School wants my kids to peddle crap

First of all, I think teachers are great and have a very heavy work load, but they are teachers and teach they should do, parents are parents and thats what they would do, of course in this day and age it does not always work out the way it should , but
signing a paper to say that your child does not watch TV is totally invading your space as a mother as if you would be so silly to let your child ran wild like can't he see that she is bright ETC......I feel that this sort of carry on has over stepped the line, it has not happened here in NZ and if it did, there will be many parents up in arms(Freedom Of Speech, Freedom of choice)

 

Maybe the schools should generate catalogs of useful, good, things to sell at very good prices; mail the catalogs locally to residences in the areas that the school 'draws' from. The schools could go directly to manufacturers and wholesale distributers, and the school catalog could even provide them with reasonable 'toned down' ads. The catalog could be published year round, say four times per year. The catalogs could be entertaining and educational, maybe something like a hybrid of "RealGoods" style with "Highlights for Children" content but having to do with useful, sensible, supplies that children and adults can utilize. And a really good place where the children could participate, learn and gain skills of use in the real world is to be involved in publishing and the business aspects while barring any school influence on the children being involved in direct sales. The manufacturers, wholesale distributers, schools, students and buyers would benefit with some possible negative effect on retail stores. I believe that this a very good idea.

Peace,

David




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and i believe you are right David, this is a good idea.

Love & Peace

 

I wonder what the most effective way to get something like this started is ?

 

I guess go to the parent meetings at the school and suggest it.
Here in NZ we have what you call a Gala Day , some schools have them twice a year, some only once, Like a big Party with stalls, stuff to sell, raffles, entertainers, etc, a fun raiser, most parents go and spend loads of money as it all goes to the school, last year our little primary school of 100 pupils raised $13,450.00 towards the school funds, so we only had the odd fun raiser through the year, but this is our major one.
But i do know it is different with larger schools.

 

I wonder if it is possible to easily find a total gross sales number for a list (long list) of items sold in a particular school district and then decide what small percentage of that could be "captured" by that school district and how the hypothetical net profit would compare to the extra funds required by that district ?

 

Work could be performed from the class rooms of many schools in a district via internet.

 

Image having a sidebar to a catalog listing explaining how the product was invented or it's history, as examples. Interleave educational games or articles about interesting school projects.

 

Provide a thorough easy-to-use index so that folks can quickly get to what they are looking for.

 

All of that information is public record and is in the yearly budget documents. Our state has web access to most of that info (as a result of a school funding lawsuit by a group of parents) and the rest is at the superintendent’s office. Show up at school board meetings and make a pest out of yourself. Most bullshit tends to stop when you shed a little light on it. Make sure you call the local paper and let them know that the school board meeting is going to be interesting. The love controversial news.

 

RE: here. what they want you to do is bring it to work and push it on your co-workers. we're not doing that, either

Many workplaces outlaw that.

 

NO kidding!

"KIds, don't watch ANY TV. If you're done with you're homework, go play outside."

"But, Mom, the gangsters are fighting out there again. We're scared."

"Well, you just suck it up. Your teacher says you can't watch TV. It's too violent. Those bad boys probably joined gangs because they watched too much TV when they were your age."

I'm just kidding. My kids play outside a lot. They do have to come in if the gangsters are fighting, though. If the cops come they might run into my yard seeking escape again.

As I mentioned in another thread a while back, the school color that they're supposed to wear on 'spirit day' is the same color that the gang that claims to control our neighborhood wears. Good thinking there, Principal. I don't think the principal lives around here.

 

I LOVE that idea! We just went to Real Goods on Sunday! It's not far from here and my kids love to feed the fish. They had their first ride on the new solar-powered merry-go-round. Very nice.

Maybe I'll have to go to one of the PTA meetings.

That's awesome!!!!

 

HippyPaul, natural23, that is such a great idea.


I don't have any experience accessing public records. Do I just call a certain office and let them know that I want that information?

I live in a place where there are ranchers and hippies. I could totally see this working if it were done the right way. I like the Real Goods/Highlights concept combination.

 

wow, that takes me back. oh, round about 1982-1983 long beach (not the pretty part). our school was being taken over by some gangs who'd take their fights out there. totally ruined any after-school programs....that is, until the neighborhood dads went all vigilante.

the crazy shit that would go on in housing made TV PALE in comparison....the wife fights, the samoan parties, and the ice cream man always knew where to be for the audience...

 

yep - start with the school - if they don't have it ask them who does - if they don't know call the superintendent and tell them the school does not know and ask if they do - If they are not helpful call the state office of education - If they are not helpful call the attorney general of the state and tell them you want some help filling a freedom of information request for public record information. Always tell the people you call what you have done so far – that way you are not passed back down and it lets them know that the people downstream are not doing their job. Keep good notes about the name of the person you called - when you called them and what you said. If you have a hard time write to the governor giving names dates and results send a copy to the newspaper at the state capital - tell the governor in your letter that you are sending this copy. Make a pest of yourself - it makes things happen.

 

While it is stupid to make young kids (elementary/junior high age...I think that's called primary school most places) go out and raise money for the schools, keep in mind in high school, there are a lot of activities that are underfunded, especially in Texas. Football and athletics always come first, so that always left the rest of the organizations scraping for money. Sure, the government does give schools money, but once it's in the school's hands, it's up to the board of trustees to decide who gets what. I was in a ton of extracirriculars in high school and we always had to do fundraisers so that we could afford supplies we needed and entry fees for contests. Not all fundraisers are bad and even if the stuff is crappy, at least you're supporting a good cause. I know the majority of this thread is aimed at elementaries who "pimp" their young kids out to get money, but I wanted to point out that sometimes fundraisers are for very good causes.

 

i hated selling candy in school.

 

Yes - If it is for and by the kids - I have no problem with it - in high school - It's when the school is getting the money for reasons that the kids did not get a say in and the parents were not consulted that I get pushed out of shape - and by the way I think athletics should be dead last - if people want public sports spectacles in high school and collage let them take them out of the schools and pay for them privately.

 

At my high school we got some stuff to peddle for charity only, not for the school. I thought that was a pretty neat thing, but I was still really bad at it, hardly ever dared to ask anyone, and certainly didn't want to go door-to-door. I don't think it's right to make kids do this if they don't want to, or make them feel guilty for it.

On the television thing, I can only say this teacher took a good thing (addressing too much television in class) and then completely overshot his target! It isn't any of his business what kids do outside of school as long as there are no problems -homework is done, kids aren't seriously out of shape/overweight... and even then it'd be better if he expressed concern and made suggestions as to limiting stuff like television and/or computer use rather than such a blunt 'no television at all' rule. Btw, does this guy know there's more on television than soaps, action movies & cartoons? What if you wanted to watch a beautiful nature documentary on Discovery with your daughter, or a science program for kids, would he object to that? I could see doing this for a single week, just so kids who tend to plop down in front of the tv every day get a taste of something different, to try to teach kids to think of other stuff to do, but not as a general rule, that's just ridiculous.