What do you think?

[PrincessFiona]

I think that it is inappropriate for elementary schools to expect children as young as 5 years to be selling products to support their schools financially. I was shocked and disgusted when my children moved here and even my kindergartener was expected to go out and sell wrapping paper, etc for the school. In exchange, they were able to win really cheap, crappy gifts for selling certain amounts. I complained then.

This year, they have added magazine sales to the list. Hello, are my children telemarketers? If they came back to school and turned in an envelope and gave the names and addresses of 13 of our friends and family members 8O they got a gummi package consisting of gummi pizza, gummi hamburgers, etc.

Last night they were so upset with me becasue today was the last day to turn this stuff in. They were the only people (so they say) not to turn in their packets and were so upset...

I think it is ridiculous that my children were being bribed to participate in this atrocity.

I called the principal and voiced my disapproval..he told me the school earns 10k and basically...it's worth it. I told him that it is not worth it to have our children selling and that I would be willing to support an alternative way to earn money involving the adults and not the children. He told me I'd just have to get through this time with the kids not getting their gummis and it would be over soon and that 'all' schools are doing this. I said that just because it is popular and everyone is doing it doesn't mean it is right and that I would not support it.

I think I'm going to write a letter to the editor...this really ticks me off.

kris

[mommax3]

Kris,

You are right....it does stink. But if it works, they will keep doing it. Ironically, I have felt less fund-raiser pressure at the private school than I did in public school....definitely not what I expected.

I think you should buy what you can, mention it to relatives, even post about it here if you feel comfortable (lots of people read magazines, right? I'd much rather help out somebody's school than not), and when all is said and done, point out to your kids how cheap/crappy the prizes are and go to Big Lots and let them pick out something similar on the day when the other kids get their incentives. Keep them out of school if it is that upsetting to them.

Sally

Well, I sent a letter to the editor anyway. Maybe if more parents protest this then things will change. This is just ridiculous to me, Sally....I just hate the idea of selling something to other people so I would never be able to post something like that here....

I am very disappointed by the trend in the xxxx schools that encourages children to become salespeople for the district. I understand that in this day and age educational funding is an important problem facing all school districts. Finding additional sources of money for the district is an issue that we as parents need to address together with the schools. I think that it is inappropriate to expect our children to peddle expensive wrapping paper or sell magazine subscriptions to make money for the district.

Recently, my elementary school-aged children came home with order forms asking them to provide the names and address of relatives or friends that would be interested in ordering magazine subscriptions. Now that telemarketers can’t call you anymore, they appear to be looking to the schoolchildren to do their dirty work. In exchange for providing this information, our children were rewarded with a package of gummi pizza and gummi hamburgers. This is outrageous to me.

I would be more than willing to support a ‘book-a-thon’ for the children where they took pledges from friends and family members on how many books that they could read in a certain time period. This would truly be an effort that would get them excited about reading and would be a fundraiser for the schools.

Just because other school districts throughout the country are jumping on the corporate bandwagon does not mean that we need to follow them. It is time for us to start having some serious discussions about funding and to start thinking outside of the box.

[mommax3]

Kris,

I think that is an excellent letter and I admire you for writing it. I am probably too cynical and hope that my earlier post didn't come across badly to you.

Let us know about any responses you get!

Sally

[SueC]

Ugh--I agree Kris! Maya's preschool has us doing fundraisers already!!! I hate hitting people up to buy this crap. Last time I bought tons of cookie dough and pizzas myself ($72 worth if I remember correctly) because I didn't want to go door to door to try to sell it to neighbors or friends. Just the other day they gave us the information on the latest fundraiser selling these T-shirts and such to help save the rainforest.

[Phoebe]

I agree with fundraisers being inapproprate or annoying! Our MDO program is on their third fundraiser for the year. The first was through a mail order toy magazine, next was Southern Home Living (which has really expensive merchandise) and now they are doing the pizza/cookie dough thing. I feel a little compelled to help out with the current one because the money raised goes toward the playground which needs some work. I would rather buy pizzas over home decorating stuff that doesn't fit my budget or taste.

A friend of ours has a son in kindergarten whose school has several fundraisers, but alternatively allows parents to make a "donation" to not participate in the fundraisers. I found that interesting and would probably pick the donation. I don't like selling things which is probably due to being traumatized by my mother forcing me to go door-to-door selling girl scout cookies.

BTW, nice letter, Kris!

Jennifer

Wow, I don't have any experience with this yet, but I am shocked! The only things I ever remembered anyone selling was the high school band (so they could go to disneyworld, they sold oranges and og course girls scout cookies..) Whatever happened to the days of carwashes, lemonade stands, and bake sales to raise money? I like those kind of fundraisers. BTW I like the letter Kris!

[SueC]

That is a good letter Kris--I'll bet there are tons of parents in your district that agree with you but are afraid to speak up!

Kris, my kids' school peddle the gift wrap stuff, too, and I have absolutely never contributed a dime for it. My kids tell me how the teachers basically give them this pep talk about all these cool prizes and even trips for selling as much as possible. I just tell them the wrapping paper is way overpriced and if they wanted cool toys they have to wait for Christmas or their birthday, or do chores around the house. And I can buy wrapping paper at the Dollar Store for, yep, a buck a pop.

I can understand your frustration. The telemarketing/getting-names-from-the-kids sound absolutely crazy to me. If my kids were told to do that, I'd submit all the teacher's names and the principal's too.

[mommax3]

Thu Van,

If my kids were told to do that, I'd submit all the teacher's names and the principal's too.

You totally crack me up. You should write for sitcoms.



Sally

[Flynn]

I think this is lousy -- if I had to participate I would hate it both as a child and as a parent.

The bigger picture however is the state of affairs in the majority of schools across the country -- lack of funds. The reality is that if a certain fundraiser works, however painful it may be, it will most likely stay around forever despite the few people willing and passionate for change. Change is viewed as bad in a lot of schools because so many people fight it no matter what the change may be (mainly parents oddly enough). I bet the time and effort needed to change the fund raiser --- let alone the number of people needed to get involved to make this change happen, is astronomical.

Is it possible? Of course, but cold hard dollars and cents make the decisions and I imagine this principal can't afford to NOT do this painful fundraiser. If he misses his goal by even 100$ -- he/she has serious problems!

I feel your pain. I wish there were more passionate and dedicated parents like yourself willing to do the work to improve their childrens' school!!!

That is a great letter, Kris.

I applaud your effort. It is interesting that the prizes for "selling" the most junk was candy. Is the school system interested in the ongoing studies about children's health, mainly weight? A different type of fundraiser, or activity to raise the money sounds better (book-a-thon, bake sales and such). I also agree that whatever has been working, will continue to be the norm....so, there will only be more selling-candy bars, popcorn, magazines, cookie dough, whatever.

[Meenah]

I have to admit I always threw the crap in the garbage can, never even sent the evelopes back empty. Good for you.
Luanne

So far Bryn's preschool just does the wrapping paper and it is totally low pressure. Or maybe I just don't notice other fundraisers. I follow the throw it in the trash school of thought, too. Not a problem since Bryn is lured in with the promise of candy and crap toys.
I'm sure that our fundraising opportunities will increase with kindergarten! I don't think it is a great idea to turn little kids into sales people. Especially when the prizes aren't really that great and the better ones come with relatively unattainable sales goals.

On a bit of a tangent....I don't know if you all get this....but I am so sick of the door to door magazine sales for some sort of inner-city job training where the magazines are full price. And I'm sure that whatever "prize" the sales people are competing for doesn't exist. Same for kids selling candy for $5 so they can win a trip to a baseball game or something -- which I am sure also doesn't happen. How do kids get pulled into this? I see a van in our nieghborhood dropping off/picking up kids selling the stuff out of these big Rubbermaid tubs. It doesn't seem legit at all.

[Rapunzel]

Ahhh, I remember well my days of having to peddle various "things" in order to get a prize in school. (My kids will never have this problem so I have to go by my own experience). My problem with selling candy when I was a little kid was that everyone I knew was INCREDIBLY poor. My relatives, my neighbors, and our family friends (and my Dad's co-workers) were what has been called recently the "working poor" (My mom called a couple of weeks ago to inform me of this interesting bit of trivia: In the last 30+ years my father has averaged $23,000/year in taxable income according to the Social Security Administration. My mother did not work outside of the home until I was 18 and there were four kids in my family. Yup, we were poor!)

So, the problem I encountered was extreme guilt and embarrassment at the prospect of asking my parents, relatives, and their friends to buy something that was outrageously overpriced. Similarly the option of simply contributing money to the school system as an alternative was completely out of the question. My parents really felt the pinch of the property taxes that paid for our education as it was. I suppose if I had lived in a wealthier family I *might* not have such an inner cringing at this issue. Of course, I also really dislike having people I know on a personal basis try to "sell" me things (re: home jewelry, kitchenware, book, basket, candle, and ornament sales). It puts me on the spot financially and changes the friendship forever.

Jennifer