Stop me before I sign up for something ELSE!

[SuzySunshine]

Re: Stop me before I sign up for something ELSE!

Jenn, just remember its JoCo and ignore them. The nursery school I worked at in CA was much the same way you could tell who the "in" parents were - ridiculous!

Re: Stop me before I sign up for something ELSE!

Jenn, just remember its JoCo and ignore them. The nursery school I worked at in CA was much the same way you could tell who the "in" parents were - ridiculous!

Oh - I truly don't care what they think of me. That doesn't matter. I'd just like to be able to use the power of the school for something worthwhile, rather than buying a new computerized toy for the teachers, or making sure they've got 6 dozen treats once a month.

I was heartened to hear that the Service Club is planning a bake sale in January to raise funds for Heifer International. That was a surprise. They're also talking about a drive of sorts for residents of Greenburg, KS on the one year anniversary of the tornado that flattened the city. That is very worthwhile, IMO. I think my frustration lies more with the PTO and the excess of that organization in this school system.

Re: Stop me before I sign up for something ELSE!

Well, the thing you're going to run up against is that the purpose of a PTO (monetarily speaking) is to raise money for the school. I don't think you're going to convince parent's to funnel it out of the school. People will freak. :huh:

I get that. It's not that I want them to take PTO money and send it elsewhere. I want them to do fewer "gift wrap"-type fundraisers, which contribute to the overwhelming number of fundraisers / drives in the year, which is the excuse I'm getting for why they won't do this fundraiser where the kids collect PENNIES!

[Sheherezade]

Re: Stop me before I sign up for something ELSE!

Two PTO-ish thoughts on this thread.

1) Here, the PTO gets requests from the school and teachers to fill with their funds. The PTO either says yes or no; it's usually yes unless the request is wacky. Still, the items requested come from the teachers and principal. We have some crazy equipment here as well (Smartboards ) that I think are an unnecessary use of funds, but the schools push for them to compete with other "good districts" and to get prizes from the state, etc. Baloney - but school generated. I suppose the PTO could say no more often, but that gets political in a parents vs. school kind of way.

2) Here, we have fundraiser overload as well, but it is because we have sooooooo mnay different organizations and the schools all so a separate fundraiser. They stagger them through out the year so there is always something going on. It's a nightmare. I ignore mmost of them now, but feel guilty when I realize that things like the citrus sale actually pays for the kids music teacher's salary and what have you. I think they should advertise what group is paying for what so you could decide what to buy.

I agree that the PTO can be a big ole clique, but it isn't supposed to be. I say bust in and break up the party. You could probably run pennies for peace through a different route and shake them up. Or just get involved in the service club....and steer it your way next year.

[houseelf]

Re: Stop me before I sign up for something ELSE!

Ladybug wrote:

Release the cracken.

Oh. My. Lord. I'm peeing my pants. If I read this right, this cites the cult classic "Clash of the Titans" and I'm nerdy enough to recognize it.

Or the sad alternative, I misread this quote and imputed my own strange reference.

Either way, you are killing me here.

Kelly

[houseelf]

Re: Stop me before I sign up for something ELSE!

OMG, I'll see you at the Star Trek convention next week! Dorks forever!

I seriously am still snorting snot bubbles laughing about this.

Kelly

Re: Stop me before I sign up for something ELSE!

:wee:

I'm so glad someone got it. I'm SUCH a nerd. We always say this before giving Lucy chocolate.

I got it too! I was just at the boys' swim meet!

I know, I know ... Angie you're right. I should get involved and steer things, or I should shut up about it. I've been trying to figure out what other "angle" I can use to do the fundraiser on my own as well. I don't doubt that the requests are teacher / principal driven, but I also know it's a huge "status" thing to be one of the wealthier schools / have the biggest fundraisers, etc.

Re: Stop me before I sign up for something ELSE!

Complete w/2 die cut machines, a press laminator, a roll laminator ... and a bunch of other crap. This school has so much (which I'm grateful for and is a large part of why we live here), but they're all about raising funds for MORE STUFF! Our teachers have crazy computerized gadgets (hand-held tablets that feed to projectors, etc.). I've already gotten an email back from the Service Club chair that tells me it isn't likely that they'd do Pennies for Peace.

Just frustrated.

OMG, we have this too. And the nametags. I don't have one. I just stuff the "volunteer" pin on button in my pocket. No way I'm ruining a sweater with one of those. :>

Our workroom is more of a converted storeroom and it gets freaking hot in there. The last time I was in there I was 8 months pregnant and about had a heatstroke. Haven't been back since.

re: the pennies for peace deal. Our school did something similar and I am trying to remember what it was raising funds for. I think it was for kid-related things at a local homeless shelter or something like that. There was a contest between classrooms to see which class collected the most pennies and it was aimed at the kids and not the parents. I think they saw some sort of a presentation or someone from the shelter came to talk to them? Does the website have any suggestions for a school program? That might help.

IMO, this falls out of the scope of PTO. It can be PTO sponsored but there are other aims besides just the school.

Tara, that is so intersting about the scholastic book fair. I was just at ours today. The thing that bugs me -- I swear those books are printed on different (lesser) paper or with weird ink because they smell strange and the printing isn't as crisp. We do a used booksale too. I would much rather support our local indepedent bookstore or buy used books than deal with the claustrophobic bookfair crammed in the library. And I have to volunteer cashier on Monday. That should be fun. I do get a kick out of watching kids count out their money.

Re: Stop me before I sign up for something ELSE!

There are educational links and I've passed that along.

As for Scholastic - they ARE printed on inferior paper / lesser ink. I signed up to sell Usborne books long ago (for the discount) and learned about the crappy quality of Scholastic books.

[Phoebe]

Re: Stop me before I sign up for something ELSE!

[quote="Jane"]Complete w/2 die cut machines, a press laminator, a roll laminator ... and a bunch of other crap. quote]

We have one too. I haven't been privy to the "special nametags" though. Its my turn in the room tomorrow. I had a run in with the lamanating machine recently. Luckily, no one was in there to see my disaster!