do you pay extra for public school ? | Autism PDD
Shelley,
What we found is that the language barriers worked FOR my ds in that the other kids didn't understand he was perseverating about Peter Pan or whatever the flavor of the day/week/month was (meaning the obsession). They just wanted him to swing with them, play catch (which he amazingly did - he never would for me!), etc. But, boys are less complex in their play than girls typically - so maybe it wouldn't be as good for Sarah. I do understand your point - and you have to do what is best for Sarah.
Personally, I was thrilled that ds came home with friends who were from Somalia, Sudan, Mexico and other countries as well! I am hoping he learned how it is to be in the minority (I use this example with him all the time to drive home the point while it is still fresh in his brain) and that he will hopefully learn about prejudice and how awful it can be - before he gets exposed to it personally and understands what is going on (which I am sure he someday will).
But again, Sarah is a girl and she is older than my ds and in a higher grade. It is all different and every school is different as well. I hope it goes well for you and for her!
Shelley I think you have a wonderful point here - this is why I have to have an out of district permit for my son! Not because of the language barriers, but because his public school is very "SPED friendly"/ SPED focused you could say. It is well known in town that there is a big focus on SPED at his school. THAT is why i drive him to and from school every day & he cannot take the school bus - we are out of district even though the school is only about 12 blocks away
But still, I wouldn't keep him from his school knowing that the other school is not as focused on SPED. I think the individual school can really matter, and quite frankly it sounds like Sarah's school is more focused on ESL kids. All schools tend to be a bit different, I think.
For example, I had the same problem with Gage's preschool - at the time we had moved to a downtown apartment so I could be closer to my college campus - BIG MISTAKE! We had to move 4 months later because of the stress it caused Gage living round all the noise - the doctor had to write a letter & the landlord let us out of the lease and gave is full deposit back. What a pain tho! Anyway he went to this downtown school in a not-so-nice neighborhood and it also just happened to be this main focus for ESL kids. He was one of two Caucasian children, but the rest were Hispanic, Arabic, or Sudanese and such. There were 4 or 5 different languages, and he had speech delay! I just loved the kids in his room to death, they were all very sweet and I think it is so wonderful that they are having their needs met at that school, but it just wasn't good placement for Gage.
They also focused a lot on safety and "character" in preschool, which he could not even understand yet! They had safety days for the whole school & the ECSE sped preschool kids would just kind of have to sit there & listen but they didnt even know what was going on. There was a security gaurd in the hallway because of the crime in the area.
Anyway sorry to ramble, but I understood your point I think which was that sometimes it does cause problems for our kids. I also understand how some people think OUR kids cause problem for their "perfect" kids. Its just trying to get your needs met the best you can can really be frustrating. I have been there done that!My school district is the 3rd largest in the state of California. I have not
been required to pay for any fees. What seems to go on with our schools
is that each has its own fundraising (PTA) Our schools fundraising
basically pays for a lot of extras such as a marine science lab, new
computers for the computer lab, music classes, meet the masters, any
emergencies, some after school activities. Since my child participates in
these programs, I do not have a problem supporting them with
fundraising or funds. When you go across town in a different area, they
do not have the same benefits because fundraising is limited. They are
lucky if they all have enough books and school supplies. I feel guilty that
my child's school has so much more. I give as much of my time and
money to help raise money for scholarships. The dropout rate is very
high in LA and the surrounding area. Now if we had the solutions to make
public schools work for everybody, wouldnt that be something to talk
about?
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Paying for public school? That's rediculous. Schools get grants based on test scores and acheivements. If your school is so desperate for money, I would check into their "No child left behind" school report card. If they aren't meeting the criteria that is demanded by this law, you can get grants to take your child to a school who is meeting the standards. I live in KY. My kids hardly ever have to pay for anything. The only thing we pay for is maybe 2 dollars/person for a class picnic or something little. Their fieldtrips are always paid for and the recieve treats for free on special occassions they recieve prizes for good works. etc, Our school is an Reniassance school of acheivement and their test scores are always above par. But I highly advise parents to take a look at your school's report card and see if they are educating your child as required by law.
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I guess where I disagreed is when one minority gets pitted against
another. And yes, I have heard parents complain that because my son has
'problems' (as they put it) their daughter was getting less attention with
her reading. My son can't help his autism, esl kids can't help needing to
learn english, the kid in a wheelchair can't help needing an elevator. They
all need to be accomadated and another kid getting their needs met is
not taking from my son. The school district not meeting my son's needs
is what hurts him.
The problem is the underfunded school districts and teachers
unprepaired and unsupported for the real world diversity in their class
room. I am not going to point a finger at another minority and blame
them. Every kid deserves an appropriate education.
Micki - Thanks for writing that. Now I don't have to!
BTW, my ds learned a lot of social skills from other kids who spoke not a word of English (of course, this WAS pre-school - learnind academics wasn't the priority). His reading of non-verbal skills went WAY up because that is how the kids communicated with him! It was tough in terms of learning and he picked up some things I would rather he not have, but that will be the case wherever he goes I'm sure! But, if your child is not getting an appropriate education due to these issues, I would raise them to the administrators. Telling you that your dd HAS to learn Spanish - well, it's just WRONG! Especially for a child who had language issues with just the ENGLISH language and that is obviously documented.
Shelley, I lived in Texas BTW, but it was before kids. I do know there are a LOT of problems/issues with the educational system in a lot of places there. I hope it gets better soon!
True:)
It needs to be fair across the board for all children :)
Our BCBA went with me to our IEP and stressed big concerns over all the kids she saw in the ESE classes and wrote a note stating the negative consquenses of having Sarah at this school and possibly transferring her to another school so that all our years of therapy wouldnt go down the drain...3 years of fulltime ABA & speech..2+ years of ABA playgroup..ect..
This school is brand new and only a few blocks from my house so we are giving it a try..hopefully the kids wont notice her language quirks so much as nt typical kids:) It's a wait and see:) The needs of my child as her mom come first with me..I have to advocate what is best for her at all times..I in no way want to come off ugly..I just worry how she will be affected over time. I so want her to have a friend and am afraid this is another factor keeping her without one.
The principal told me that they don't get ANY funding per student for that extra half-day of kindergarten. They only get reimbursed for the half-day, not the full one. But she firmly believes that full-day is better for kids, especially those with special needs. This allows them more freedom to teach concepts for longer periods of time, have more fun activities, make sure that the kids get enough music, art and physical education and enough RECESS as well. I personally love her! She also has a program where the school buys healthy snacks in bulk and parents can sign up for this and pay only a year for it. Otherwise, you can send your child's snack - but only from those items on the "approved healthy" list. You cannot buy those snacks for a year personally if you tried! So, we will be signing up for that.
Otherwise, we have no fees besides school supplies - which was a lot, but not what I consider unreasonable.
I just want to say that school districts are poorly funded. I don't want to get into political discourse, but the No Child Left Behind act has made it very difficult on schools. They have to teach to tests and are punished if kids don't pass the tests. That is not true learning, in my opinion.
I know in our previous school district, they cut million from the school district because the state was so short on funds. They cut LOTS of teacher positions - usually music, phy ed, art. They got down to bare bones and have never gotten back. I WANT my child to have a good education. You have NO idea how much teachers pay out of their own pockets to provide toys, books, learning materials for their own classrooms. I don't mind buying Kleenex, baggies, etc. because I used to teach at Head Start and I bought a lot of my own toys and books to carry around with me when I went to kids' homes for my home visits. They did provide us with some, but you had to go to the office to check them out (which was a 10 mile drive one-way for me) and there were very limited supplies. I personally know several teachers and they spend a LOT of money on supplies each year. They do NOT get reimbursed for this - it comes out of their salary. In our school district, the salaries aren't bad, but they aren't huge either. And, if you have to delve into that in order to pay for supplies - well, it gets lower and lower. Yet, teachers do it every year.
That being said, I absolutely do NOT agree with asking parents to pay a month! That is outrageous! And, asking them to contact the school if they can't - this is a public school system - not a private one! I am glad to hear from tzoya that that pretty much is illegal. I'm not sure what you should do, but I have NEVER, EVER heard of this before! I have heard of fund-raisers and wish-lists like others here, but never monthly pledges! It is sad that things have come to this. I hope that the government steps up soon and starts funding schools at the level they need. Okay, I'm off my soapbox now!
This is the first year we have to pay for pre-k in my district in new jersey it will be .00 a month to go to the public school for pre-k. I do not have to pay because my son has special needs.. But other parents do of nt children and i think it is all stupid Our school taxes went up 47% in one year and they ask us for money.. Crazy.. Our school fees are .00 for ECSE and pre-k classes :) I think the older kids had to pay .00 this year.danyell782 - Public pre-school for NT kids? And only a month? Wow, I've never heard of that for NT kids. We pay over 0 a month for private pre-school for 2 days a week and almost 0 a month for 3 days a week - and this is for 2 1/2 hours a day! Pre-school is not anything that the public school system is at all required to pay for and I'm sure they get no reimbursement from the state or federal government (unless they got some kind of grant). I'm not surprised your taxes went up so much if your pre-school had previously been free. They are probably going bankrupt from funding that!
Mishy, you should not have to pay ANYTHING for ECSE. Read tzoya's post!
[QUOTE=snoopywoman]danyell782 - Public pre-school for NT kids? And only a month? Wow, I've never heard of that for NT kids. We pay over 0 a month for private pre-school for 2 days a week and almost 0 a month for 3 days a week - and this is for 2 1/2 hours a day! Pre-school is not anything that the public school system is at all required to pay for and I'm sure they get no reimbursement from the state or federal government (unless they got some kind of grant). I'm not surprised your taxes went up so much if your pre-school had previously been free. They are probably going bankrupt from funding that!
Mishy, you should not have to pay ANYTHING for ECSE. Read tzoya's post!
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Wow just read it we also get a list of supplies to purchase each year for the class room.
I wouldnt even know what to say to our school about this. I tried looking on Wisconsin IDEA 2004 site and I dont see anything about this.
danyell782 - Public pre-school for NT kids? And only a month? Wow, I've never heard of that for NT kids. We pay over 0 a month for private pre-school for 2 days a week and almost 0 a month for 3 days a week - and this is for 2 1/2 hours a day! Pre-school is not anything that the public school system is at all required to pay for and I'm sure they get no reimbursement from the state or federal government (unless they got some kind of grant). I'm not surprised your taxes went up so much if your pre-school had previously been free. They are probably going bankrupt from funding that!
Mishy, you should not have to pay ANYTHING for ECSE. Read tzoya's post!
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Our school district has a 4K program for NT kids. It's 2 1/2 hours a day. There is a nominal registriation fee. I don't recall a jump in our taxes when the school opened. There are actually a lot of 4K programs in Wisconsin. Governor Doyle supports them.
Yeah, I've heard good things about Wisconsin! My niece is in a 4K program - but I wasn't aware that it was basically free! That is awesome and good for Governor Doyle to support that![QUOTE=snoopywoman]Yeah, I've heard good things about Wisconsin! My niece is in a 4K program - but I wasn't aware that it was basically free! That is awesome and good for Governor Doyle to support that![/QUOTE]
Yup its only .00 in our District :) I'm not sure what the other fees or for others though :)
I'm going to ramble fop for a while...........I wonder where all this school
money is going too? Why should tax payer pay for more BS? This is probably
in CA? Where 3/4 of the population is illgeal. Yep, Americans suffer when
the Fed. gov. and certain states gov. allows illgeals free services. Suck the
nation dry.
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Amberwaves, this is neither accurate, nor is it appropriate to post on this
board. I'm completely offended by this rant of yours. Which is exactly why
this is not the place for political discourse.
In our town they charge for every extra activity. Every time I turn around the kids are asking for money. In district busing for kids in grades 7-12th costs 0 per a child. HS sports is very expensive. Each sport costs 6 plus uniforms and equipment per a season. We have the highest property tax rate in the area. I know some parents who work 2 jobs and are barely making it. Most states only require that children attend school from first grade through age 16. Therefore, kindergarten is optional. Most state also do not require a full day of kindergarten. However, if a particular district gives a full day of kindergarten free to NT kids, it MUST do the same for kids in spec. ed. In addition, kids who are classified into the spec. ed. system start getting a FREE APPRPROPRIATE PUBLIC EDUCATION at age 3 and can continue until age 21. That means that if it is deemed appropriate for a sped kid to get a full day of K, the parents CANNOT be forced to pay. Of course, if that child's IEP only specifies a half day and the district is willing to give a full day to NT kids whose parents pay for the extra time, then that district MUST allow the parents of the sped kid the same option. Half a day on the IEP and half a day paid in the mainstream (that is, if the IEP is only for a half a day in K and the District gives the option of a paid half day, as menationed in the pp). The point is that what your district offers to NT kids is a local decision as long as those decisions are in concert with your STATE's ed laws. For SPECIAL EDUCATION, the District must first obey the FEDERAL LAW, IDEA 2004. After that, it must obey the state's sped laws. Those two laws must be obeyed without charging the parents a dime. After that, the district is required to give sped kids the same options that are open to typical kids --- and the parents are required to pay if parents of typical kids are required to pay. The only thing that is guaranteed to be FREE for typical kids is a certain number of days in school for a certain number of hours per day and in order to meet state standards. Extracurricular activities and transportation are not NECESSARILY included in the FREE part. Those things are determined locally. HOwever, transportation is also considered a "related service" and must be included on the IEP (for free) if it is deemed necessary for a particular child to receive FAPE.
I am totally shocked - I haven't had to buy a single school supply either, although I know DS is only in 1st grade, but still. I had never heard of such a thing as a registration fee! If my kids schools start charging like that, I would rather just put them in private school! The whole reason I have them in public is because it is supposed to be FREE. I guess you learn something new everyday.
BTW MamaKat I agree, I was offended by the rant regarding illegals as well. Unfortunately I think we are in the minority when it comes to this issue! Most people around my area speak in the same way, so I do not know if Amberwaves realized it would offend. Unfortunate as that may be. I agree, the board should not involve politics but sometimes I think it can seep over into who we are and come across anyway, KWIM? Anyway I am glad that you pointed it out!Then I'm in the minority too! Talk like that needs to stay out of our forum, please.[QUOTE=Adamsmom]
My two younger sons attended 4K in the Milwaukee Public Schools. It was full day and they do not require any fee at all. They do ask for supplies, but nothing compared to the supply list we have now that we moved to the burbs.
Also if we do not pay our school fee every year, our kids don't get their report cards. Our fees sound high compared to some other states. For grade school it is per student, for middle it is , and for high school it is 5. Then if you want music it is an add'l and sports are 0 per sport, plus uniforms etc needed for your sport.
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Have mercy!
I am extremely fortunate in that the school my sons attend (and the public pre-k Jason will attend next month, hopefully) is a "special needs center" school, so according to my older boys teacher's, they get a lot of extra funding. We bought school supplies for our boys, and they tried to send them back to us, saying they had all they needed! Yikes. Well, we insisted they keep the supplies, though we did keep back an extra notebook for them to have at home.
There is absolutely no talk of fees, etc. I can't imagine a school withholding a child's REPORT CARD if a parent can't/won't pay those outrageous fees. I can sort of understand the fees for extracurricular activities, but a fee that -if you don't pay- you don't get to know what grades your children are getting? What next, no progress reports, either, or parent-teacher conferences without a consultation fee?
This makes me absolutely livid!
This might get me outcasted...but wanted to say here in Texas the minority is americans not the other way around. I am no way prejudice..my husband is Greek and my sister's husband is latin..my dad is Cherokee Indian..
They decided to make our school a bridging school for all the non english speaking students and over half of the teachers left because they didnt speak Spanish..out of the 6 kindergarten classes last year~4 of them were for non English speaking kids and about the same for this year~All the kids share specials, lunch and recess....this concerns me because of all the social skills we taught our dd will not be reinforced at all by kids that cant understand her or vice versa?
They do all annoucements in English and in Spanish..all PTA programs and ceremonies are done in both languages as well. All paperwork that comes home is in both languages..
The turnover for teachers is horrible because of all the changes made which I feel are only going to get worse.... is not so important to even learn English anymore because we have teachers to accomodate them... even the principal is Hispanic.
This gap between language may cause me to pull Sarah out if it gets worse....it's the reality here and not meant to offend anyone but I feel if so much time is spent trying to interprete back and forth to non english speaking kids and english speaking kids that my dd suffers quality time learning..IMHO..
I know this isnt the right forum but didnt want amberwaves getting a thrashing alone..I feel the same way unfortunately. Sarah went to talk to a boy and he answered her back in Spanish..this is not good for her socially at all. They just stared at each other??
I addressed my concerns and was told that it was okay~she will just have to learn spanish??
Okay I will shut up now~ dont chew me out too bad:( My two younger sons attended 4K in the Milwaukee Public Schools. It was full day and they do not require any fee at all. They do ask for supplies, but nothing compared to the supply list we have now that we moved to the burbs. Also if we do not pay our school fee every year, our kids don't get their report cards. Our fees sound high compared to some other states. For grade school it is per student, for middle it is , and for high school it is 5. Then if you want music it is an add'l and sports are 0 per sport, plus uniforms etc needed for your sport. I pay a week PER child for my kids' preschool....and they are both on IEPs. I'm paying for "extended day" which means they go 4 hours a day (other kids go 3) and they go to school on Friday (most others don't). However, with my kids being pulled out for DI, speech, etc, I think they need more time with their peers. I just got a part time job to pay for them to go to preschool -- ridiculous! Edited to note that I pulled them out of private preschool (too expensive and NO services) to put them in this public school. ShellyR- Well Said! . You wrote what I was going to post. I hope I didn't seem to be thrashing Shelley. I DO understand your concerns. But as another poster pointed out - there has to be something fair for ALL kids and no one has quite figured out how to do that yet! You have genuine concerns for your daughter and her well-being. I think I and others were just pointing out (which I'm sure you already know and feel as well) that these other kids should have programs in place for them so that they don't fall in the cracks as well. Which of course is all of our nightmares for our kids too! But, I thought it might also be interesting to note that my son wasn't seen to be nearly as different as the other kids when they couldn't exactly understand what he was saying. And therefore, he actually was included MORE (sounds kind of backwards, but this is what happened!). And, he liked learning some Spanish and Somalian - and he tried to teach the other kids some English as well. It was funny how one day he started telling one child to "use your words" as he was prone to aggression and just hitting rather than using words. Pot calling kettle, come IN kettle! Snoopy, my post wasn't in reponse to yours. I didn't think you were
Absolutely NOT! They CANNOT charge you for special education! It CANNOT be based on your income! Get the From Emotions to Advocacy book, search on www.wrightslaw.com and if need be, give them a copy of all relevant info! I'm sure tzoya will be back on to give you some advice on this one Niki! Concernedpa. No, not in my school district and they have fundraisers for money. Never heard of such a thing. My dd school's has a yearly activity fee of and I think I have seen the option of donating monthly but never a demand for it. Her school puts more pressure on to volunteer which I have done. I would do what payne's mom suggested I think. That is crazy. Tricia When my youngest son was in preschool, I got a monthy "Wish List" from the teacher. It was a list of items that the teacher could use for things like upcoming art projects. The things on the list were inexpensive, and you weren't required to send in anything. Our grade school does have fundraisers, but students are not required to participate. We do have a .00 fee when registering for school. Asking for a donation for some reason is one thing. Forcing you to contact them to explain why you won't donate is something entirely different. It's call "invasion of privacy." Special education law does say FREE appropriate public education. What's more, IDEA 2004 defines free. Free="at no cost." That means you CANNOT be charge for anything. In fact, schools are even responsible for paying for your child to have a physical or an eye exam or an audiological exam or even pay for glasses or hearing aids if your child has been shown to NEED these things in order to access FAPE. That means that they can't charge for ANYTHING that contributes to your child's education. Not even those long lists of "supplies" they send home every August. Of course, most of us are happy to provide our children with the supplies all other kids are asked to get -- it's part of the school experience. But being blackmailed into giving a "donation" is something entirely different. As far as I'm concerned, paying my rather large tax bill every year is MY "donation." Ignore the letter. We had to pay per student registration for 1st grade. We had a long list of supplies to buy, about 0 worth per child plus gym shoes to be left at school. I have no trouble buying personal supplies for my child, however many of the items were clearly "stock the classroom items" such as kleenex, diaper wipes, dry erase markers and zip lock baggies. It gets more expensive when kids get older. My SIL spent 0 to register 3 kids for high school (2 of whom are on the golf team). I'm already mad that I have to pay anything. If someone told me I had to pay a pledge I'd blow a gasket. It's not that I don't have the money, it's the principle of the thing. We do not pay an "activity fee" in our district, although we do pay individual field trip fees, which we are informed about roughly two weeks prior to the scheduled event, as well as cost, etc. We do have to supply uniforms (a whole different soapbox!), down to socks and outer coat colors. There are also numerous fundraisers throughout the year. I think this kind of pressure tactic speaks volumes about just how insane it has become. I homeschool my oldest two children but my youngest two (9 and 3-yr old) are in the public school system, with the 3-yr old in the PPCD program. School supplies for the two of them cost me over 75 dollars...and when I did the math, I was appalled. "5 boxes, 24 count #2 pencils", "1 ream copy paper", "4 boxes of Kleenex", " 3 glue"...etc. for my 9-year old. For my young son, I was told to send 3 boxes regular crayons, one large, one washable marker, etc. He is working in OT to grip a spoon/fork, and won't be ready for a regular crayon for months, although he can use the large ones with assistance to scribble. I was told the supplies were put in large bins, all together, so don't label anything with my child's name. When you take the number of items x the 20 students in the class, you wind up with 2400 pencils, 10,000 sheets of copy paper, 60 bottles of glue and 80 boxes of Kleenex. The Kleenex notwithstanding
Both my children's supplies were labeled with their names, both were sent with only what they will need for the day, and some of the "community" items - the copy and construction paper, the Kleenex, etc. and a note that stated their personal consumable items (including crayons) would remain at home and the teacher could notify me if they needed to bring something to class the next day. I will permit my children to attend carnival fundraisers at school, but I do not permit them to do the "fund-raisers" where they are to enlist their parents to coerce their co-workers (it's forbidden at my firm, anyway), or they are to go door-to-door. I contribute some supplies to charities collecting in their "back to school" drives, but I am not in the business of supplying the entire classroom. That's what my property taxes are for. (And here in our state, that's what our lottery is touted as supposedly providing!) And if the taxes aren't covering what is needed by the schools, perhaps the district needs to re-examine the extraneous staff positions they have, their administrators' salaries they pay, the perks they provide to the school board members, the amount they throw at sports activities, and the amount they are willing to pay in legal fees to avoid compliance with the IDEA. I have a suspicion they might find quite a bit of funds if they honestly re-evaluated their priorities. [QUOTE=micki]My ds is in a public school wich supposedly means a 'free and NO. And ... she wanted the check payable to ... WHO???? My ds is in a public school wich supposedly means a 'free and
danyell782 - Public pre-school for NT kids? And
only a month? Wow, I've never heard of that for NT kids. We pay
over 0 a month for private pre-school for 2 days a week and almost
0 a month for 3 days a week - and this is for 2 1/2 hours a day!
Pre-school is not anything that the public school system is at all
required to pay for and I'm sure they get no reimbursement from the
state or federal government (unless they got some kind of grant). I'm
not surprised your taxes went up so much if your pre-school had
previously been free. They are probably going bankrupt from funding
that! Mishy, you should not have to pay ANYTHING for ECSE. Read tzoya's post!
(some legal some not) and it was the best for him. He made some good
friends with a boy from mexico and a girl from china - because of the
different culture and esl my ds's 'issues' did not register so much in an
international friendship. The reason our district is in a finacial mess is
because we had 3 superintendents in 5 years( all straight white american
males if it should matter). All of whom mismanaged horribly and left with
hefty pay-outs. But I agree, let's not get started on politics.
thrashing anyone. 
I agree with everything you said 
. I know the special ed director I set up hayden eval with said it could be free or they access you and tally up per month how much you pay them, depends on income sounds like, in my case anyway.
don't blame anyone-- who has spent years of her life just trying to get
her
child to speak and understand directions--for questioning whether or not
a
placement with mostly foriegn language speakers would be a good idea.
That does not sound ugly to me.
That is a real life concern, not a prejudiced and ill-informed rant against
immigrants.
No "thrashing" from me.
PS our schools are "FREE". But our property taxes are sky high. But also,
the voters keep passing bonds and special asessments to allocate more
money to the schools, something that makes me proud to live in this
community. I feel like I can at least see where my tax dollars go, as the
schools are much better here than in surrounding areas.
I have lived in some other places where the taxes are ridiculous, and I
always thought, "where the hell is my money going?" so, I prefer it this
way.....
Here in Ma parents on kindergarteners have to pay a 2-3,000 fee if they want their child in full day kindergarten and not just the 1/2 day program. I didn' have to pay when Q went to full day K because he'swas on an IEP which stated in it that he needed the full day program. I could prolly qualify for the free lunch but Q wont tough it, he'd rather bring his lunch. All I have to pay for is the about worth of school supplies and then there will be fundraisers. Yes we have to pay an arm and a leg. Sport at school are pretty costly too.
I joined the PTK (which is the same for PTA) for my kid's school and they hold fundraisers, sell plants during certain seasons, lots of different things to raise money for the school. Now that did cost me a whole .00 to join, but at the end of the year, the children with perfect attendance get trophies, ribbons, and they go into a drawing for the top two children (one boy and one girl) and they are given brand new bikes from Wal-mart. I would definitely bring this to someone's attention and explain that you don't have an extra 0 laying around a month. There should be an easy solution for this.
sometimes I just don't know what is 'normal' anymore in all kinds of
ways.
The school wrote that the 'pledge' covers activities but per kids per
month seems too steep what they actually offer on activities. Maybe only
one in 4 households pays? 44% of kids at the school get free lunch - I
mean how could their parents afford ? . And they also do fundraisers
and wishlists and all that good stuff. I will volunteer at least 4 hours per
week. Crazy. I might give a month and see what happens.
I talked to my friend again (she lives in a very wealthy part of San Fran)
and she says she feels it is the PTA pushing for the 0 a month and
that they have a lot of high end activities. But it seems like most of the
parents have extra money and don't mind paying it.
Still I hate all this pressure. Having a special needs kid comes with a lot of
private costs and I I don't like to feel like I am a drain on the school
system as well by not being able to pay much extra.
appropriate' education. I got a letter yesterday saying that they request a
minimum 'pledge' per month from every family. People not being
able to pledge were told to contact the school ! Apart from they also
hold a number of fundraisers.
While I realize that schools are hurting (a whole nother topic) I was really
put off by this pressure tactic. We do not have extra money laying around
but we will cough up the extra because as a parent of a special ed
kid there is more pressure to be a 'team player parent' as it is.
I complained about this to a friend in CA and she said her public school
requests a monthly pledge of 0. Whhhaaat??!!
Is this common. Anyone elses school requesting money like this?[/QUOTE]
appropriate' education. I got a letter yesterday saying that they request a
minimum 'pledge' per month from every family. People not being
able to pledge were told to contact the school ! Apart from they also
hold a number of fundraisers.
While I realize that schools are hurting (a whole nother topic) I was really
put off by this pressure tactic. We do not have extra money laying around
but we will cough up the extra because as a parent of a special ed
kid there is more pressure to be a 'team player parent' as it is.
I complained about this to a friend in CA and she said her public school
requests a monthly pledge of 0. Whhhaaat??!!
Is this common. Anyone elses school requesting money like this?wow Ive never heard of that before. Our public schools just have fundraisers to earn money and of course there are school fees in the beginning of the school year.
[QUOTE=snoopywoman]
Yep i agree they probaly are going banckrupt.. They were going to take
Pre-k out of the school and all the parents were in a up roar and we
voted on it and it passed the budget but with the exception that they
would charge .00 a month to go to Pre-k.. I guess that isn't so
bad.. My sister was paying 0.00 a month to send her son to day vare
until full day kindergarden this year.
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