Hillbilly Mom Rants Again

Tomorrow is the kids' first day of school. I have been getting stuff
together at the last minute, stuff I found out Tuesday night after
Open House that they need. Silly me, to take the list they handed
out at the end of July, and buy what I thought they were supposed
to have. Which brings me to a rant on school supplies...

Sorry in advance if I offend anybody, but I don't know why my
kids have to drag half of Wal*Mart to school with them the first
day. I pity the poor kids who ride the bus. My #2 son's supplies
weigh more than he does. I forgot them this morning, but the plan
had been for me to drop off the stuff in his classroom today, so
tomorrow he would only have his backpack. His heavy backpack.
Now I will have to walk him in and carry two heavy Wal*Mart
bags as well.

For third grade, my boy needs 4 spiral notebooks, a pack of
loose-leaf paper, a 3-ring binder, scissors, glue, 24 pencils, an
eraser, two dry-erase markers, a ruler, a plastic pocket folder,
5 regular pocket folders, colored pencils, a pencil pouch, a box
of baby wipes, two boxes of Kleenex, a box of Ziploc bags,
and a magazine rack. I'm sure I've left things out. I am just doing
a mental inventory of his backpack, not reading from his list.

My 6th grader needs just the basics of spiral notebooks, pens
and pencils, and two boxes of Kleenex and 4 packs of loose-
leaf paper.

Here's my gripe. There are 36 weeks in a school year. Sure,
some are short weeks, so it will look like more, but of the time
they are in school, it is 36 weeks. How many freakin' boxes
of Kleenex do these people need? Helloooooooo! I am not
unfamiliar with the inside of a classroom. I buy my own Kleenex.
In the severest cold season, I go through 1 box a week. Most
of the time, a box will last me a month or more. If there are
20 kids in a 3rd grade classroom, that is 40 boxes. But wait!
The scandal becomes even more shocking when you consider
that in 6th grade, the kids travel to different classrooms each
class period. Say there are 80-100 kids in grade 6, depending
on the year and how big that group is. If every kid that teacher
has brings 1 box of Kleenex, that is 80 boxes. Even if that
teacher has the kids twice a day, that is still between 40 and
50 boxes for the year. I can't imagine any work being done,
what with kids traipsing willy-nilly to the Kleenex box all hour.

What is this, some Kleenex black-market ring? Do these teachers
have a deal with some professional float-builders? What gives?
Sure, I have smaller classes, but I can go days without a kid
needing a Kleenex. I don't get it.

Another thing...one year, I bought the stuff on one of the boys'
lists, and I picked out the stuff he wanted. Which is saying that
I didn't just buy the cheapest stuff available. He picked out
colors of pencils, and his folders, and erasers, etc. Then, I
noticed that some of the stuff he brought home was not what
I'd sent. I asked him about it. He said the teacher just put all
that stuff in the supply closet, and took it out when they needed
it. So he didn't get his own stuff, it was given out randomly.
That does not set well with me.

I know that some people can not afford all the stuff on the list.
There are resources and agencies that can provide that for them.
Our school social worker even announced at our meeting that
if we noticed kids who didn't have what they needed, to email
her, and she would get it. She has a fund for that stuff. I am
petty (only one letter from PRETTY!) HM today. I don't like
the idea that the teachers ask for 40 boxes of Kleenex, with
the hopes that maybe they'll get 20. I don't like footing the bill
for others. And that is what I feel like I am doing with some of
this stuff. Who needs 20 boxes of Ziploc bags? What about the
20 boxes of baby wipes? Are they doing community service,
roving around and wiping random babies' butts? I use less than
one box a year, and that is cleaning my white board, cleaning
desks, and letting kids clean their white shoes if they get scuffed.
Why do they need 40 dry-erase markers? I've used the same set
of 6 for over two years now. Put the caps back on them, people!
I'm thinking they ask for so much hoping to get just a part of it.

I am not an evil ogre. When the school sells ice cream for $.50 on
Fridays, do I not give my kid $1 and say he can give the other
$.50 to a kid who doesn't have it? Do I not send $2 on $1 pizza
day? Do I not bring treats to my own students? (And the Gummi
Mary appeared, for real!) Do I not purchase my own Kleenex
(for two classrooms, mind you!) instead of making the kids bring it,
or setting out a roll of the school toilet paper like some teachers?
(I know you remember who I'm talking about, Mabel!) It is one
thing to need stuff, it is another to take advantage of the system,
and act like you're entitled.

Oh, I always send it, because I can. I am fortunate that I can afford
it. But I become irritated when the kids who never have pencils or
paper, and brag about getting free lunch and breakfast, spend $2
a day at the snack bar for chips and candy and soda (as well as
taking their free lunch, a $1.25 value), and say they always just go
to the ER when they need a doctor's excuse for too many absences,
because it's free for them, and tell me about getting back $4000 at
tax refund time, and talk about their 4-wheelers and big screen TVs
and PlayStations and swimming pools and wear $100 skater shoes.
My kids wear $15 Wal*Mart shoes!

But they have 2 boxes of Kleenex to take to school tomorrow!