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Detroit School Asks Parents to Donate Toilet Paper
Filed under: In The News, Day Care & Education
It's not unusual for teachers to ask parents to send in items that make the classroom run more smoothly -- Kleenex, for example, disinfecting wipes, or hand sanitizer. But a Detroit elementary school's recent requests are far more basic ... and alarming: toilet paper, light bulbs, and trash bags.Detroit's school system has been in crisis, but with the auto industry trying desperately not to implode, things in Detroit seem especially bleak, even in outlying school districts.
But does the answer lie in asking cash-strapped parents who are struggling to fulfill their family's needs to foot the bill for basic building needs? Crayons and pencils are one thing, but toilet paper and light bulbs seem like they should fall under the umbrella of "free, public education."
Though Detroit school board members say that none of their schools should be this desperately short on basic supplies, their chief facilities manager seems unsurprised.
Detroit is definitely among the hardest hit of ailing school districts, but parents in most districts are routinely asked to donate supplies to their children's classrooms. Where, exactly, does the line lie between what parents are responsible to supply and what school's should be purchasing anyway?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
1-10-2009 @ 10:41PM
ame s said...My 3rd grader still attends public school. I moved my 5th grader to private last fall.
The public school, since my first daughter started in there 2003, is always out of paper towels, soap, and toilet paper before the last day of school.
The cafeteria cleans out the freezer in May, and the kids eat what they are given, freezer burned or not. It doesn't cause a problem for me because I can send lunch for my kid, but it's not fair for the kids who depend on the free breakfast and lunch. Some of these kids don't get much dinner at home, some arrive at school Monday morning very hungry because they didn't get much to eat over the weekend.
In my town, the city and county schools are consolidated. The school system has been involved in a lawsuit with the NAACP for over 20 years because of racial balances in school zones. My town has more private schools than towns with twice the population because people are just sick of it. The non-white percentage of students attending our public system is more than 55%. There is no way to achieve racial balance.
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1-10-2009 @ 7:13PM
Kathy said...The funny thing is, this doesn't surprise me at all. My son came home from his California high school the other day saying that he'd get extra credit if he brought in paper towels. Last year we were all asked to bring in reams of paper. It would have been cheaper if the district had bought it in bulk, but the were out of money. Toilet paper totally wouldn't surprise me.
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1-11-2009 @ 1:20AM
SKL said...My reaction would depend on whether my kids were getting a quality education. As in learning how to read, write, and compute. If they had to use an outhouse and bring their own toilet paper in their pocket, I'd happily send it, provided meaningful learning was taking place.
But let's get real.
Most likely, I'd be demanding to see an accounting of where the taxpayers' money is going. AND I would want a sworn statement that every single teacher was also bringing in toilet paper - after all, they probably use half of it themselves.
And what's with the light bulbs? Don't they use flourescent lights in schools? What the heck? Sounds to me like they are just being dramatic to give parents a guilt trip. Screw that.
Schools waste so much money on stuff like replacing textbooks more often than they need to, providing fluff experiences, etc. There is no good reason for throwing away useable textbooks in these times. They should be saving those textbook pages for toilet paper for the teachers' bathrooms if nothing else.
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1-11-2009 @ 9:14AM
Adrienne said...Gee, kind of harsh towards the teachers here. I am a teacher and I can tell you that at the school I teach at, the teachers are not using half of the toilet paper. If anything, we do not have adequate time to use the restroom..even if we need too! A lot of time toilet paper waste happens because some of the children find it funny to fill the toilets (and/or sinks) with a huge amount of toilet paper or they wet it and throw it to make it stick on the ceiling. However, that's not the point. I just don't think you are being very nice or fair...have you ever worked at a school? Perhaps where you are from you've had some bad experiences and I'm so sorry if that is the case. Not all teachers deserve your criticism.
Back to the point, I do not think that parents should have to send toilet paper to school. I think that is going a bit far. I've purchased many basics for my own classroom and would do it myself again and again. Parents have enough to pay for these days without having to stock my bathroom closet with toilet paper and things of that nature. (I'm also a parent, so I understand the situation from both points of view.)
1-11-2009 @ 3:59AM
ninainindia said...I wouldn't donate anything mentioned in this article to school. Crayons, hand sanitizer, toilet paper? This is just ridiculous, schools spend tons of money on useless stuff. They need to learn how to budget.
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1-12-2009 @ 6:26PM
dee said...I went to a private school for my education (1980s), with a pretty high tuition, and toilet paper, paper towels, etc were always on our required lists at the beginning of the school year.
Along with all the folders, papers, crayons, pens, pencils, etc each of us were to use for the year.
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3-01-2009 @ 9:32AM
Deb said...So tell me please what is more important...
Education for all American children or TERRORISM AND Mexican DRUG WARS???
All you hear about on the news and by our president and all other politions is everything but anything about education.
The entire education system in the US is a mess and very out dated.
Our children are not learning... and they are not learning what they need to be learning.
The no child left behind policy is one major joke and nothing more than a glitch/loophole the schools use to shove our children through the system promoting them from one grade to the next year after year and not giving them an education keeping our children in the system and not droping out of school ensures the schools get more funds and grants each year. and what are they spending this money on?
It sure is not to educate our children!!!!
Unless you have alot of money and can afford private schools or even home school your children... They do not get a good education.
BY LAW WE HAVE TO SEND OUR CHILDREN TO SCHOOL OR THEY MUST BE REGISTERED WITH A HOME SCHOOL PROGRAM.
If we are forced to send our children to school to gain an education why do we send them to school for nothing more than to be babysat all day?
with all of our tax dollars, grants and the money states make off lottery sales that they use (claim to use) for education why is it that the system is so poor in giving our children an education worth anything?
Why do they continue to allow teachers teaching in our classrooms that do not care about the students or their education?
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