stuck in a clunky Model-T Ford in the era of the Tesla (though we are moving in the right direction in some respects).

In our homeschool we have gone more and more paper-free. And I'm an old-fashioned, book-loving, pencil-loving person myself. Each year we do more online and technology, and less with folders, books, etc. At first I didn't like it, but it makes record-keeping so much easier. And it's fun to go back and look at old school work that has been digitized.

It's just hard to believe that there is not a better way for our schools to handle these issues. Perhaps we should go back to the schools supplying most of the supplies. If we're all going to have to chip in and support other students anyway, it's probably more efficient to have the larger purchasing power of the school district (vs. individual parent).

I don't think it's true that people who question this issue "don't care" about kids from other socio-economic backgrounds. To me it's a valid point to raise. Things rarely change for the better unless people question the status quo.

I was a single M. with a minimum wage job, and I hated the idea of community supplies. I scrimped and cut corners to make sure MY kid had the supplies SHE needed. I did not want to be responsible for supplying other kids with materials. Despite being told not to, I wrote her name on every pencil, every pen, every marker, every crayon, etc. Once in a while, if someone forgets to bring a pencil and needs to borrow one, fine. But I sent my kid with two pencils at a time - one to use and one to lend. I did not send two dozen pencils at once, the way I was instructed to.

I agree with you. I read the previous post (the last one, was there one before that one, too?). I was thinking the same thing as I finished reading the thread. And I have felt that way for a long time (mine are 11th and 8th grade this year). When the kids don't have to take care of their stuff, (because the teacher will have a pencil if they don't have their own or lose it, or break it or whatever) they no longer have any personal accountability. And what of the kids who don't bother to bring anything in (maybe not because they have no money and parents couldn't afford to, but b/c they forgot them at home, or just didn't bother, or lost them on the bus, or didn't take the sheet/list home to parents, etc)? HERE, use these! No worries! We'll take care of you!

I would prefer to send my child in with items for THEIR use, and then let the teachers/school provide a list of needed items for those who would like to contribute extra. If a student's family couldn't afford or provide the items, they could contact the school and get items that were donated... and the child could have ownership over that item and learn to be responsible taking care of and keeping up with it.
By making it all community property and doling it out as needed, it takes the opportunity to learn responsibility away from ALL the kids.

HAH! I remember being in an impacted school and we did not have enough desks/chairs. We had students sitting on the floor. AND not every student got books too! Anyway, hate to give the teachers more responsibility but I would say that they have a role in communicating the necessity of supplies. Paper is probably less of a big deal because its basically single use. For pencils/pens it would have to be on a "loaner" system where if they dont return it, it starts affecting their grade/citizenship. They get so many chances.

I know it's frustrating. As a parent, I hated the list of things to send in to the classroom (minus the change of clothes, of course, which is an individual necessity). I am not to adamant about tissues - I don't think those get wasted and I'd rather have kids using them than their sleeves.

I feel differently about young kids than I do about middle school. Kindergarteners don't even know how to line up or put on their own coats half the time, so remember their clothes, mittens, hats, lunch boxes, water bottles, cubby locations and backpacks is probably enough.

When I was teaching, I found a huge difference between first graders and eighth graders of course, but we also had kids who just couldn't do one more thing. So we had special places for their supplies or homework sheets and we had some "mailboxes" for kids (using those divided literature racks with each kid having a box a little bigger than a ream of paper). Most of the kids with significant issues also had some aides or paraprofessionals, so the boxes gave each teacher a place to put special reminders (such as a homework assignment listing) and then the aide helped back the backpack going home. We also returned their corrected homework, papers, etc. in these mailboxes. I don't know why a similar system couldn't be used for paper and other supplies. In large schools, it's probably too much for teachers to keep track of who has what, so that's where community supplies come from. We also had a system for dealing with kids who came from severely restricted incomes or other special circumstances.

I think reasonable accommodations can be made in the later grades for kids with so many issues that the location of a pencil is really beyond them. I do think that a decent system of binders (or whatever is appropriate for the class) with paper and some pockets for calculators and pencils should be manageable for most kids, with parental supervision in some cases. There's always a way to make an exception for a kid who really is so compromised that he/she cannot manage any form of responsibility. But I agree that kids who never have to be responsible for anything because someone will always bail them out don't develop any maturity, any accountability, or any sense of the pure economics of this. They feel that, at worst, their parents will just buy more or send in a check to the school. So there is no consequence for not having been organized enough. I think there is a tremendous amount of waste and a lack of respect for what these things cost. It doesn't help the kids later in life, that's for sure.

A lot of the problem in some families falls to the parents - some are too busy to supervise, some say they pay enough taxes or tuition and the rest of the supplies should be free, and they don't think twice about giving a 9 year old a cell phone while kvetching about having to buy pencils. When we were kids, our parents bought those pencils with our names on them - there was need any question about who had appropriated someone else's supply!

And don't get me started on teachers spending their own money on necessities, let alone having to serve as supply clerks. It's hard enough having to write emails to parents who expect immediate responses to their queries, without having to keep track of who is running out of paper. So in terms of classroom management, unfortunately, it's less disruptive if there's a community supply. Either that, or higher taxes for more aides in classrooms to supervise and to get kids to their various special therapies and to the nurse for medication. I just don't see a simple way out.

One thing that does work in some areas is setting aside some money for a class party if there's no waste and greater responsibility. When kids police each other a little, and there is cooperation, there can be better allocation of resources (party or paper, you kids decide).

Schools ask for these items because they can't afford them. Even though they are transparent about their operating costs, they are often not funded enough through their local and state governments due to backlash from citizens not wanting taxes increased. I have no problem donating certain items to a pot- glue sticks, crayons, markers. But I think most other items should belong to the child and they should have a sense of ownership. Also, I have a problem with reems and reems of copy paper that we are required to supply. I understand teachers use a lot for printing, but if every child on my daughter's class donates their 2 reems (and they usually do), that's 22,000 sheets of paper!