What cuts would YOU be ok with in schools

imaima

Sun, May 26 2024, 5:15 am

amother Brunette wrote:

Secretaries! I went to YOB back in the day. Huge school. There were 2 secretaries! I think one was the bookkeeper. Now my kids school has an army of woman working in the office. There is for sure a way to cut down on personnel.

My kids school has an insane number of secretaries. Most of them are incapable that’s why they need so many. If you only hire friends and family, then that’s what happens

imaima

Sun, May 26 2024, 5:16 am

amother Carnation wrote:

So sad. These schools are doing everything they can to motivate and excite YOUR KIDS. This attitude is just tragic. Do you tell your child’s daycare to switch to more uncomfortable cheaper mats, off brand leaky diapers, and eliminate the playground and splash pool as well?

The money you will spend on therapy, remedial tutoring and drug rehab in the future after you rob your schools of the resources to excite and motivate your kids will be far more. Guaranteed.

Stop. So the kids will end up taking drugs if they don’t scribble on the highest grade paper at the age of 4?

amother

Crimson

Sun, May 26 2024, 5:26 am

amother Carnation wrote:

Yes, absolutely. Switch to the cheaper mats and diapers. If parents want more expensive ones, they are welcome to sponsor them. There is no need to use the best of everything.

It is not the end of the world for a child to get through their schooling without a playground IN SCHOOL (there are parks for after school and weekends) and splash pads (there are plenty of places without those even now).

I have never yet heard of a child who needs therapy or remedial tutoring due to having to run around at recess instead of climbing on a jungle gym, or (gasp) using store brand diapers.

The schools are not doing everything to motivate and excite the kids. They are doing everything to motivate and excite the parents.

seeker

Sun, May 26 2024, 5:42 am

amother Black wrote:

How about going to a recording studio to record every last song that the GO sings. How about picking up a mic and singing live and- GASP- going off for one note???
Every song is professionally written and recorded. Every job comes with it's own sweater. Every extracurricular thing comes with so many unnecessary add ons. Cut out the whole GO. It's anyway manufactured responsibility, given to the girls that the school owes something to....don't think it adds much of anything to anyone.

We have to pay for the sweaters that come with each activity - on top of tuition. I hate it. My teen has more sweaters than she knows what to do with. One we didn't pay for because it was a special sponsored program. I wish they'd come out with the class sweater at the beginning of the year so we didn't have to also buy the uniform sweater to wear until then...

I don't think cutting out the whole GO is a good idea. I think school spirit and some fun are important. But I also think we should bring back the creativity of doing it basic. For many reasons - financially, yes, but how many opportunities are lost for kids to build skills and confidence when we outsource writing, recording, graphic design, etc? When I was in GO our main materials sponsored by the school were oaktag and the copy machine with regular paper. You wanna upgrade for the new century, make it a color copier. But why shouldn't the kids draw the flyers in the first place? Don't know about yours but mine are filling their notebooks with doodles anyway, may as well give it some direction.

amother

Offwhite

Sun, May 26 2024, 5:45 am

So I'm another mom in Israel who read this out of interest.
My girls use textbooks belonging to school and passed from year to year. They write on lined paper. I haven't seen any damage from it.
Prizes are minimal, swag is minimal maybe once a year for a yearly program.
I don't find that the teachers are less professional, if anything I find them way more professional, class sizes are big but the discipline is great, the teachers are warm and inviting. I don't think that they bribe their way to the kids hearts at all.
Now I know tuition wise it's different because the schools here get government funding but when I see the crazy levels of stuff that my nieces in the US come home with, there's no way that's necessary for kids to have a great school experience.

seeker

Sun, May 26 2024, 6:00 am

Regarding disposable textbooks, I think all of that is government funded. Which is great because if the reusable textbooks would have to be replaced much more often with the pace of change these days. And it took tons of time and staff and storage to handle the immortal textbooks from what I remember of my school days.

I still see teachers making mountains of copies in addition to the government workbooks, but that's not so endemic as to be a major budget issue.

The kriah and teitch need to be reformatted though in schools that are still giving them out on paper. My kids had kriah neimah which was a reusable textbook, they wanted you to buy a new one each year but I think they should do a loaner system like they used to for math and science. I had a whole pile at home before I got around to calling half the neighborhood to see who needed one. Same for the basic Rashi chumash - it's a beautiful addition to my family bookshelf but would be great to just let the schools recycle them; on a regular basis I'm using either the full size Chumash or my Hebrew -English artscroll which includes Rashi too.

Won't help the schools save money but it'll save the parents which should trickle around in both money and attitude. I've all but given up trying not to sigh visibly when the school asks for yet another fee or purchase.

amother

Yarrow

Sun, May 26 2024, 8:42 am

amother Crimson wrote:

Every school that I know of has the parents supply the diapers and most supplies. If they use expensive mats , it’s because the mats were government funded. I don’t see schools spending that much on the types of items talked about here. When they’re spending their own money, they spend as little as possible. They ask for money from the parents for almost all the extras.

amother

Pear

Sun, May 26 2024, 10:02 am

theoneandonly wrote:

This is a joke, right?

Yes. I dedicate this joke to all those who say teachers are overpaid and are rich. I hope teachers are rich. But overpaid I know they’re not.

On a serious note. Fancy playground and preschool classroom furniture are usually gov funded. At least in my kids schools.
The desks for older grades they get from gov too (sometimes second hand from public schools). The technology like laptops and smart boards are also gov funded.

I think a good place to cut back is on the water bill. I remember the school toilet we would say could flush an apple down. School should get someone to sponsor the water saving toilets like toto. They should put a plunger in each bathroom along with a garbage can and the kids can learn how to plunge a toilet and not put big things into toilet.

amother

Wine

Sun, May 26 2024, 2:38 pm

The bottom line is that school needs audits. Show where the money is going. We have to when we ask for a scholarship. They want to raise fees or tuition? Do the same.

Stop hiring people just because of who they are related to. Secretaries or finance office... they are often so disorganized that is why they need so many people! I know of people who were overcharged, charged double, or told they didn't submit something when they did. My kids school switched to FACTS to stop the issues (no more head checks for monthly tuition that have to be kept track of, deposited on time etc). But did they fire or reassign anyone from the finance office? Nope. So they have less work now but same staff costs PLUS the cost to use FACTs.

They tell us there is always something to trim. Maybe they should look into their contracts and costs. $5 here and $5 there add up quickly. Even if it just means that they have to increase tuition less - that is still important and valuable.
Who do they use for internet? Repairs? Plumbing? Cleaning? Can they seek bids out for next year and see if they can find someone cheaper?

Swag and extras... do we need a whole breakout for each thing?

Do we need such a top heavy administration? I had a meeting about a kid at the school. They had about 7 staff members present. Many who barely knew my kid and contributed nothing. One knew my kid so little they got his NAME wrong. So how are they to help that specific kid and issue? But they were administrators so "had to be there". And that was with one person unable to show.

amother

Pear

Sun, May 26 2024, 2:52 pm

amother Wine wrote:

School would need to hire another staff member or a few to do bids every year and oversee training in a new cleaning crew and plumber.

The principal of my kids school makes sure teachers get little treats from time to time like coffee and danishes and such. She’s busy talking to parents, teachers, substituting when a sun isn’t available, discipline ect. She should also call every coffee shop in the area to find out who has the cheapest iced coffees?

Yes 5$ here and 5$ there make a difference. But schools are trying to survive and often times the staff are stretched thin.

bsy

Sun, May 26 2024, 2:55 pm

amother Wine wrote:

I do see the school I went to is much more top heavy now. There are fewer students and much more staff. When I was a kid, first and second grade had a supervisor (school was very big then and every few grades had a "principal"). Now there is a supervisor with TWO secretaries.

amother

Crimson

Mon, May 27 2024, 4:50 am

amother Pear wrote:

WADR, that is the same argument parents use to explain why they get pizza for supper once a week and a cleaning lady every so often, and why they can't shop around for the cheapest socks or shave $50 off their grocery bill. Because they are stretched thin and just trying to survive.

But for some reason it's a valid reason for the school and not okay for the parents.

For the school it should actually be less valid, because my $5 more for coffee is just $5, but the school is buying coffee for 20.