Dear Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,

I am so glad you stopped by to leave your comments today. This gives me a perfect opportunity to bring this issue up again so I thank you for reminding me. I wanted to reach out to you but you left no contact information or even a name... I would love to share your thoughts with my teacher friends since you posted it on my comments. I think maybe if you could hear me out, you may understand a little better.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Dear Staples":

Seriously? All of you teachers think that the Staples company OWES you their loss-leader Back-to-School deals in unlimited quantities? 

Not exactly, I do not feel that Staples owes me anything at all. I never said that in the letter I wrote to them. Did you happen to read the letter? I just simply asked if the policy could be changed, that's all. I asked if we could get a class set just like last year.

Do you know what a loss-leader is, or have any idea the man-hours and logistics it takes to keep a big box retail store fully stocked and operating during the busy periods that you yourselves compare to Black Friday? 

 Sorry friend, I can't say that I have been a part of a loss-leader. Not so sure Staples lost anything on me last year since I had to spend at least five dollars in other merchandise to get the extreme deals. I believe that on each sale, I spent at least twenty dollars.

Admit that you enjoyed the sales when they produced tremendous savings.

I already did say that I was thankful and thrilled when I was able to get Math Notebooks, Writing Notebooks, Science Notebooks, pencils and folders for my class because I needed these materials to TEACH. I blogged about it and told every teacher I know about it. Yes, I was happy because I knew my class was taken care of.

  But now your sense of entitlement (to those savings) is combining with your martyr complex (that you must spend your own money on your students supplies) to put Staples in a bad PR position. 

Friend, I did not put Staples in a bad PR position. I am a Kindergarten teacher not a world leader. My letter to them was asking if they would change the policy because I thought they did not understand how it would impact a classroom teacher. Read the letter. And yes, like so many other teachers everywhere, we spend our own money on supplies for our classrooms it's a fact for many different reasons.

I say, cut Staples some slack. They're a business trying to make a buck on very narrow margins. It isn't heir job to step in and fix the problems with teachers' inadequate pay, or address your school systems' (obviously) incompetent purchasing methods.

Once again, I am a Kindergarten teacher working with narrow margins myself and that is why it is important to me to save where I can so I can bring more to my classroom...because I LOVE my job. And if it takes writing a letter and asking for help, I am happy to do it.

Because the truth is that your school districts could negotiate "Extreme Discount" savings with school supplies distributors, easily, and much more economically than any retail chain store can. Examine the reasons why your school districts can't/wont do this. Explore alternatives, like wholesale purchasing through your unions, or a charitable school supplies drive through your PTA.

I am a person who believes in looking at alternatives. I have spent COUNTLESS hours writing grants for my classroom. I am PROUD to say I have earned just shy of $20,000 for educational materials for my classroom, grade level and school. I have no Union. I have no PTA. I am the alternative.

Finally, teach responsibility to these parents by *requiring* that students be supplied for their projects, and start giving Fs for any assignments left incomplete due to lack of supplies.

I am not sure how to respond to this... Our job is to teach children and set them up for success not failure. How can we hold a five year old responsible for school supplies? Many children are on free and reduced lunch. What's going to happen when children fail for no supplies with your system. Handing out F's is not the answer.

  The first few Fs could be "warning shots", and could be erased after supplies are provided. Have a conversation with parents whose kids remain unsupplied, and tell them to ask grandma, grandpa, uncle, and auntie for help getting school supplies.

Grandma, grandpa and uncle and auntie ARE the parents of some of these children... And asking for supplies again and again never helped because sometimes families just can't. There has been a time in my life when I just couldn't afford school supplies. I paid my way through college and my Biology professor loaned me his Biology book in my last few semesters in college. I made a promise then that I would help a student who needed supplies just like he helped me.

  Direct them to Staples during Extreme Discount times, and to social services and church agencies that can help out. If there are still a couple of kids who can't get supplies after all that, you need to get the school counselor and the principal involved.

I work with some of the best administrators and they ARE involved. We all pitch in through various programs and sometimes it is not enough and it comes down to teachers, administrators, counselors, librarians and school nurses who make up the difference. And in some schools it is more than a couple of kids who just can't afford supplies.

Seriously.

 Addressing the systemic reasons that some or most of your kids can't come to class prepared with school supplies is their job, not yours.

Friend, when I am in a class of 22 Kindergarten kids it is ME who is responsible for making sure they have what they need. Can you imagine a class of 22 Kinder kids all day without the proper supplies?

Or rather, it *was* your job, when it only cost you 45-50 bucks a year, and landing all those savings was a fun outing for you and your colleagues.

I wish I could tell you that it only costs 45-50 bucks a year but I would be telling a fib. In fact, it is much much more to do the job right and I still love it. And it still is my job to make sure they have what they need because when you work with children day in and day out you become a family. We care about each other and take care of each other and if that means I have to buy school supplies or write a letter asking for a class set...ok no big deal.

 But now it costs more, and instead of getting all up on a cross in front of Staples, you need to try something new. Good luck.

Thanks for wishing me luck. I have been blessed in my life to be able to do what I love each day and I am sure things will work out just fine... 

Blessings,