Schools expect parents to pay, pay, pay

Savvy_Sue

Savvy_Sue wrote:

I would definitely have objected strongly if there'd ever been any suggestion of compulsion to bring in a bottle for an adult tombola. There must be at least one parent in any school with issues of alcohol dependency.

tiff wrote:

There must be at least one person allergic to eggs or milk, doesnt mean you shouldnt have items containing that at the school fair.

But my point was not that alcohol shouldn't be at the school fair, but that parents shouldn't be 'required' to provide it. You can get round the milk / egg allergy and still make a cake, but it's harder to send in a bottle of booze without alcohol.

Actually I agree with the OP that the compulsion is hard to deal with and there needs to be discretion. We've got a non-uniform day on Wednesday and there's been a reminder that if you don't pay up, you should be in uniform. This is a secondary school, so I imagine there is an element of hoping to 'get away with it', but not long after my eldest started he forgot about one of these days (and so did I), and he was teased a bit through the day, came home in a FOUL temper.

IvanOpinion

Well last night I had two sprogs at my door looking money for their school sponsored 'waste of space' (I think it was a sponsored sit down or silence or something equally useless). I immediately thought of this thread and decided, for the first time in my life, NOT to sponsor them.

Later that night one of the parents came over to borrow my printer (pre-arranged because hers is not working) and she was very 'dry' with us. I expected this and basically asked why she had a problem with me not sponsoring her kid. She went through the usual crap about school funds blah-de-blah.... I explained that I was willing to sponsor something useful, something educational, something motivational, something that shows respect or dedication but I was not going to sponsor something that was not going to happen and I considered to be a total waste of time.

The other point I made was that most of the time they want people just to give money, they are not really sponsoring anything since the kids do not necessarily have to adhere to the rules (e.g. in a sponsored silence many are whispering, talking and giggling yet they still expect you to pay). While I have no problem giving the money I think this is a very bad example to set to the kids - revenue for the school is considered more important than the children being taught respect and obedience to the rules.

Fortunately our neighbour is intelligent and saw my point and has said that she will have a word with the headmistress about changing what has to be done e.g. sponsored read of a book, sponsored completion of sums, sponsored clean-up of the play ground, sponsored art competition etc.

Ivan