When I got my little one ready for his first kindergarten class in August, I looked twice at the list they had given me of all the supplies that they felt my son needed to appear ready for: crayons, glue sticks, safety scissors, trash. bags, Clorox Kleenex, paper towels, you know, your list of routine supplies for preschoolers. When I first saw the list, all I could do was wonder what kind of kindergarten crafts they should have in mind to use garbage bags. It was good that I waited and asked the teachers what they were doing. It turns out that all the tax breaks they’ve been giving the rich have cost so much to the budget that my district schools in Tennessee no longer even had enough for basic items like janitorial supplies and finally snacks. . One of my neighbors has Windex on her children’s list so the janitor can clean the school windows.
And apparently this is a trend that is here to stay. Go to any back-to-school sale at a major stationery store like OfficeMax or Office Depot and you’ll likely see garbage bags, Windex, Clorox, and baby wipes alongside the pens and notepads. What we have traditionally been raised to expect from the school district is set to change. If you look it up on the internet, there are the weirdest requests popping up in schools as different as Washington state, Colorado, Illinois, New York, and elsewhere. For back-to-school retailers who see the school season as nothing less than a windfall, the opportunity to sell cleaning supplies to parents in addition to kindergarten craft supplies is like a second season of vacation – paper. toilet, paper plates, mops, printer. Paper, even an office LCD monitor can go in a youngster’s school bag these days.
Parents who are used to buying nothing but kindergarten craft supplies for their preschoolers have been watching these lists grow for years. It began when schools in states like Florida began to go around asking for donations from local businesses and community leaders. If collections sometimes fall short, it will often be the teachers who make up the shortfall, with their own salary. Teachers, who make perhaps $ 30,000 a year, put up with this for two reasons: Teachers are a genuinely generous bunch, and they also know that if they don’t contribute funds from time to time, the school will feel obligated. pay from your own budget and make up for one or two teaching positions.