What can we do as parents to help?
I received a few emails asking what parents could do to help right now. Because the problem stems from a budget deficit, I don’t know how individual citizens would be able to resolve that issue in a time table fast enough to save all the schools and teachers this year. I wish that I have an answer or at least a magic wand to wave this all away. That’s not to say that we should all just throw up our hands into the air and give up. I am foreseeing that parents and community members, who by the way should contact their state representatives, will be especially helpful in triaging the after shocks of the budget cuts, to minimize the effect of less money to purchase materials for classrooms.
Here are just some ideas that immediately come to my mind as “to do’s” before the next school year.
1. Give up one cup of coffee or a half-price Sonic drink, and save that $1 (or more). When the school supplies are crazy cheap at the start of the school year, spend the money on supplies a teacher may need. $1 will buy you three glue bottles, four crayon boxes, or 10 rulers. This is especially important I think for secondary schools who often do not have a school supply list like elementary schools have. Parent involvement drops at the secondary level so even if a teacher had a “wish list” the items rarely ever magically appear.
School budgets usually do not “open up” for use until a few weeks after school has started so most teachers I know will spend some of their own money to get the year started if they don’t have enough material to float by from the previous year. By the time the budget becomes available, teachers have missed the window of opportunity to stock up on cheap supplies. Even purchased in bulk, items are rarely ever as cheap as they during “back to school” sales.
2. If your children have craft supplies at home that are down to a few pipe cleaners or a few sheets of construction paper that you’re thinking about throwing away, don’t toss it out! I guarantee a teacher will take your trash and turn it into a marvelous lesson. We’re crafty like that. I know us science teachers, we can use glitter and teach your kids about the universe. Seriously, and glitter is expensive. Modeling clay is awesome too.
3. Parents of preschoolers who love to shop at places like Lakeshore Learning, you might have counting objects, unifix cubes, that sort of thing lying around. At some point you’ll think your children have outgrown these items. Consider donating them to a math teacher.
4. If you’re at a business convention (or run a 5k around town) and you get one of those goodie bags with the miscellaneous assortment of coin purses, pocket size first aid kits, highlighters, pens, save that sort of stuff. When your kids get bored of their Happy Meal toys which is usually a few minutes after they’ve finished their last bite, bag them up if they aren’t all gnarly. Birthday party favors that would otherwise end up in the garbage, see if an elementary teacher can make use of all this “junk” in their treasure box.
5. If your little ones outgrow their Matchbox cars or Hot Wheels, save them for a physics teacher. Even better yet, if you have train tracks and don’t want to mess with Craigslist, pass that onto a science teacher.
I know at this point, this thought may have crossed your mind. Why do teachers need all that stuff anyways? Whatever happened to coming to school, opening your textbook, pulling out a piece of paper, and having a pencil? The key word here is engaging. Teachers aren’t putting on a dog and pony show, but they are much more effective teachers if they give students manipulatives and visuals to help them learn. It keeps a child’s attention which sometimes – let’s be honest – is equivalent to a pea, though an adorable one at that. 
Visuals and manipulatives can get expensive, and especially if multiple children handle an object, it’s almost guaranteed to break.
6. As Holly H. pointed out in a Facebook comment, please take your child to school. Attendance does matter.
Bring your child to school everyday. Districts get money for every child that is present everyday. Also, if you have an appointment make it for after 8:45, let your child go to school in the morning and then pick them up after 8:45 for their appointment. The 8:45 time is for elementary only, if you have a middle school or high school student you would have to call the school to check for times. By bringing you child to school everyday it could greatly help with the budget and possibly help save a teacher’s job.
The whole idea really is ask the schools what they need, whether it be materials or your time. Ask the teachers. Ultimately what this does is make you a more involved parent or community member. You’ll become more invested in the education process, and maybe in the future we won’t find ourselves in this predicament again. Here’s to hopeful thinking.
Do you have any ideas or suggestions for how parents can help?
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