My children's school is big on fundraising. The first fundraiser of the year allowed students to go to Hickory Dickory Dock for the day if they sell a certain amount of products. Our current one will allow students to spend the day at a MEGAparty involving blow-up slides, jumping machines, music, cotton candy...the works...a kid's dream! The problem? If you look inside the classrooms on these days, you will find students whose parents can not afford to participate in fundraisers...mostly Hmong, recent Mexican immigrants, low income white and black students or kids with single parents. The question is, which is more important? More money in school supplies at the price of emotionally abusing our neediest children, or less money earned with the focus on children first??? I brought this to the attention of the principal whose reply was "We thank you for supporting our school fundraisers and the necessary evils they create." Any opinions????

Rosanna, I can totally understand your perspective. I've seen the same thing at my school. Although we have less of a socio-economic divide, it always seems that the "haves" are more prone to victories in these contests than the "have-nots". I don't know what the solution is here, but I do know that the principal has an obligation, under ISLLC Standard 5, to provide equal opportunity for success to everyone. Perhaps the solution is to continue to raise funds, but to find something non-monetary to tie the MegaParty to, in the interest of fairness.

I don't think fundraisers are the only contributors here. If you look in most of the elementary schools in my county, you will find the same thing going on with "AR points". If you reach a certain AR goal.... you get to watch a movie for the afternoon, or you get 30 extra minutes for recess. What about these children that don't read well, or don't have parents to push them to read. I personally know of several top performing children who are simply slow readers.. they NEVER get to go to do the extras. Talk about a blow to their self-esteem. It's the same idea.... How do we fix it?

And as a parent, I know that I push my child to do all the extras, whether it be fundraisers or academic rewards simply because I don't want him left sitting in another teacher's classroom doing busy work while everyone else is being rewarded. Quite frankly the whole idea sucks.

That sounds horrible.. to think these kids are sitting in school (where students should be..of course) knowing many of the others are being rewarded for their parents selling or raising money for them to "party" I know alot of schools celebrate student success which is great but to blatantly make some kids feel inferior over money is a tragedy. Even more so when the principal is knowingly allowing this abuse of their students to take place.

I totally agree. Fundraising increases socioeconomic divides among our students.

I do not think the fundraising issue is as clear cut by discriminating against poorer students. When I use to fundraise all the time my poorest students worked the hardiest to sell the most because it gave one of the few chances to go one trips or ride in a limo. My wealthier students did not seem to care about trips or the opportunities that fundraisers give these students. On a side note, I am totally against AR. It makes good readers a little better and makes poor readers frustrated.

How about the school dance led by the PTA where students can buy a dance ticket for $10 and then dance during their electives? If it weren't for the few who say, "I don't to want to dance," the rest would be those who couldn't afford the ticket. (This fundraiser did net our school $7,000. It was held during elective time and was over in a day.)

As a teacher, I've been able to buy half the ticket and the kid could come up with the other half, which prompted more to participate. To me, the expense was $30. I spend more taking my family out for breakfast once every other month. Yet, not everyone does this for a lot of good reasons that I can understand, so I have to be a maverick of sorts to right the wrong that I see. I think principals have ways to do this too.

Our school is doing a Washington, DC trip. Cost is $300. Fundraisers of selling candles, restaurant books, and a car wash have netted little help for my indigent. Using at-risk funds, or establishing a field trip benefits fund of $500 out of the school budget, did get 10 of my kids to go to DC. Three of those 10 paid their way; three teachers helped to pay for one-third the trip for two kids, while the grade level teachers manipulated the monies of those who showed little effort to enable my indigent kids to go!
You should see how this effort has transformed the unity in the classroom.

Ask yourself why these fundraisers are necessary? If those politicians who really cared about schools would provide the necessary funding, then there would be less need for fundraisers. I bet there are some instances where these fundraisers are just to raise money. No reason, A school just wants to have money to sit on. These students who are excluded because they could not raise the required amount of money should be not be excluded at all. Modifications may be in order.

In Rosanna's school, that principlal is creating a dangerous atmosphere for their at-risk population. By stacking the deck against them these children are only more likely to become disengaged with school. My pet peeve is honor roll celebrations. What happens to C student who is performing to his/her maximum potential? What happens to the B student who is underperforming? The C student stays at school while the B student goes to the skating rink or some other place for a celebration. Does anyone see the irony?

I understand where you are coming from Neil. Our principal began what she calls the "Principal's Honor Roll" four years ago. To be eligible for this certificate a student must have no grade less than a C and not have fallen in two or more grades. No students are rewarded with an off campus celebration ever. This has been one of the fairest ways to honor students who are trying their hardest, but just do not have the wherewithal to be an A or B student. Our teacher's will modify grades if a student has an IEP, but in the comment section, it is indicated if grades are modified.

Hate that fund raising is attached to such a great activity. West Iredell Middle School used the Megaparty as a way to celebrate our student's accomplishment throughout the year.. Each and every student has the opportunity to participate. "Necessary evils they create", words often attached when human gain comes at the expense of others.

Rosanna,

How much does your school net after all is said and done? Is it worth creating these divides and feelings of guilt and embarrassment for these students?

If the megaparty is high priority, why not set a school goal and allow everyone to participate...the point of fundraising is for the entire school-we need to promote fraternity-seeing and understanding that we can all work together for a common goal-as one. Strictly rewarding those that make "quota" is not fair to all- If the school pays for this party in a lump sum, what can it hurt to include all?

I totally agree with what you said, but until schools are adequately funded plus some, we will always have a need for more funds...I guess we have to come up with what would be fair to all, if that is even possible?

Katharine,

A dance during elective time as a fundraiser? I have never heard of this-and it is somewhat troubling. To take time from elective classes all day long sends a strong message from your school-that the arts/electives are not valued. I am sure there are plenty of people that think it would be okay-but to take class time for this reason is shocking-why not after school or choose another method of fundraising? Have students walk/run during their recess or pe (when fits with curriuculum) and have sponsors for each lap, etc...This promotes student's health, overall wellness of school, it sends a message to the community about your school's values.

Several questions: Is this a PTO or school fundraiser? Does your county have any policies regarding fundraising? Is it possible that this may be against the law? Just some thoughts...I am searching our county's admin. policy manual to see if there is anything...if so, I will let you know!

Thanks for sharing Katharine!

Leigh Anne, I appreciate your comments about elective classes. If my students were missing class to attend an incentive "dance," I would feel relegated to second-class status as a teacher (many of my music-teacher colleagues feel this way without such a thing because we do not fall under the accountability umbrella of NCLB, and many of them are thus all but ignored by administration). We cannot excuse children's absences from electives classes under the guise of student achievement rewards. I do like your idea, Leigh Anne, of a school-wide fundraiser and a school-wide reward afterward. This was something used with success for specific grade-levels at a middle school where I worked several years ago.

Thanks, Logan. I hate to say, but 5-6 years ago, I did not value the arts and electives as I should have. However, my husband has gone into the art field (painter, printmaker, etc) and I have new appreciation for the arts. So much so, we take our 3 year old daughter to monthly gallery openings, some child geared plays, and concerts.
But what I can most relate to, as a former EC teacher, somehow my time with students was also seen as less important and was altered depending on the need...which I didn't appreciate, but I see why it does happen.
I think if we all have that mutual respect for each other and understand that at some point everyone may be asked to "take on for the team"-instead of expecting the same teachers/depts to GIVE most of the time.

I hear what some of you are saying about the AR tests; are there any positives associated... it seems like every middle and elementary school uses them, you would think they could be used as a positive reinforcement. Instead as I witnessed yesterday a student felt so compelled to do well on the "test" he had his book out trying to look up the answers (which is considered cheating and was punished).

PS Kathy that is remarkable that you and your teachers work so hard to give the kids a chance to participate .. if only it was like that everywhere.

Leigh Anne, When the results come in on the fundraiser, I'll let you know. I will say the this particular school always has extremely large amounts of money raised through fundraisers which raises too many other issues to mention for the less fortunate schools in our district.

In reply to the AR, I can say that as a former classroom teacher who used the system, the Star Testing element of the program allowed the child to see a certain reading "range" that they should be reading in. This range changes with each additional test throughout the year. Is the test perfect? no, but if teachers are using running records and other assessments on a regular basis in the classroom, a correlation should be evident. I liked knowing the reading range and having students check out books within this range because as a second grade teacher, I had students come back to the room with Harry Potter books, etc. that they could not begin to read. This allowed for some accountability on the students part for reading on his or her level. (I had some on a K level and others on a 6th grade level) I did not include the tests as a grade in my gradebook, and I looked weekly on the system to see who was or wasn't taking tests, passing tests, etc. I would clear tests not passed out of the computer and give second chances to some students. Students who earned a point a week got a prize from the A.R. box, but the catch is, everone got the prize because if students hadn't reached their goal by Thursday, my assistant took them to the library and helped them to choose and read the books and take a test so that they would be ready by Friday. AR, like everything else, has been and will continue to be a great resource for some and abused by others.

As I was reading Hope in the Unseen, I thought about the school supply lists that are posted a week or so before school. What does the school supply list look like at Ballou? at Groton? ......... at my school?

Last year, Burke County did a system wide staff development training on poverty for the entire year. We attended seminars, discussed the varying social-class rules, and how (as educators) to teach poverty-stricken students and not make decisions that will put students of poverty at an additional disadvantage. In August, I went to my daughter's 1st grade class to get the school supply list. With sales, shopping around, etc... I spent $52 on REQUIRED school supplies. A fellow teacher spent $70 on supplies for her 4th grader. Imagine the cost if you had more than one child in school. After focusing on poverty for 10 months, poverty levels were not taken into consideration when those list were generated.

It seems that teachers are more interested in getting the CEUs than in learning and using the information to change themselves and their outlook.

You all have hit the nail on the head. However, if we do not fundraise, where do we get our needed extra money from? Will you not fundraise as a leader in your schools? I am sure that on some levels we all can agree that we do not hold to our obligation for fairness nor do we try to make sure that all of our children whether they are able to contribute or not gain something from the sales. I agree with Lisa, we put our students at a disadvantage when we expect them to perform at the same levels as those students coming from families with money. Here is a question that I have been mulling over while reading these entries:

Do we not do the same thing to our families when we ask them to perform at the same levels at the end of the year? You know there are some with cultural capital and some with cultural curses. They must be taught in the same classrooms; however, we have to differientiate our teaching. Why do we not differientiate our fundraising?

Bump (because I love this thread)

Lisa, I heard the very same grumbling many years as a teacher and again this year as an administrator. My supply list was always under $3.00. If I couldn't provide it, I didn't ask for it. Then I also had a community supply that was by donation only. The interesting thing was when the parent said that this was "communism" and he would buy the supplies for his son but would not donate them to the community stockpile. I just laughed...... but he wasn't joking.