[Ziptie]

Two questions..I guess what I am wondering if such things or normal now and I am just out of the loop or what?

First one. Is it normal for a public school to charge admission for 5-6th grade band concerts. It is $5.00 or adults and $3.00 for kids.

Second. School is doing a local fund raiser with local mall. Every dollar you spend at the mall the school gets so many points. School with the most points gets money at the end of the year. So the school is busing the 6-12th graders over to the mall to eat lunch in the food court(as far as I know it will be just once this month). The older kids can go shopping in the mall middle schoolers have to stay in the food court. If the child does not go they sit in study hall for the two hours that the other kids are gone.

 

[MDKatie]

1. No way, that is not normal and very expensive!! I'd complain, for sure.

2. Again, weird. I HATE fundraisers!!! This sounds like a crazy amount of work and trouble just for a fundraiser. If it's just once, I guess that's not terrible. But still, seems a bit ridiculous.

 

[handymama]

Number one is normal here. Number two is very weird.
DDs elementary school has a fall festival with admission, two yearly dances with admission, a circus with admission where parents are responsible for costumes, two field trips a year around twenty bucks each, a walkathon where kids get people to pledge a buck for every lap they walk, and they have the kids sell magazine subscriptions in the fall.
And they want us to contribute art supplies constantly. They also sell plants raised in their greenhouse every spring. Plus parents are responsible for any holiday party food, favors, or presents.

 

[dlskidmore]

The mall thing sounds like the school is gambling. They are paying for bussing the kids and if they don't win the points contest they don't get any money?

 

[Ziptie]

Ok, nice to see that I am not alone on this one.

I will admit I am really cheep and we are a large family but I think it would be better to just ask for donations.:shrug:

As for the second one it is really bugging me. It will be up to DD if she wants to go. She can't eat any of the food in the food court..though she would really like to, but it doesn't seem fair to her to have to sit in the library and eat her lunch alone.

 

[Ziptie]

The mall thing sounds like the school is gambling. They are paying for bussing the kids and if they don't win the points contest they don't get any money?

Yah all the schools in the area are competing against each other for..around $2,000. Seems like a waste of school bus money to me, but I don't like shopping at all and all the perfume in the mall makes me sick. I avoid the place like the plague. So, I am a little bias on this.

 

[handymama]

Oh, I forgot their thirty dollar yearbooks, their advertising how kids can always charge for extra food in the cafeteria and then at the end of the year I get a bill, them having a book fair twice a year where they have the kids pick out books and then Bill me for it, and the magazines trying to sell stuff to my kids that come home in their backpacks.
Public school was NEVER this expensive when I was a kid.

 

[Ziptie]

handymama- oh yeah, we have all those ...though you forgot the $200 per kid for school supplies at the begging of the year, and the school book fees.:hammer:

Though I will say they are now saving money for the music program as they are no longer printing out the programs for the events.

 

[handymama]

The ONLY good thing about our school is that now every kid gets free lunch and breakfast. But I heard that the reason they did it is because ninety five percent of our kids already qualified and it was costing more to do the paperwork to see if kids qualify than they were making.
Orange juice and milk are now charged for everyone though.

 

[scooter]

In the school that our grandson goes to it's in a smaller town and we don't pay to go to band concerts, but do pay to go and watch him play soccer.
However in the larger city not far from us, my friend said they pay to go to band concerts.

 

[dlskidmore]

Oh, I forgot their thirty dollar yearbooks, their advertising how kids can always charge for extra food in the cafeteria and then at the end of the year I get a bill, them having a book fair twice a year where they have the kids pick out books and then Bill me for it, and the magazines trying to sell stuff to my kids that come home in their backpacks.
Public school was NEVER this expensive when I was a kid.

We had those in school, but I knew any books I ordered came out of my allowance. And not an advance either, I had to have the cash in my piggy bank.

 

[dlskidmore]

More reasons to consider home schooling. (I'm on the fence, and no deadline to decide yet. )

 

[Ziptie]

Yah , on the fence about home schooling. We did it when she was little..was ok but I had a bunch of other little ones.

Here the 6th grade is part of the middle school/high school. So, far have not been real impressed with the school. The elementary has done fairly well...though.

 

[mekasmom]

JMHO, but I think public schools get enough tax money for all these things. They are just raping the parents of their finances over and over with all the fees and charges for extra activities. They get more than enough from our property taxes to do their hob.

 

[mnn2501]

Schools pay for their "wants" by doing things like this.
Schools waste a lot of money on 'wants' and skip on 'needs'

I HATE fundraisers. They should just ask for a donation instead.
The only people that make money off the fundraiser is the people coming up with the merchandise.

 

[michiganfarmer]

Paying to go to band and sporting event happens here also, and abuot the same price Taking the kids to the mall for a fund raiser, not so much.

 

[V-NH]

Oh, I forgot their thirty dollar yearbooks, their advertising how kids can always charge for extra food in the cafeteria and then at the end of the year I get a bill, them having a book fair twice a year where they have the kids pick out books and then Bill me for it, and the magazines trying to sell stuff to my kids that come home in their backpacks.
Public school was NEVER this expensive when I was a kid.

Thirty dollars is super cheap for a yearbook. I have taught at three public schools in the past five years or so and the cheapest yearbook was $65, with prices ranging up to $150. Inflation... everything is way more expensive now and all of those sorts of things exist to make a profit for various clubs.

I have seen high school concerts with tickets of $10+.

 

[blessingsfarms]

Sorry but I think you school board, administration, and teachers are
the ones that need taught here. $2000 is not a fund raiser it is the
mall making money. Besides just guessing but 3 drivers x 3 hr, x 15 x 20,
4 teachers x 38 x 3 x21, cost of lost education to our children or
grandchildren PRICLES.

 

[Rainy]

we are in a small town they don't charge for band concerts if they did no one would even show up... they don't hardly show up for free. Yearbooks are $45 dollars and we pay $6 each to get in to football games and basketball games.

 

[MDKatie]

Paying for high school sporting events is one thing (and fairly normal), but paying to see 5th grade band concerts? No way. Actually, all band and choral concerts were free through high school too, but sporting events charged admission.