Teacher letters?

Anybody got theirs yet, for any elementary school? Why do I feel like we got our letter before the last weekend before school started last year? Would have been nice to be able to do the school supplies shopping this weekend. No idea how we're going to get it done now before the first day of school. Once again our school district demonstrates its complete cluelessness on the subject of two-full-time-working-parent families... Why is it that in this state, parents have to make a choice between a good quality school district and a school district that understands the needs of families where parents work full time? Cause you obviously can't have both..

They are not usually sent until just a day or two before school begins

Not sure which school your child attends, but our supply lists are available online at Clinton, and we could pre-order the items last June:

http://www.clintonelementary.org/faq/school-supplies-list-2015/

(link to pdf of supply list is near bottom (in the middle section) of that web page)

If the teacher letter requires supplies that weren't either pre-purchased in June or bought more recently, they pretty much have to expect that a lot of the parents won't give them the extra supplies until after that first weekend. I know I'm not planning on it. My daughter's teacher will just have to deal.p

(My daughter attends Tuscan, and some families got teacher letters today and some of us will apparently be waiting until at least Monday. Disappointing, but oh well.)

Tuscan school supplies were posted over a month ago on the Tuscan PTA website with the disclaimer that this is a general list and individual teachers may send a list with additional items.

http://www.tuscanpta.org

We didn't get teacher letters yet...

They don't need all that stuff on the first day of school ... just sayin'.

I'm a teacher and where I am the supply lists are given to kids on the first day. There's no hard-and-fast policy about this. However, you can use the lists from the PTAs (these are online and several of the schools sent this home in June) and be confident that your child will be in good shape for Thursday.

At the elementary level, you may need specific items (they always seem to want those plastic file folder things), but probably nothing expensive/hard to find. The CVS on Valley is well-stocked in case you need to dash in for something. Further, the kids do have a three-day and then a four-day weekend. That should help.

And there's always Amazon…where my HS kids got everything this year.

It is a sad policy that the schools do not have enough faith in their staff or ability to deal with helicopter parents to let people know the assignments sooner. The fact is they don't want people to have time to advocate moving their kid to a different classroom. There has to be a better way than the last minute. But the SOMA school district is not big on transparency or communication to parents...that's for sure.

This system works just fine. We have our basic supplies, and can fill out next weekend.

cleg said:
It is a sad policy that the schools do not have enough faith in their staff or ability to deal with helicopter parents to let people know the assignments sooner. The fact is they don't want people to have time to advocate moving their kid to a different classroom. There has to be a better way than the last minute. But the SOMA school district is not big on transparency or communication to parents...that's for sure.

I don't think its a lack of faith in staff More likely, it makes life for the administration much easier than having parents whine for the entire Summer that their kids are not in the "right" class. #blametheparents

Yeah, but the work of setting up classes goes on all summer. It's not that schools know in June and choose to withhold info. They're balancing classes, dealing with new registrations, moves within the district, changed IEPs and the like.

And, at the same time, let's be honest: I've already seen a dozen posts online about this teacher or that, with parents asking for the info. So, yeah, parents do go and complain (and I have been one, and I was completely 100% in the wrong), based on hearsay and incomplete info. I have to think this is also hurtful to the teachers, many of whom live nearby. So why would the schools make it so we all have longer to do that?

I was JUST asking the same question. Haven't received ours yet.. There's a supply list on the school's site but compared to the one sent by the teacher it's different. Very inconsiderate on the school's part. IMO

bluepool said:
Anybody got theirs yet, for any elementary school? Why do I feel like we got our letter before the last weekend before school started last year? Would have been nice to be able to do the school supplies shopping this weekend. No idea how we're going to get it done now before the first day of school. Once again our school district demonstrates its complete cluelessness on the subject of two-full-time-working-parent families... Why is it that in this state, parents have to make a choice between a good quality school district and a school district that understands the needs of families where parents work full time? Cause you obviously can't have both..

So then you DO have the teacher supply list? You say it's different from the one online…. I'm confused.

Anyway, as a teacher, I urge you to stay positive and have these conversations well, well away from your kids. They want to have a good year and they want to please you -- so it's hard when we adults make that seem like a choice to be made. Enjoy the year!

In addition to the significant numbers of students registering over the summer, teachers can change too. In my experience, teachers have resigned or had a job offer rescinded in late August. Also, sometimes just enough new students register to require an additional section added, thus requiring a new teacher and a shift in the class roll.

You got a list from the teacher, but you haven't received anything telling you who the teacher is? Are you in SOMSD?

Tall_Mocha said:
I was JUST asking the same question. Haven't received ours yet.. There's a supply list on the school's site but compared to the one sent by the teacher it's different. Very inconsiderate on the school's part. IMO

bluepool said:
Anybody got theirs yet, for any elementary school? Why do I feel like we got our letter before the last weekend before school started last year? Would have been nice to be able to do the school supplies shopping this weekend. No idea how we're going to get it done now before the first day of school. Once again our school district demonstrates its complete cluelessness on the subject of two-full-time-working-parent families... Why is it that in this state, parents have to make a choice between a good quality school district and a school district that understands the needs of families where parents work full time? Cause you obviously can't have both..

I havent receieved a list from the teacher, I was saying that there is a supply list on the school's site but when compared with what the teacher usually request its totally different. My child attends Tuscan

SuzanneNg said:
You got a list from the teacher, but you haven't received anything telling you who the teacher is? Are you in SOMSD?

Tall_Mocha said:
I was JUST asking the same question. Haven't received ours yet.. There's a supply list on the school's site but compared to the one sent by the teacher it's different. Very inconsiderate on the school's part. IMO

bluepool said:
Anybody got theirs yet, for any elementary school? Why do I feel like we got our letter before the last weekend before school started last year? Would have been nice to be able to do the school supplies shopping this weekend. No idea how we're going to get it done now before the first day of school. Once again our school district demonstrates its complete cluelessness on the subject of two-full-time-working-parent families... Why is it that in this state, parents have to make a choice between a good quality school district and a school district that understands the needs of families where parents work full time? Cause you obviously can't have both..

If all parents would register their kids on time, the schools might not feel the need to wait until the last minute. I can recall several instances where there were very significant numbers of late August and even "first week" registrants that the school had no idea about and had to scramble to make class assignments. It's no wonder that they wait until the last minute.

And, yes, a lot of helicopter parents do not make it attractive to the schools to get the word out early even if it weren't for the late registering folks. I guess we reap what we sow.

I was at a birthday party this weekend and talked to a group of parents from Livingston. They were astounded that SOMa parents 1) didn't yet know who their child's teacher would be, 2) couldn't access this information online, and 3) had to wait for the paper teacher letter to also know what school supplies the child's teacher would specifically be requesting... What are the chances that our new superintendent might actually decide it's a priority to drag our school district into the 21st century?

All of that info is available from grades 6-12.

Nothing to add. I first wrote a very snarky response. Have now deleted it as it served no purpose to move this thread forward. Only reason I'm commenting on this at all is because once you edit a comment, you do not have the choice to simply delete your comments. Have a nice day.

sac said:

And, yes, a lot of helicopter parents do not make it attractive to the schools to get the word out early even if it weren't for the late registering folks. I guess we reap what we sow.

I find this statement very judgemental. You have no idea of the circumstances of any of the parents who are requesting early information. There might be very good reasons for needing the information earlier than given by our district. I hate it when people throw around the term "helicopter parents".

There's also just SO much that comes with starting a new school and a new year that can make people anxious. My son starts kindergarten Thursday and I too am freaking out about getting the letter. I don't know the difference among the teachers (I'm sure they're all great!) but I'd like to be able to reassure him if friends are in his class, and I'd like to be more clear on supplies, the order of the day, where we drop him off, etc. I've gotten some information from the school website but there are still some unknowns. And it's in 3 days!

I don't think there's necessarily anything that can be done about this, and I don't blame the district for it, but I don't think it's fair to minimize the anxiety either. It is stressful.

TarheelsInNj said:
There's also just SO much that comes with starting a new school and a new year that can make people anxious. My son starts kindergarten Thursday and I too am freaking out about getting the letter. I don't know the difference among the teachers (I'm sure they're all great!) but I'd like to be able to reassure him if friends are in his class, and I'd like to be more clear on supplies, the order of the day, where we drop him off, etc. I've gotten some information from the school website but there are still some unknowns. And it's in 3 days!
I don't think there's necessarily anything that can be done about this, and I don't blame the district for it, but I don't think it's fair to minimize the anxiety either. It is stressful.

My thoughts as well. My daughters starts this Thursday and Im anxious ! It's monday and I still have no mail from her school

Then again our mail comes late.

MarciaW said:
All of that info is available from grades 6-12.

Technically grades 7-12 at this point in time. We haven't received the PowerSchool codes for my incoming 6th grader yet to access her info. But just a minor quibble...she'd love to know what team she's in before Thursday but that lack of advance of knowledge is not impeding anybody's quality of life.

Would I prefer the district to get this info out earlier? Yes. Do I think it should be a primary, secondary or even tertiary priority for the new administration, given all the other work that the district does and needs to do? Not by a long shot.

ETA - we did get the letter today telling us her homeroom teacher's name and confirming where she should report on Thursday. And we already printed our 7th-grader's schedule off of PowerSchool.

Some stores are sold out of school supplies and already have Halloween out..schools should have supply lists available by august 1 at the latest....i remember going supply shopping on my last day in June for the the following year...we were always told then what class we would be in.

jmitw said:
Some stores are sold out of school supplies and already have Halloween out..schools should have supply lists available by august 1 at the latest....i remember going supply shopping on my last day in June for the the following year...we were always told then what class we would be in.

When the kids were still in elementary school we always did the pre-order program through the PTA at the end of the previous year and the kids had their school supplies waiting for them in their classroom on the first day -- I highly recommend it. A teacher would sometimes supplement the standard list with a handful of specific things, but it was never an issue finding anything. If the local stores are sold out, there is always Amazon.

In middle school the kids so far haven't needed much more than a good binder, several composition books and pencils/pens, so not an issue.

Other than the supplies, is there some information in these letters that would actually make a difference if you knew it a month ago vs three days before school starts?

As others said, some kids prefer to know what they are on, whether they have friends in their classes and so on. Not a deal-breaker, but sometimes if you have a really anxious child this can make a difference.

With regards to supplies, one year in middle school, the supply list was very specific and by the time we got to the stores to look for the items they were nowhere to be found. Had to visit about 3 to 4 stores before we found everything.

weirdbeard said:

jmitw said:
Some stores are sold out of school supplies and already have Halloween out..schools should have supply lists available by august 1 at the latest....i remember going supply shopping on my last day in June for the the following year...we were always told then what class we would be in.

When the kids were still in elementary school we always did the pre-order program through the PTA at the end of the previous year and the kids had their school supplies waiting for them in their classroom on the first day -- I highly recommend it. A teacher would sometimes supplement the standard list with a handful of specific things, but it was never an issue finding anything. If the local stores are sold out, there is always Amazon.
In middle school the kids so far haven't needed much more than a good binder, several composition books and pencils/pens, so not an issue.

I did not know about the pre-order until August. First time parent for a kindergarden. I will be definitely be prepared for next year

I'm also very frustrated. New Kindergarten student starting on Thurs. For us we are at South Mountain, so it would be nice so we know if she is at the Annex or the Big School, so we can prep her and also know where to go on Thurs. There should be an easier way to do this that is more efficient as well (internet/email, etc).