Fucking school fundraisers again!

[xmas74]

This time it's for discount cards. You take them into any of the businesses on the back of the card and you get a discount (25% off or buy 1 get 1 free). Every single one is for a fast food place, of course.

My kid wants to sell a ton of them. If they sell 20 they get a pizza party and a limo ride, plus a ton of cheap, breakable prizes that make the rings out of the gumball machine look like quality products.

IMO, we were better off when we were allowed to do bake sales and candy bars.

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. We're doing the Morley candy sale... Yay...

:eyes:

[xmas74]

3. We are no longer allowed to do any sales that involve candy.

That includes the "candy and candle" ones either.

It's a new district policy. It's the same policy that says that they can no longer have cookies or cupcakes at holiday parties.

[ScreamingMeemie]

5. We are allowed to do this candy. It's catalogue candy. Order it and

it gets shipped. High end boxed candy. We can't do the candy bars and cupcakes thing either. They also do the pizza kit sales which are a joke and a half.

[xmas74]

7. We did Little Caesar's pizza kits

when she was in preschool. We also did Smart Chicken rotisserie in preschool. Both were a joke.

We can't do those anymore and we can't do anything that has to do w/ candy-including catalog orders.

As to the cookies and cupcakes at parties-that's a damn joke and I've had my say to the schoolboard. Three parties a year-let them have a cupcake! If they're that worried they need to clean up their cafeteria first.

[AllegroRondo]

2. at least Girl Scout Cookies sell themselves

EVERYBODY knows what they are, and buys them! They even search me out at the office to get signed up.

[seemunkee]

4. like drugs

[xmas74]

6. I just finished Girl Scout cookies.

I'm a coleader.

I have quite a few of those left. People ordered and never paid. I still have the boxes in my basement and I got stuck w/ the bill this year. $300.00 worth of cookies.

[Rosemary2205]

62. And the sick part is the troop only gets about 15 cents a box.

I stopped buying them from my neices and started donating toward troop activities instead. My 5 bucks goes a lot farther that way.

[AllegroRondo]

69. In my area its 45 cents a box

Heres a nice chart to show where that money actually goes!

[xmas74]

70. It's supposed to be 50 cents a box.

And that's at our local rate of 3.50 a box.

[ForrestGump]

8. There's a school for that?!?

:o




Oh.


I read the subject wrong.... :blush:




I was all set to apply for admission, too. :-(

[xmas74]

9. You are so lucky you don't live near me

or else my kid would sell you one of those damn cards.

Then you would understand why I swear about it.

(Speaking of fucking-wanna hear about the job I applied for?)

[ForrestGump]

10. I'd buy one

:hug:

And swear with you.

Um...this job you're talking about....does it involve swearing, too? :o

[xmas74]

12. Turns out one of the "PTO moms"

w/ a stay at home job does adult texting. She's told me a bit about it and about the company she works for. I'm now doing some further investigations of my own but have applied w/ her company.

I'd make more money sitting on my ass at home swearing at men in foreign countries then I do now, what w/ gas and travel time and all.

Sad but true.

[ForrestGump]

15. Texting?

I haven't heard of that. But I can see it'd be a lot better on the outgoing end than the phonic equivalent.

Man, I could do that. :D

If it works for you, and you're accepted, good luck! :loveya:







Did you notice how I didn't even ask you if you could please, please take my phone number? I'm a model of restraint, these days... :D

O8)

[xmas74]

18. I'm so proud of the level of restraint you've shown.

Sometimes they have the commercials late at night. They advertise it as "girls in your area" but the biggest customers are in the UK and Australia.

I'd do the phone bit too but usually the need for it is late at night here and I don't want my daughter to hear me. The money can be pretty good in that field too.

At this stage of the game, something has to be done and I'm tired of travelling for low wages. Plus, I can set my own hours.

[MissB]

11. Our kids don't hawk stuff.

The school approaches it a bit differently. A foundation hits the parents up directly for money.

[xmas74]

13. So many of the families around here don't have enough

money to donate. Quite a few of these kids won't even be able to sell one card.

The entire district does the same fundraiser and door to door is not allowed. They expect parents to take them to work and sell them.

That doesn't work when 1/4 of your coworkers are also selling them.

[MissB]

19. Have they considered scrip?

Depending on the economic makeup of the families, that may bring in more money than other let's-sell-crap fundraisers. Most middle class families do have to buy groceries or pet food or clothing or whatever.

Scrip is gift cards from merchants that the merchants sell to the PTA for a discount, generally 5 to 10% off the face value - so the PTA gets the profits and the parents get the full face value of the cards. It does take a couple of dedicated volunteers to run a program, but it isn't terribly difficult.

[xmas74]

21. This is what has been approved by the school board.

They won't even listen to anything else right now and we've offered tons of ideas.

[MissB]

22. That really sucks.

We clear easily $20k a year on a half-hearted scrip program.

Your PTA can start up eScrip without any sort of school board approval - if you have Safeway in your area that parents shop at it is damned easy money. If you shop at a Safeway store and use your club card, then eScrip kicks back a percentage of the purchase to the school's PTA bank account once a month.

edited to add: escrip.com I don't represent them or anything, it is just one component of the school's scrip program.

[xmas74]

24. No Safeway's around here.

The only chains we have are Walmart (Supercenter) and Aldi's. The other two are local-owned.

But I will check that site and see if there is anything I can present next time.

[MissB]

27. I just used the only brick-mortar store I could think of that they represent.

It works otherwise for online purchases. Like if you shop at Lands End online, you go through the escrip portal and click on the Lands End link and a percent of your purchase gets sent back to the school's PTA account.

Most of the money we raise from that part of the scrip program are through grocery stores like Safeway.

But Albertsons also have a kickback program as well - through their savings card. I think you have to set it up at the store level, not the corporate level though the checks come from corporate.

[xmas74]

32. I will check into them.

I tend to bring as much info as I can to the meetings. Whether they'll listen to me or not is another thing-they all seem to really like their fast food.

[fortyfeetunder]

71. either fundraising or taxes....

I cannot take this stuff to work and actively sell them -- against company policy. We can have "passive displays" in non-work areas like a break room but I don't feel comfortable leaving that stuff in the area.

I HATE these school fundraising displays in front of the grocery store. If I wanted candy, cookies, etc I would have done that already.

I'd rather pay more in taxes to see the programs in the school so my kid can thrive and learn rather than us stressing out what's the next fundraiser so my kid doesn't feel left out if we don't contribute something.

As it is the kid's school, they fund raise to bring in special science and art teachers....

[xmas74]

78. It's against my companies policies also.

I work w/ a few college kids who will see this as a good deal and purchase it but technically I can't sell it to them on company grounds.

I just tell a few people at work that my kid is selling something. If they're interested they'll call me at home and I'll have her make the pitch.

[Shine]

14. Yup, there's ALWAYS something for them to sell, isn't there?

This is what we've had to deal with, since my kids have been in school:

gift-wrapping
candy
magazines
cookie dough
flower bulbs

I'm sure there's something I'm probably forgetting, too. :eyes:

[xmas74]

20. I believe we have magazines coming

soon for Girl Scouts.

The rest of the year will be the school begging us for "donations."

[Left Is Write]

16. School bake sales from the good old days.

That would be really fun to do.

My son's preschool does a cookie walk every November, and I really enjoy that. It's the one fundraiser I like a lot!

[xmas74]

23. We did a bake sale for kindergarten.

I loved it.

I made four cakes, 6 dozen brownies, 12 dozen cookies of different kinds and 5 pies.

(Cakes were black forest, carrot, pineapple upside down and a dark chocolate raspberry layer cake. The pies were mixed berry, apple, cherry, peach and coconut.)

We made so much money! We did it a week before Christmas and sat a booth in front of each grocery store in town. We were cleaned out in an hour's time.

[Left Is Write]

30. It's so much fun to have a good excuse to bake a lot.

[xmas74]

35. Considering I used to be employed as a baker,

absolutely.

That was one of my favorite jobs. I just wish it offered better pay and actual benefits.

I love baking!

[Breeze54]

53. Start you're own baking company!

Find a fabulous family recipe and then sell the hell out of it!

See: Mrs Fields ;)

[xmas74]

56. Tried that.

Most thought I charged too much since they could buy a "Banquet" cream pie for about $2.

In a larger city it would go over quite well.

[Breeze54]

59. Ever heard of the internet and sales?

:shrug:

[xmas74]

60. You've got to be careful.

I don't have the money to set up some of the things involved.

And things like cheesecakes involve special shipping.

It's one of those deals where you have to have some money to make some money. Money is something I've never had.

Plus, my town is now saying that for any kind of business where you are cooking you have to have an inspected kitchen. That's not bad except it has to be a professional-style kitchen-something the average joe just can't afford.

[deadparrot]

17. We always did wrapping paper and coupon books.

Not fun. :banghead:

[xmas74]

25. I'm just tired of it.

[Skittles]

26. question about those fundraisers

can we bypass the products and write a check directly to the school or whomever? I agree, I dislike that stuff but I do want to support my coworkers' kids. Yeah I think it STINKS they have to do any fundraising at all.

[MissB]

28. Unless they're really anal, yeah.

Usually it is the PTA that is fundraising, not the actual school (around here, the schools aren't allowed to fundraise). So you'd just need to confirm that the PTA at the school is doing the fundraiser and then send a check to the PTA c/o of the school and mark it "donation in lieu of purchasing the cheap shit you have the kids selling".

[xmas74]

33. I don't see why you couldn't.

Example: Girl Scout cookies. You can bypass purchasing the cookies and write a check directly to the troop or the Service Unit or the Council or you can purchase the cookies and donate them to a food pantry, a senior center, a homeless shelter or even ask the Council if they will mail them overseas to the troops. (the answer is almost always yes.)

If you wanted to do a direct donation I don't see why you couldn't. They need the money one way or another.

[Skittles]

61. I mail the cookies to Iraq myself

after I eat a couple boxes :o

[xmas74]

79. Next year ask the troop.

Many do send them over and in bulk. You don't have to pay any extra for shipping and, from what I understand, they try to send them to those w/ no families and no support back home. (You know, the ones who receive little to no mail, such as those right out of the foster care system.)

Also, some troops also send letters and pictures along w/ the cookies so our service men and women have at least one thing to smile about that day.

[Arugula Latte]

37. Our school has its own (modest) foundation to attempt to retain specialist staff.

Yeah -- what a luxury. We get to knock ourselves out every year just to keep the librarian, computer teacher, and music teacher on staff. The P.E. teacher has already been cut. We didn't raise enough $$ this year so we've got to figure out what the next step is.

Anyway, my point is that the foundation is separate from the PTA, and the funds go to different uses. You might want to ask your co-workers about a foundation.

Thanks for supporting public schools! :hi:

[xmas74]

40. We don't have a nurse at every school.

We have a nurse at the head office but the rest are staffed by volunteer parents who have had cpr or first aid training.

[seemunkee]

29. Not the worst I heard of

Some friends of ours have a daughter in pompoms. They did a sub sandwich fundraiser. You had to order a month a head of time and then the parents, not the girls, got together on a Sat afternoon to make and deliver the subs. Lets see, I think 4 weeks from now on a Saturday afternoon I would like a coldcut, not wait, a turkey sub.
Our friends asked if they could just make a donation and skip the subs but the parent leader was actually against it.

Our schools here came out and admitted that if we make a direct donatio they won't do any fundraisers. They've ended up getting more funding doing it than any damn fundraiser ever made.

[xmas74]

34. I'm just tired of the fundraisers.

And they offer these cheap prizes for the kids as an incentive to do it.

I feel bad for the kids who won't sell enough to earn any prizes.

[hatredisnotavalue]

31. We always did "no bake" bake sales

And always made a ton of money. We would ask the parent not to bake something and to kick in the money, (factoring in the time and hassle they would have spent) into the kitty. Sometimes, it was $1, sometimes it was a twenty. It was always a huge fundraiser and last I knew, one of our most popular.

Also, for other fundraisers, I would kick in a $20 and let the kids go rent a movie or video game, telling them they had no chance of winning the $5000 minibike. They didn't want to go banging on doors and were happy that they supported the cause, but were off the hook. Always worked in our home :)

[xmas74]

38. Not around here it doesn't.

The kids compare sales and make a big deal out of it. The limo and pizza party will be held during school hours-kids will be allowed to leave class.

[Arugula Latte]

36. Good thing there's plenty of money for bombers and missiles galore.

:eyes:

If there is going to be a revolution in this country, it need to be led by parents who have bought enough wrapping paper and candy bars and coupon books and cookie dough to last them a lifetime.

Why we put up with this sorry state of affairs is beyond me.

HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of fricking dollars down the drain in Iraq. Worse than down the drain -- spent slaughtering hundreds of thousands of innocents.

We're having staff cuts at our school.

God DAMN it pisses me off!!! :grr:

[xmas74]

39. And that revolution won't be held in this town.

They want that money spent on bombers-it's a military town.

We have bombers in plain site on the base for the public to see. Squadrons participate in the "Adopt-A-Highway" program and all the schoolkids take tours of the local base.

Believe me, most of the parents will tell the rest of us to "suck it up."

[Arugula Latte]

46. Oy vey.

The priorities of some people.

I agree when national "defense" -- not offense. If we're attacked, yes, by all means, go after the attackers. Let's see, the last time that happened was 9-11 ... The attackers were Saudis ... Hmmm ... What am I missing ...

[xmas74]

48. Same thing I was missing

when I made those same points here in my town.

Sometimes I need to shut my mouth in public.

(And in case you didn't know there are quite a few around here who still believe that Saddam had something to do w/ it.)

[Breeze54]

41. Thank the rethugs for that!

:mad:

[xmas74]

43. That's what I thought.

I didn't do school fundraisers when I was in school. I did club fundraisers (band, track, debate, etc.) but not actually for my school.

[Breeze54]

51. The Failed Promise to Leave No Child Behind

The Failed Promise to Leave No Child Behind

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/04/b44515.html

April 6, 2004

Despite rhetoric to the contrary, the administration is leaving millions of children behind with respect to education by failing to fully fund the programs he signed into law in the No Child Left Behind Act ("NCLBA"). The president's budget contains $9.4 billion less than the levels authorized under NCLBA. The president also eliminates funding for 38 existing education programs and level funds critical programs such as those supporting after-school care and teacher quality initiatives. Despite the funding crisis in our public schools, the president has proposed diverting millions of dollars in federal resources to voucher proposals that exempt private schools receiving federal funds from the accountability in the No Child Left Behind Act.


* The president's failed promises on education come at a time when state and local communities are struggling with the worst budget shortfalls since World War II, leading to reductions in instruction time and lay offs of quality teachers and school staff.

Read more at link....

[xmas74]

55. I can guess.

I read info about NCLB all the time. My best friend is a spec ed teacher and she's constantly ranting over it.

[Chan790]

68. I know all about it too...

and it's largely the cause of the "FSFs" (Fuckin' School Fundraisers)

:rant:
In a past life (no, not really. It just feels like it. 3 years ago.) I was a literacy activist. I've seen the data...NCLB doesn't work. It looks good, it gives politicians (particularly Republicans) something to point at and say "Hey, I'm pro-education", it gives parents warm-and-fuzzys. But does it work?

No. (What's more, a good many of our legislators knew it didn't work when they voted for it. They feared the "anti-education" label for voting against it. Fear that the American people lacked the skill for nuance to understand why it was a bad piece of legislation.)

It has led to sustained and yearly increases in the number of students entering the high school and collegiate levels of education completely and totally unprepared to learn, 1/2 a generation thus far without the cognitive thinking skills or worldly knowledge to meet anything beyond the baseline. It seems the only thing the kids are learning is how to pass the tests. (Because passing the test is important, too-much funding is tied to the test, failing the test as a school or district means having less resources available...it creates a maelstrom of failure.) It's not the kids' faults we've failed to educate them. It's not our faults that we can't teach them. It's not the districts fault they don't have the resources to teach the important stuff and need to beg for the funds to do so. It's not even the funders (State and Federal Depts. of Education) faults as they're statutorily-obligated to to tie funding to test results. Call your congressperson, give him some backbone, tell him to vote for full-funding and to repeal NCLB's testing regulations. Then we can decide where the money needs to go. Trust me, the money spent teaching to the test would be better spent on gym equipment or paint. (But we can't test to measure educational gains made by playing or painting, can we??)

I blame the President, but then again, I think he did it intentionally to produce a vast nation of American workers who lack the skills to do the high-paying white collar jobs that he and his pals are getting rich sending overseas. Unless your daddy is the president, C students tend to work in unskilled factory labor or fast-food. I guess that makes me a MIHOP thinker on educational failure.

:rant:

Sorry, needed that off my chest.

[xmas74]

80. Quote:

I blame the President, but then again, I think he did it intentionally to produce a vast nation of American workers who lack the skills to do the high-paying white collar jobs that he and his pals are getting rich sending overseas. Unless your daddy is the president, C students tend to work in unskilled factory labor or fast-food. I guess that makes me a MIHOP thinker on educational failure.

Absolutely agree! I'm sick and tired of the devaluing of an education. I truly believe that we are purposely raising a generation of lackluster students in order to have a working slave class.

Rant all you want-you're preaching to the choir.

[LSK]

42. private or public?

Nice to see we are teaching our kids to be salesmen/beggers.

[xmas74]

44. I'm a single mom.

Public is all I can afford. I'm not well-off by any means.

I feel even worse for the kids who have less than my own daughter. No way they'll sell more than one card (I'd be surprised if they even sold one if they have a large family). You have to sell at least 8 to earn a prize.

I forsee lots of teasing and crying.

[Scooter24]

45. Our local school is trying to raise $100 million

for an endowment. Our school district has a very well-run education foundation that supports our school and its endeavors.

I gave $10,000 last year, though it's far from the millions many are giving or are planning to give.

All they want is cash. Check preferred. lol

[xmas74]

49. You gave away half my income!

Most of the people in this town are either college students or military. Most can't afford to donate more than $5 on a very good day.

[Scooter24]

52. I see.

usually go to education and medical research. But I agree that some fundraisers can be financially draining.

It's sad to see that many schools are having to raise money even for standard programs such as theater and music. States have to be better prepared and more funding needs to be secured.

Our school district in TX is a major player in the world of "robin hood" as we have to give over $75 million yearly (well over 75% of our total property tax revenue) to the state to give to other school districts. Since robin hood started in 1993, the area has given over $600 million. Since then, parents in the area have raised over $30 million to keep programs and extra-curriculars afloat. As such, the residents and businesses of the area are trying to establish this endowments to secure teaching positions and programs and in the future lower our property taxes so that less money is sent out.

Sorry for being long-winded, I have talked about this so many time it just comes naturally. lol.

How many fundraisers does the school do per year?

[xmas74]

57. Last year we did eight total.

So far we've done three this year.

(And I've been accused on many occasions of being longwinded so I don't mind at all.)

[Katherine Brengle]

47. When I was in school, we only did fund drives for extracurricular activities -- is this

directly for the school? Because that's insane.

We would do it to raise money for trips and stuff for Chorus, but not just for "school" in general.

[xmas74]

50. This is for the school in general.

She's only in first grade-no activities. Saddest of all is that this is one of the best districts in the state.

And you are right: this is insane. I remember doing fundraisers for clubs (sports, debate, band, etc) but not for school. Only one even remotely for the school was the senior class fundraiser and that was because it's tradition for the seniors to donate something back to the school.

[Beausoir]

54. I refuse to let my kids participate. I donate what I can at the time and call it quits.

It's ridiculous...the pressure put on 1st graders to hawk overpriced crap.

When my oldest entered school, we instituted a strict no peddling rule and have stuck to it.

I'm tired of getting calls from relatives, asking me to support junior's JV bowling team by buying a $30 candle.

Won't do it. Ever.

[xmas74]

58. My only problem is that I'm a member of PTO

and I've had the arguments about how it's ok for her to do fundraisers for Scouts (Girl Scout cookie sales) but not for school. They've argued that allowing her to do one but not the other teaches her that Girl Scouts is more important than supporting education.

[seabeyond]

63. our pta is saying screw the fund raiser, simply donate money....

i like that a lot better. the school gets more money, less of my time involved, and i dont have kids asking people who cant afford to buy and they feel obligated. with all these fundraisers, i end up purchasing the stuff, ....

[xmas74]

81. I've been stuck w/ more than a few things

but they prefer to have the kids hawking their wares. I guess they figure it's harder to turn down a five or six year old.

[conscious evolution]

64. Why cant the military

be forced to hold bakesales to fund their wars.

[jakefrep]

65. I can see it now....

...."Buy Victory Cookies!"

[conscious evolution]

67. Get your bomber brownies!

[xmas74]

82. That would be highly unpopular around here.

It's a military town. They'd run you out of town on a rail.

(Doesn't mean I don't agree with what you are saying, just that it's one of the worst things you could say in my town.)

[Midlodemocrat]

66. Man you are preaching to the choir.

For the elementary school, there was a fundraiser with gift wrap, I bought nothing. But, I did participate in the Original Works Yours stuff, (look it up on the net, it's a great fundraiser and the stuff is awesome)

For the high school, let's see. $140 fees for TeenMidlo, $156 fees for BoyMidlo, $375 for show choir, $90 for Chamber emsemble, $45 for marketing, $85 for water for the athletic department fundraiser, $55 for Field Hockey's practice pack, $200 in spirit wear, $100 to get the dresses for chamber and show choir altered, $32 for show choir shirts, shall I go on?

I feel like I should just have my paycheck directly deposited into the school's bank account. Free and Appropriate Public Education, indeed.

[xmas74]

83. I just did a search for it

and I'm reading up on it right now.

What I didn't know is that Avon will do school fundraisers. How many women do you know buy Avon products of some sort? (I buy Skin-So-Soft in the summer since it does seem to keep away mosquitoes.)
Turns out 45% of the profit for a fundraiser goes back to the school.

Not bad.

(And thanks for the other suggestion. I'm always open to new ideas!)

[naturalselection]

72. Hey xmas!

My son brought home that damn fundraising thing yesterday too! He was all excited about it, but it will "disappear" and he will forget about it.

A Blues fan are ya? I'm a Stars fan, but hoping that the Penguins move to KC. I will be first in line for season tickets.

[xmas74]

77. I'm hoping for some Penguin magic myself!

And the cards suck. No one wants them. But I'm still overrun with Girl Scout cookies right now. I got stuck w/ $300 this year.

We still need to catch up sometime. I'll email ya my number or something.

[Pithlet]

73. We don't do them.

We'll participate in the fundraisers for causes, like the recent jump rope for heart, but we don't sell anything. I hate hitting up people and quilting them into buying stuff they don't really want.

[xmas74]

84. They are getting to be so good at the guilt bit around here.

I'm a PTO member. Next fall I plan on becoming much more involved and trying to change the direction of fundraisers.

I hate having kids sell anything.

[Dulcinea]

74. This has become a pet peeve of mine.

My daughter, who's in pre-k, came home with a Sally Foster form 2 weeks after school started! Why must students sell wrapping paper, candles, & overpriced, worthless crap that nobody needs or wants? Why am I paying property taxes that are SUPPOSED to go to the schools? This really pisses me off! I can see selling hoagies for the band trip or the swim team or whatever, but she's 5, for Chrissakes!

However, I did but a box of peanut butter meltaways because I love them, & I always buy Girl Scout cookies because we love those too, but I'm a gift bag girl & rarely use wrapping paper, plus candles are a fire hazard with a very inquisitive 3-year-old. :banghead:

[xmas74]

85. Same here.

For clubs I can understand sells. Maybe the band needs new uniforms, maybe the debate squad needs money for nationals, etc. But for regular elementary education? No way.

[DainBramaged]

75. Brief letter given to principal at start of Freshman year

To whom it may concern


Do not give my child ANY sales/fund raising/raffle material to participate in (which never raises anything but profit for the company running it) for his/her four years here. Otherwise I shall be on your doorstep at midnight every night until the school year ends. I may even leave flaming bags of shit as a present. And I may give your name and address to every junk mail, magazine, Realtor, and mortgage company in America.


Regards,

A concerned parent

[xmas74]

86. I wish I'd thought of something like that.

I'm just tired of it all.

[Jimbo S]

76. Isn't this a great economy we're enjoying?

:sarcasm:

Not enough tax dollars to fund government programs because the tax base just isn't there anymore, so schools have all kinds of sales like never before. And our leaders tell us how great we have it and it's never been better.

[xmas74]

87. I really don't remember doing fundraisers like this

when I was growing up.

I don't understand what's going on anymore.