What’s next on back-to-school supply lists? Mops and floor polish?
Now, back-to-school supply shopping can be a costly event. (AP Images)
Given the number of cleaning products showing up on back-to-school school supply lists, a friend jokes that she expects to see mops, brooms and floor polish next.
Over the years, I’ve seen school supply lists go well beyond pencils, paper and glue to paper towels, Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer.
As the number of items on back-to-school lists have increased, so have complaints about them.
As a reader said in a note to me:
My friends are complaining the lists are very costly and they are being asked to buy multiples of items such a scissors. Are schools asking more of parents, are fewer parents sending supplies or are parents just more strapped for cash? I’ve just never seen so much chatter and my complaining friends live in the most affluent county in the state. I wonder if the lists are affecting families in other areas even more. Do parents become detached when they can’t even fill the first requests of the school?
On my neighborhood listserv, I learned that my local elementary school has adopted what News/Talk WSB personality and AJC columnist Neal Boortz derides as a conspiracy to inculcate children with a tolerance of government control of property rights: The teacher puts all school supplies into a common pool used by all students. (As one parent commented: “In other words, don’t buy your child the Spiderman folder; he’s not going to be able to use it.”)
This wasn’t the case when my four children went through elementary school. (And they attended at a time when the percentage of low-income students in the school was higher than it is today.) Yes, we bought tissues, paper towels, Ziplock bags and hand sanitizer to share, but kids kept their own folders, markers and pencils.
With all the financial challenges facing schools today, I am not going to quibble about back-to-school supply lists. I dutifully go out and buy everything that’s listed, even though I’ve found that some stuff never gets used. (I still have some two pocket/pronged folders and six pocket dividers with tabs sitting around.)
But the ever expanding lists have become a point of contention among some parents.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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178 comments Add your comment
2nd grade teacher
July 28th, 2011
9:53 am
I think its a little ridiculous that so many cleaning supplies are asked for. I don’t have a problem asking for tissues or hand sanitizer though. Hand sanitizer is used before snacks, bday treats and lunch. Tissues…well that goes with out saying. Our only community supplies are pencils (unless they are special decorated ones, then I have the kids keep those). Pencils are community because they DRIVE ME CRAZY. If I let them keep those pencils, they would be constantly playing with them, sharpening them and losing them.
www.honeyfern.org
July 28th, 2011
10:12 am
Some of these comments seem so selfish. How will we teach our kids to share if this is what we put forth? Oh, the outcry of “socialism!” and “lazy parents!” but what are we teaching our kids?
Also, I don’t know a teacher alive who would look at your generic hand sanitizer or tissues and refuse to take them for the class. Spending more than $30 on school supplies is just poor budgeting (until you get into scientific calculators). If you don’t want to buy your kid a $40 backpack every year, don’t. It is simple. Or wait until the week after school starts to buy it. Kids don’t have a ton of books to start with, and everything goes on sale.
School supply list from Lovinggood, with prices, all found on sale recently:
SS: sturdy spiral notebook (Mead 5-star or similar, 3 subject)
$1
•Math, Science, & LA: three 1½ inch 3-ring binders (I’d hold off on these and buy one for all three to start, but if you buy all, $10)
$10 on sale and with coupons
· graph paper (can share with a package with a friend)
$2
· composition book
$1 (or less)
· tab dividers, pockets preferred
$3
· blue or black pens, pencils, hand-held sharpener with cover, pencil pouch
$5 TOTAL
· colored pencils
$1
· glue sticks
(pointless, and I wouldn’t buy them They dry out. Check with the teacher)
· dry erase markers
$2 at Staples this week
· USB flash drive
$5 at Staples
· box of tissues for homeroom
.88 cents at Kroger
Dr NO
July 28th, 2011
10:24 am
“So, you’re saying we should punish children because of the actions of adults? Do you really believe this?”
The point being. If the parent doesnt care about the child then why should anyone else. These freebies can go on indefinitely. Should we purchase automobile for all the poor 16 year old childen because their parents cant afford to do so.
Any supplies for my child would stay with my child and any teacher be damned and I had many a conversation with my sons teachers when he was in school.
Those haughty teachers sure backed off their stance when confronted with Dr NO.
Dr NO
July 28th, 2011
10:26 am
“Community supplies.” Oh yea. Whats mine is yours and whats yours is mine. Good idea. Lets start the young ones off with being as irresponsible as possible and also enforce a little socialism/big brotherhood along the way.
momofboys
July 28th, 2011
10:27 am
We got the welcome back to school packet in the mail the other day which instructed us to check the website for the school supply lists. I printed out the list for my 5th grader (nothing unexpected on it) and then printed out the list for my youngest who will be starting kindergarten. I didn’t even look at it until it shot out of the printer. This is what it said: ” The PTA will purchase school supplies for kindergarten and first grade. The cost is $100.” Yes, you read that right. $100 and NO choice to get the darn things myself. They didn’t even tell me what we needed. That bugs me!
tim
July 28th, 2011
10:29 am
@libincobb…….NEWS FLASH THERE’s NO REQUIREMENT to buy ANY school supplies. Are the school supply police going to kick your kid out? Are they going to artrest you?
GULLIBLE!
$1200 a year spent by a teacher? DOUBLE GULLABLE! The jokes on you.
Elizabeth
July 28th, 2011
10:29 am
I stopped buying school supplies for use by students years ago. I cannot afford it. When I maek assignments, I always have an option that requires no materials except pencil/pen/paper. And I do NOT provide those. I have scissors for use but students must lend me a shoe to use a pair. Otherwise they disappear. Markers, crayons, glue, etc. are the student’s responsibility if they want to use them.
When I tried to provide hand sanitizer and Kleenex, they were gone in a week. Now kids use school toilet paper and restrooms between classes to wash hands. I keep my personal supplies in my desk. I use school cleaning products to clean desk. If the school does not provide them, I don’t clean anything but my area. I do not lend pencils and paper unless the schol provides them for me to lend. I got tired of funding extras that I should not have to spend my money to buy. I provide materials for my own children but not for others. My salary just does not stretch that far anymore. another casualty of furloughs and pay freezes and pay cuts and underfunding. The supplies I buy are to make my job easier, not to provide what parents need to buy and not what the job should provide.
tim
July 28th, 2011
10:35 am
@ELIZABETH….good for you!
long time educator
July 28th, 2011
10:45 am
Parents,
Take all this energy and attend your school council meetings as well as PTA. You certainly have a right to ask all the money questions you want at a school council meeting and find out how the line items are allocated by your local school. The state of GA has given parents alot of power in these councils, but you are not using it. Your administrators have to listen to you and explain the budget. If you are a Title I school, there is a huge pot of money that is honestly hard to spend unless it is all going to salaries, but even that is a local school decision. If you are a Title I school, all supplies can be bought out of this pot of money and should be, if that is the biggest issue to give the poor kids a more level playing field. Also, every school should put on every solicitation for field trips or any request for money, that this is voluntary and no child will be penalized for not paying. The school is required to supply the supplies if the child comes with none. The school can charge for lost text books and library books. Now, the flip side of this is that schools have become accustomed to having these things supplied outside the budget, so when it becomes a budget item, it will reduce the amount of money available to spend on textbooks, test prep Coach booklets, etc.
Tonya C.
July 28th, 2011
11:02 am
long time educator:
As to the field trips, the children are penalized. If not enough money is collected, the trip is canceled. If that isn’t a penalty to the responsible parents I don’t know what is. I just joined my daughter’s school council, and actually saw the budget. I don’t like some of the things on there, but it is pretty well-written based on the priorities of the entire school.
long time educator
July 28th, 2011
11:04 am
The thing that riles me the most about this money issue, is that some parents WILL NOT pay for lunch and will not supply lunch. In an elementary school, no administrator wants the bad PR of a TV newscrew asking why we allowed a kid to go without lunch, so most elementary schools allow charging. I am not talking about poor kids; if they are poor, lunch is free or reduced already. I am talking about a family who took their kids out of school to go to Disney World but would not pay an over $200 lunch charge. Because the lunch program is federal, I have been told they cannot operate in the red, so the school office has to pay the charges and try to collect from the parents. The pot of money used is local school funds, supplied by fundraisers and ice cream sales. Ask your principal how much they had to pay in charges last year; one school in my district had to pay several thousand. So again the good volunteer parents out there raising money for the school are paying for the deadbeat parents. I guess we could take them to small claims court, but my district has been unwilling to do this. This is not fair!
Really???
July 28th, 2011
11:04 am
Are these people who can afford it really worried about school supply lists? I can say is you really don’t have any worries if this is a worry for you. I am sickened by the selfish attitude of some people. If you cannot afford the school supplies then my sympathies are with you. But if you are complaining and can easily afford the items on the list, then shame on you. You are upset that your child will not get the Spider Man folder that you bought? Really? How about teaching your child a lesson that we are contibuting to our classroom to make it a better place for everyone? This is a life lesson that contributing to society is good for everyone. Or is that too socialist for you? If you want to teach a selfish lesson then by all means complain in front of your child. Think about it next time your complain…what life lesson are you teaching?
Batgirl
July 28th, 2011
11:10 am
Many years ago I switched from Kleenex to TP after I had one kid in one class period go through a box of tissues in three days. When I was in the classroom (8th grade), we did not do anything that required glue sticks, crayons, colored pencils, etc. I only required paper, pencil/pen and a notebook.
Parents, buy what you can afford or are willing to provide. If you want your children to use tissues rather than TP for their runny noses, then put a couple of those small packets in their backpacks. Same with hand sanitizer. If you feel compelled to buy cleaning supplies, buy generic. I find it hard to believe that the teachers will not accept generic. Also, buy whatever amount you want to. If it’s 20 glue sticks, great. If it’s just enough to put in your kid’s backpack, that’s fine, too.
I wonder if businesses such as Staples, Office Depot, etc. would be willing to set up in-school stores during open house. This would save parents/teachers from trekking from one store to another to get supplies and maybe it would encourage the slacker parents to at least buy a few things for their kids.
oneofeach4me
July 28th, 2011
11:12 am
OMG why so much drama around school supplies? I buy what I can on the list, and not always in the quantities asked for nor the brand specified. There is no law that says you have to adhere strictly to the listed items nor quantities. The school itself provides an overall grade list, but each teacher is different. When it comes to the special stuff my daughter wants (binder, pencil bag, folder)… we buy that for her about a month after school has started to ensure it stays with her. If the teacher requests more supplies throughout the year, I go to the nearest dollar store and send it in. I DO NOT buy ZIPLOC baggies, I get the Walmart brand cause that is what I use at home and it works just fine.
I don’t get my panties all in a wad because some of my child’s excess may go to a child who’s parent hasn’t bought supplies, whatever the reason may be. As long as my child has gotten what she needs I am good. If another child benefits because my daughter has sent in an extra pack of paper, so be it. What are we talking, maybe an excess of like $5 bucks? Is that really something to get upset about? There has never been an excessive request for supplies from any teacher my child has had thus far. Take care of your own, and if someone else’s child benefits from you taking care of yours, relax. It’s not the end of the world. It is only a pencil, or crayon, or folder for goodness sakes.
long time educator
July 28th, 2011
11:15 am
Tonya,
You are right in that a field trip is often canceled if not enough money comes in, but what the statement means is that no individual child will be penalized for not paying. They are not allowed to take all the paying children on a trip and leave the poor ones at school. If the field trip happens, all the children in the class are allowed to go, regardless of whether they paid. If there is not enough money, no one goes. However, resourceful people can usually find a way to help those free and reduced children go: business partner sponsorship, Title I money, etc. Some vendors ask for the number of free and reduced students and give a different rate or allow them to attend free. You have to ask. This does not help with the deadbeat parents mentioned in my post on lunch charges; they don’t mind that their lack of participation prevents the whole class from going on the trip, but this is not the school’s fault.
GASouthernGradGirl
July 28th, 2011
11:18 am
Batgirl: We usually get tissue donated by parents at the beginning of the year. It always runs out right around the time cold and flu season kicks in. I refuse to buy more tissue for the students; we just use those rough paper towels the school provides. After a few days of wiping their noses raw with those things someone always sends in a few boxes.
susan
July 28th, 2011
11:24 am
@ momofboys: I suggest you ask the school what that $100.00 is going to cover.
Get a life!
July 28th, 2011
11:34 am
Dr NO. Wow…did you really just write if the parents don’t care about the child then why should we???? We are talking about a child here. I guess you would have a baby starve to death if the mom is strung out on crack. I am not surprised that a person has this attitude..just that someone could write it down and not think about how cruel this philosophy is. Your analogy about the car for a 16 year old is hyperbole. No one is suggesting that you buy a car for a 16 year old. Maybe you should realize that not all welfare children end up being on welfare. Even if you don’t have an ounce of compassion, maybe you should look at it as being in society’s best interest to educate children so that they have a better chance of becoming a productive members of society. And ff the teachers backed off from you maybe it was because you sound a little scary. I guess it makes you feel powerful that you are so tough and teachers are afraid of you. I get the point about supplies getting out of hand. Buy what you want, tell the teacher that this is all you can afford, and volunteer your time to help the teacher any way you can. As a teacher I really find some of these comments about $100 donations and name brands being required hard to believe. But then again I do not teach in an affluent area. And if you feel they are asking for things that are not necessary and wasteful, then approach the teacher and ask about it. Maybe parents could be given a choice of providing a monetary amount or supplies. I am not understanding all the stress about the common supplies. Is your child really that concerned about this? Or are you the one who is concerned about it? What is wrong with your child having his/her own pencil and also contributing a few to those who do not have any? If your child is really worried about contributing to the common good then I certainly hope he/she never needs anything from a fellow classmate. If we would all try to be part of a solution, then maybe things would change. I would not recommend approaching the teacher as Dr No does, however.
susan
July 28th, 2011
11:47 am
Face it, the reason for the anger is that there are ALWAYS parents who will not provide for their kids in school – regardless of income. I have seen it first hand in my daughter’s school – which I have been very involved in.
And I know the struggle to provide for the extras in school – having worked all of my life – i was laid off two years ago, found another job and am now laid off again.
I made sure I was able to come up with the money for my daughter’s school projects, trips, etc. She brings lunch to school every day. She is always prepared for class. And I donate what I can in the form of “teacher” supplies ie. expo, vis-a-vis, etc.
The fact is is that there are those who are too lazy and know that others will pick up the slack. All of this anger is directed toward THOSE people! Unless they are called out – they will continue to take advantage and let others do their job.
Personally, I think their names should be posted in a letter to the parents. During the first week of school – or for other situations warranting it – send home a note to ALL parents showing who has sent in the required items and who has not. In my experience, if a parent tells the teacher, or PTA, or room mom that they are having a hard time economically – items are provided for the child, in a private manner. WE have always given the opportunity for parents/students not to participate in things, or to let us know if there is hardship. It’s the fact that some parents don’t respond to anything -knowing that someone will pick up their slack. THOSe are the parents that need to be called out. Maybe if they know they will be held accountable, they will change their ways.
momofboys
July 28th, 2011
11:48 am
@get a life: I’m not sure why you think we would lie about this. I thought $100 with no explanation was a bit excessive. We are in an APS school in Buckhead. I don’t think people on here are saying that they don’t want to help the needy kids, they are saying they don’t want to reward the lame parents who can afford the supplies but choose not to send them in.
Milo
July 28th, 2011
11:54 am
I am going to make some if not most of you mad.
Yes bugeting needs to be done correctly.
I pay school taxes and do not have any kids to send to school. The people in the Apartment complex across the road do not pay school tax because they do not own any property. I say, if you have a little “Darlin” in school, you need to pay %100 of the cost, there should not be a school tax on my property tax payment every year.
As for the teachers buying these supplies, (I know they are needed) they should not. Let the kids do without, let them fail and then the school admin’s can tell the school board why.
MsE
July 28th, 2011
11:56 am
I work at a Charter MS is California. We don’t give huge supply list before school. We tell the students as they are registering the types of notebooks need for each class, the color pens for each class, folders, and calculators. The students are also told that these are NOT communal items. We supply some things, like composition books to the students, through grants based on our charter.
However on this same registration day, as parents are visiting their child’s classroom, many of us have a easel in the doorway with sticky notes. Each sticky note has one item that the individual teacher may need and it’s made clear that these things are communal. I personally choose the stuff that I haven’t already bought and I set my budget for buying stuff of no more than $150. My thought is that either the PTA will reimburse me (sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t) or I can write it off my taxes (teachers can write off at least $250 in items spent). In either case, the parent may choose to pick a sticky note and buy the product or ignore the board all together. Whatever sticky notes are left, I’ll buy those items at a later date, but most of the notes are taken anyway. This works well with our school because we have a lot of low SES kids and their parents are willing to buy one item like sanitizing wipes at Walgreens 2 for $3 or a pack of construction paper at Target for $2 versus $100 for multiple items.
susan
July 28th, 2011
11:59 am
@ getalife: common supplies is not voluntary sharing – it is forced sharing. my guess is that common supplies, in general, are not as well cared for or respected as those that are “owned” by an individual. In order for children to learn to respect their valuables and learn to share VOLUNTARILY, they need to be given the choice to share.
Has anyone also considered that some basic supplies are bought for a reason? Scissors, for example, are lefty and righty. Pencils – I spend extra for pencils that have erasers that actually work and don’t leave a big, half erased smear on the paper.
Another consideration: with all of the sneezing, coughing, mucus that goes on in the classrooms – do you REALLY want communal supplies? It seems to me that that is a great way to spread the germs around!
Additionally – having your own supplies teaches you to be prepared for class, responsibility, and not to play with the things in your desk!
I stopped allowing the communal thing when there weren’t enough crayons to go around the first week of school and my daughter had to share with someone the only box of rose art crayons -that dont work! And yes, she was upset because she shopped with me for the crayolas. It wasn’t a matter of the sharing that was the problem -she always shares – but that what had been bought for her was taken and she was left with nothing.
sloboffthestreet
July 28th, 2011
12:04 pm
Milo, You must have forgot just how much fun it was to be young, or wasn’t it?
Van Jones
July 28th, 2011
12:11 pm
The problem lies in one place only – the school boards. They collect millions (maybe billions) of dollars and spend spend spend. I have no problem with an experienced teacher making $75k but I DO have a problem with an administrator or super making $200k. I know, I know – people say they are running a large company. No they are not – they set the tax rate for the revenue they want. I WISH things worked like that at my company!
Patrick Crabtree
July 28th, 2011
12:15 pm
Yes, teachers spend personal dollars. I have spend thousands and one doesn’t have to if one wants a bad evaluation. To do their job, teachers need to spend to provide portfolios (required, but not provided), bulletin boards done each month (required, not provided), copies to reproduce performance tasks (not provided, they consider dittos as low level, but needed to perform the task), and the list goes on. The past governor has underfunded the QBE for 4 years. Don’t blame educators.
Here is a fact. EVERY child is promised a free public education. Free is the key word. The Supreme Court ruled that schools may NOT charge for supplementary material UNLESS it is for an elective course. Technically, if a course is required, then schools cannot demand even pencil and paper. This is not practical, but is the law. If parents don’t want to supply tissues, don’t. The alternative is that we will cut teachers and instruction to supply these materials. We get what we pay for. The buck stops with the legislators.
Dr NO
July 28th, 2011
12:20 pm
momofboys
July 28th, 2011
10:27 am
Tell them to “Go To Hell.”
Dr NO
July 28th, 2011
12:21 pm
Milo
July 28th, 2011
11:54 am
BRAVO!! I love it!
Hey Teacher
July 28th, 2011
12:21 pm
We are not allowed to ask for supplies of any kind at the high school level (other than asking students to bring pen and paper to class every day) — not sure why the elementary schools still get away with it.
atlmom
July 28th, 2011
12:23 pm
milo: you are kidding right? people who rent pay property taxes. The property owner prices that into the rent. If they don’t then they are not so very bright.
Dr. Who
July 28th, 2011
12:36 pm
Why cant we just make school voluntary!
MiltonMan
July 28th, 2011
12:36 pm
GBTT – prime example of why my respect for teachers is low.
Since you seem to know me so well and label me as not being compassionate, please, oh please, tell me how much I have donated in time & money just within the past year (please do not include the following):
2 week mission trip to Peru. Took 2 Army duffle bags of children shoes, clothes, sport items, etc.
100+ volunteer hours supporting North Metro Miracle League
Host home for foreign exchange student
Volunteered as Asst coach for local baseball & softball team
Active member of local American Legion Post & help deliver food & needed items to shut-ins.
etc.
etc.
Your labeling is rather pathetic.
ScienceTeacher671
July 28th, 2011
12:38 pm
Personally, I think each student should have his/her own pocket pack of Kleenex, as well as one of those tiny bottles of hand sanitizer, each and every day in his/her purse or pocket. Of course, that’s in an ideal world, which doesn’t exist….
MiltonMan
July 28th, 2011
12:39 pm
Really??? – yet another teacher who thinks that “rich” parents should buy products for the whole class. He/She proudly displays an Obama sticker on his/her car in the school parking lot.
ITP Mom
July 28th, 2011
12:47 pm
My children’s school asks for a Supply Fee of $20 or so. When we attend the Orientation before school, the supplies that the money is purchasing are laid out on a table in the classroom for the parents to see. I am happy to pay the $20 to NOT have to go to the store and do the Treasure Hunt for the items on a list and I would pay more.
As for other items…..For the teachers who are educating my children – I make it clear to them that whatever supplies they need for their classrooms during the course of the year (tissues, wipes, hand sanitizer, pens, markers, etc.), to please let me know and I will get it for them. I know other parents do the same.
Our school has a code of conduct and our school teaches our children to respect each other, the materials and supplies, and the school. In general, it works pretty well.
Milo
July 28th, 2011
12:48 pm
Apartment complex’ do not pay school tax.
duder
July 28th, 2011
12:51 pm
Silly public school problems…..
KMHSmom
July 28th, 2011
12:51 pm
Most of these comments are missing one vital point. The reason folks don’t like the “common supplies” issue is not because they are stingy or don’t want to help the poor or lazy parents out. It is because it is an affront to our freedom. Freedom to make our own choices with our own money; to set our own priorities on how to spend our own money; and to decide for ourselves how to teach our children about budgeting, making good choices, giving to charity and why and how we fund our government.
Tonya C.
July 28th, 2011
12:57 pm
ScienceTeacher671:
That’s what I’m dong this year. That communal supply stuff is CRAP to me. We have been dead broke but always managed to find a way to provide the necessities for our kids. One year we had to buy school supplies TWICE because we moved and the old school told us that the $75 worth of supplies we’d provided went into the communal bin. Never again. As the next one start K, this year, she will have a pencil box with all the things she needs in her bookbag at all times. I will check her bookbag weekly to make sure it’s stocked.
I teach my kids to share as a parent. It is apart of my moral compass and good standards of behavior. But forced sharing ain’t sharing at all.
Tychus Findlay
July 28th, 2011
12:57 pm
Last year, my son was asked to “donate” his personal property to the communal classroom pool. He, of his own accord, did not (largely due to his affinity for an Iron Man notebook) sacrifice his personal property rights to government seizure. A note was sent home and two days later a call ensued when the note was not signed and sent back, indicating his lack of cooperation.
At the age of 9, I couldn’t be more proud of him.
high school teacher
July 28th, 2011
1:22 pm
“The budget is what it is…Make it happen! I am NOT one for a tax increase…I’m for responsible budgeting. Households have to do it; our governmental entities should have to do it, too. Making difficult choices is part of life.”
Sk8ing Momma, the difference is that you have control of your budget. If the income changes for your family, you pretty much know it and you can change your lifestyle. Just this morning, I was looking through the 19 newspaper pages of foreclosure notices for our county (but the economy’s getting better, right?). We can’t just stop teaching a certain number of children because the tax revenue is down. We have to do what we do. In your words, it is what it is.
I will say that in our county we have a list of required supplies (pencils, notebooks, etc), and then we have a wish list. I’m a high school teacher and still need Kleenex and Clorox wipes, but I put them on a wish list. Parents who don’t want to provide them don’t have to.
high school teacher
July 28th, 2011
1:23 pm
Oh, and because I know that most supplies are communal, I buy the $.15 cent folders instead of the $1.68 folders with special characters on them. One of my son’s teachers requested folders of a specific color, which is much cheaper than Iron Man or Phineas and Ferb.
true colors.
July 28th, 2011
1:26 pm
MiltonMan you are such a hypocrite. You accuse one writer of “knowing you so well” then you make an assumption to another that He/she has an Obama sticker. How do you know that teacher so well as to assume what political party he/she belongs to??? Are you perhaps showing your prejudice? And since you paint all teachers with the same brush stroke by saying your respect for teachers is at an all time low, you are really showing your inclination to see the negative in people who are not like you. You really should home school your children if you have such a low regard for teachers. That way you can control everything about their lives and they won’t be exposed to people who have views different than you. I don’t think anyone on her has said that “rich parents” should buy for poor students. But one would think that rich parents would be compassionate and understanding toward students who don’t have school supplies for whatever reason. Some of you are showing ideology that you better hope doesn’t come back to bite you. These comments by some of the readers about government seizure are a little concerning….
Dr NO
July 28th, 2011
1:32 pm
The issue here is people who donate have become sickened with all the freebies given away to the lazies…welfare, free lunch programs, WIC and now school supplies.
Our “Family 2 Family” boxes here at work, of which we have many and are about 3′ x 3′ x 3″ have remained empty with the exception of a few cheap folders. And that makes me feel good.
Let the “will nots” and “refuseniks” fend for themselves. Im tired of tossing good money after bad for these deadbeats and their children.
Tychus Findlay
July 28th, 2011
12:57 pm
Tychus…Iron Man rocks. I salute your son and his independent thinking!!!
Dr NO
July 28th, 2011
1:34 pm
“you are really showing your inclination to see the negative in people”
And you are showing your niavete’. Dont confuse realism or fact with negativity. There is a huge difference.
Dr NO
July 28th, 2011
1:36 pm
Obama and his lemmings could learn from the following…
“Millions for charity but not one penny for tribute”
sloboffthestreet
July 28th, 2011
1:38 pm
Would whoever is in charge please read this?
http://biology.about.com/od/microbiology/a/handsanitizers.htm
And yes, IRONMAN does rock!! It’s true. Justin Beiber, not so much, but I’m a guy and I’m old.
Dr NO
July 28th, 2011
1:41 pm
Really???
July 28th, 2011
11:04 am
So you prefer a society of socialism/communism. Make no mistake. Those that can afford it have NO responsibility to provide for any other than theirs and there family and have probably sacrificed to get a little ahead. The deadbeats can sink or swim on their own and honestly I dont care which.
All these people driving SUV and getting food stamps, free school lunch etc. Bums just bums everyone of them.
Digger
July 28th, 2011
1:43 pm
The mops and floor polish are tools for learning. Gotta teach these kids SOME skills for the future.
Dr NO
July 28th, 2011
1:44 pm
Slob…below is from the article you referened…
“She notes that the research shows that hand sanitizers do not significantly reduce the number of bacteria on the hand and in some cases may potentially increase the amount of bacteria on the hand.:”
LMAO!! I knew it….SUCKERS!!