So now my kids school is asking me to donate $4 to have water in the classroom! RANT!
 

I have about 50 donation requests from the school this year for everything. see my other thread rants.

donate for:
buses for field trips
teacher appreciation week
bake sale
silent auction
Gym fund
art fund
library fund
gardening fund
green team fund
book fund
donate supplies to the classroom
donate food drive
volunteer for reading
volunteer for office help
volunteer in classroom.
help teacher who is sick
volunteer to build a booth at the fair
pay for the booth
supply the booth...

they are laying off tons of teachers, the principal just gave notice after 10 years and leaving 3 weeks before school is out. This is a TOP 5 school!

Now, I am being asked to donate $4 for the drinking water in the classroom so my kid doesn't go thirsty? And at the end of school year they send a notice home like this?

I always pack her a water bottle but I am seriously pissed at this request, insulted actually.

Am I wrong? I mean water? should I pay their gas bill. electric, salaries too? thought I already did with tax dollars that go nowhere. I've already contributed a ton and a ton of volunteer time on top of all it takes to raise a kid. :mad:

Governor Terminator: Hope you have enough water to put the Santa Barbara fires out!! :321GFY:321GFY

I feel your pain.

Since I bought this house end of last year and moved from a busy street to a neighborhood, it seems my door bell does not go a day without being rang.

Siding, roofing, candy bars, girl scout cookies, ball teams, Jehovah's, other religions, and so on. It has gotten to the point I told handyman when we are done with some of the other shit, I am installing a camera outside my front door. That way I do not have to leave my office, and go to the front door to hear some sale pitches.

:disgust

Do you send your kid to public school?

If not, ignore this, if so... I guess you think, home owners should pay the rest of the bill for your kids education?

Not picking on anyone here, its just usually these public school folks who whine the most about the cost of school, when its home owners paying for your kids classroom anyway.

If you send your kid to private school, then no worries, but if you use public schools, then YES, you should be paying their gas/electric bill and not the home owners paying taxes to do so. imo

at least Obama wants every child to be equally miserable and under educated (well... except for his children that attend private school). Yay for fairness!!

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p..._wShs&refer=us

We will be sending my son to private school. For this country/area is is the most expensive but turning out the best educated kids in the entire state. Goiing to be about 485 a month plus uniforms/books/paper etc etc etc..

Oh for the love of god, run for the school board or STFU.

You act shocked because the school is asking for donations and volunteers etc when people are getting laid off due to budget cuts.
WTF else are they supposed to do?

Unless you're volunteering for a tax increase, STFU.

yes public school, but not about homeowner taxes which I pay...we also pay federal and state taxes in CA. And taxes are to contribute to the education of our kids. CA borrowed billions from the education fund, never paid it back and now can't even supply water to drink? I've contributed thousands over the years without question.

Barfooties is right...maybe private school will end up costing less!

I have no issue with paying for my daughter's thirst, but from a public school which would not be Top 5 without all parents constantly pitching in, but what about the other school districts where parents work 18 hours and can barely make ends meet in the household? Do their children go thirsty.

It's just wrong on principal. more ranting. my apology...but where will the line ever be drawn? When parents become the teachers in the classroom as well as life?

thanks for the post though!! :)

Out of curiosity, why do they need bottled water for kids to drink in a school anyways?

When I went to school there was a water fountain that we all used throughout the day.

Down here in Brazil, pretty much everybody that's not poor go to private schools.

My school used to cost over US$1,000 a month, when I was there (12 years ago). Last time I heard, it was at $1,500+/month.

:disgust

so your kid doesn't go thirsty? for real? sounds like BS to me Lori. are they saying that kids in a US public school are going thirsty? this is not a third world country.

Send them to a private school then hun. everything is better at private schools anyways

Same here, but that was I think before bottled water was invented.. :1orglaugh

Paying for water.. no way 1 generation ago would believe it possible in this country, but there ya go.

No crap.. we had water fountains too.

It's kind of funny, my buddy sends his kids to private school, for $6,600 per year. It's WAY better than the public school, but meanwhile the state of Florida spends $7,800 pper year per pupil on those crappy public schools.

I say go to the voucher system. This way everyone has a chance to go to private school if they wish to. If local public schools can't compete and end up with no students, then that's just the free market in action, and private schools should be the norm instead. We spend a crapload of money per student in the public school system in the US, and meanwhile, it's so totally controlled by unions, that we end up with horrible public schools. Let the private sector take over, I say.


.

You can go question the one raising funds but in the end who knows it will worth it or not.If you can fight with a smile on your face,go for it.

All I keep thinking is...what about water fountains???

Only thing I can think of myself and I am willing to bet that the schools indeed have water and can not cut it no matter what. Schools new well up here turned up with ecoli in it and the school had to bring in bottled water while they fixed well issue. So again pretty damn sure your school also has normal water faucets.

I also would like to say that when most of us where in school we did not drink in class no were able to ask to get up and get some that easy. We had to wait for recess, PE, or lunch. Just like using the bathroom. Thirst, make damn sure you hit a fountain before you get back to class.

Edit - also you mention food donation. Was that for the students themselves or "snacks" during kindergarten or for them to donate?

You will find that the more money the parents have in the district, the more requestx for non-necessities you get. At my daughters school they ask for things like "2 pairs of running shoes to be kept at school, one for indoor gym, one for out, along with 1 or 2 pairs of slippers (cuts down on janitorial work. They also ask for tennis balls for the bottom of chairs each year so they don't make noise. The children also have to send in 5 boxes of kleenex each for the classroom along with each child having their very own 3 hole punch, stapler etc. To get everything on my daughters list at the begining of school last year cost me $300 not including running shoes.

One can only hope this will happen...

I've looked into the stats a little bit and the public school system cost per student is at minimum $8,000 in most areas. That's $8,000 per student that taxpayers are paying, while a good number of private schools are significantly cheaper than that. My brothers went to a pretty good private high school, their tuition was not $8,000 per student by any means. And this was a pretty top school.

It's mind boggling really.

Lori,

You do not qualify for the following statements that I am about to make so please take zero offense.

But I am fucking tired of paying for other people's children and their schooling. I pay a rediculous amount of money each year to property taxes so other people can go out and have 3, 4, 5 even 6+ kids that become a drain upon society.

Our system is so broken it is not even insane!

I am not having any children and will never use a single dollar spent on these schools in my property tax bill. Yet the individuals who SPAWN like mad, not only get a free ride, but then the parents have to work several jobs to keep food on the table and support these children and since they are gone the kids never end up doing their homework and turn into little shits any ways.

1 to 2 kids you get the tax break and get to take advantage of the system.
3rd kid you don't get the tax break, but you still get the system to place your kid in
4+ you FUCKING PAY!!!

People like me should get an options list, when I pay my property taxes I should be able to pick from 10 programs that I want my money to go towards. As long as I am not a taxation on the system let me choose. No children should give me that freedom since I am not draining the system of any funds. If I would rather have smoother roads that should be my choice.

I couldn't agree more with Bonzo. Lets get these free loading teachers out of the way and go to a voucher system. I guarantee most public schools would cut even more deals to get those vouchers and make sure that kids are getting a proper education.

Some of that I can reasonably understand but would get upset about. However those are still above and beyond basic necessities like water.
Also sounds like if people have kids they should get more involved into the PTA, school board, local political position etc. Then they could remove many of these things that I am willing to bet damn well are almost caused in the same fashion.

Example - kleenex, not needed. gym and school shoes - optional. Tennis balls for quiet - not needed. 3 hole punch - not needed (buy pre punched paper). Stapler - not needed.

I'm sure that the water sucks in their area... I know mine was pretty bad in San Diego, but totally drinkable, especially with a proper filter.

Instead of paying for bottled water that will disappear every year, maybe everyone can pitch in and buy a proper filtration unit. Yeh, it doesn't address the issues of parents needing to pay out of pocket to cover expenses that the school system should be paying for... but it makes a lot more sense than having a bunch of five-year-olds drinking Arrowhead, most likely wasting half of it.

Unless it is undrinkable by health standards, who cares? Either it is clean enough or not.

LOL, I sure as hell don't, but then we would hear the parents bitching about that and they'll convince their congressman to find another way to tax us.

I don't get why people don't see it. A broken system and the only answer anyone can come up with is more money and more taxes. Ridiculous. Enough taxes. Start holding the proper people accountable and when they fuck up, slit their throats. That's how it's "supposed" to work in the business world (fucking bailouts)...

Hi Eric,
no offense taken at all. I completely understand because I think everyone should have check boxes choosing where their money goes and for every child you have, you are required to pay X amount per child out of your taxes towards education, etc.

I mean why am I paying the same price for one child as others do for all 6 of their kids?

So I get it. A voucher system would be cool. Getting Arnold out of office would be better! Thanks for the post!~ xo

Have a great weekend, I am off for one. :thumbsup

Eric pretty much summed it up.
Also why I am more for the voucher system and making the school compete - no longer public technically.
I also get upset about how much I put into property taxes and yet get to see few if any return value. I own several rentals, many of those tenets have kids. I pay the property tax where they live. Thus I am feeling highly fucked and it really hits home. They have the kids, they have no vested interest in the neighborhood, yet I not only pay tax that mostly goes to schools, they get all the benefits. We have some bad pot holes on one street I have a place, they never get fixed and it starts to make the area look or feel rundown. Which will eventually effect my property value. I will keep paying those taxes and if the place goes down hill, oh well I will just get lower class people with even more kids. Drives me nuts.

No it isn't. Perhaps on principle, but not principal. Every kid for themselves. Either they drink from the fountain or their parents can pony up for bottled water.

He is at least supportive of at very least limited vouchers. This seems more about your political stance against him really. What is it that he has done that makes you dislike him so much, even if you think getting rid of him (terms up soon enough) is worth more than a full voucher system which would fix the system.

Come on... you aren't paying those property taxes. Your renters are paying the property taxes, they just don't know it.

+1 for vouchers

California's teacher's unions have gotten way out of control. Education is the biggest portion of California's budget and we don't do it right. The more money we throw at it the worse it does year after year.

the funds request is ridiculous, and even more so is the fact that there is not drinking water in the classroom through a fountain or sink.
Part of my time in elementary school was spent here in Arizona (went to Nebraska for a long time but came back) and every classroom had a water fountain in it and the teachers would line us up both before and after recess and randomly throughout the day to make us drink water.

The situation in California is absurd, and part of it stems from a stupid ballot initiative from some three decades ago when caps were put on property taxes in several areas (some of them very posh). The end result is a person with a decent sized house with a generous (though not excessive) yard in Nebraska pays more on their property taxes annually than someone living in Bel Air, California. Where do they get the resources to run schools when property taxes are kept low because of an old law that wasn't properly thought out?

Either way I am paying them. I do not dictate how much property tax is. I also can not controll the rent ceiling in any given area. I can only get away with charging so much per month, even if the city jacked up the taxes.
It is money I could of had if the bill was not present.

The school system in this country is breaking down. My brother sent all three of his kids to a private pre-school and that school still held fundraisers and to this day he gets letters from them every years asking for donations and asking them to come to fund raising auctions even though none of his kids are in school there. So it is not just public schools that are diving for money.

The idea is simple. If they can get the parents to pay for it they will because that is less money they have to take out of their budget. That said, schools seem to always find interesting and unique ways to waste money right after telling you they are broke. For example the high school I graduated from had no swimming pool. About 10 years after I graduated from there the city announced they were building a pool right across the street from the high school. They were going to make it Olympic size so the school could get a swim team. Great. The problem was the city fucked up (like it always seems to do) and they made the pool too small. So now you can't use it for competition. Instead of just canceling the swim team because they have no pool they go ahead and create a swim team. The team takes a school paid for buss 20 miles each way to the next town over and uses their pool. So the school pays for a driver and the cost of a bus 4 nights a week as well as the fees for the using the pool because they didn't want to disappoint the kids. Right after somehow funding this they say they can't put on a homecoming parade/dance like they always do because they have no money so unless the students can raise the money on their own there will be no homecoming parade and dance that year.

When I was in high school if you went out for a sport you had to buy your own shoes and jock strap, everything else was paid for by the school. Now it costs my brother about $700 a years for his daughter to play soccer and it was $500 for his son to play football. We have a thing in here called Outdoor School where they take 6th graders to an outdoor camp. When I went we did candy selling fundraisers and no matter how much (or little) was raised we still went for the week. Now they don't even bother with the fundraisers and just told my brother it was $300 and instead of going for a week it is 2 nights and 3 days.

But aside from the extras of sports and things like that the school system itself is flawed. They overpay administrators who have no idea what they are doing and half the time never show up for the meetings and they allow teachers who don't care to just stick around and collect a check. Instead of just throwing money at the problem (which is what every elected official seems to do) they need to do an audit of every school and see where they are wasting money then do away with that.I think the schools can be run better, it will just take a group of people with guts enough to stand up to the teachers union, parents and other administrators to get it done.

All this said I think the public school system is vital to this countries success. The minute we stop educating the kids is the minute we officially get on the fast track to becoming a third world shithole of a country.

My entire life I never went to a school that had a water fountain in class. We could ask to go get a drink, but there were never fountains in the classrooms.

Allow vouchers and this shit wouldnt happen. Public schools would be forced to be efficient an give a quality education.

Sadly, Obama and the Dems just killed the voucher program in D.C. So basically sending kids back to their ghetto public schools :(

Many schools in CA have fountains and/or sinks in the classroom.

I did grow up in a backwater redneck town though . . . that might have something to do with it :)