School Politics

Tonight we had our first parent council meeting at my daughter's school. Everything was running smoothly until towards the end when the principal presented her 'Supplemental Educational Needs' list. This includes such items as gym equipment, 12 sets of drums for music, library books, classroom consumables, a rug! and bussing for field trips. The grand total was just over $48,000.

Tell me how this school would survive without parents doing fundraising. How does any school? I don't know what it is like where you are, but here we are in the richest province in Canada and the government won't provide enough money for the school to sit the children in proper desks. This government has a huge surplus and where is it going? Certainly not to our children.

When I was young, I don't remember my mother being involved in any fundraising, excluding the odd bake sale. Hardly anyone came to our door looking to sell chocolate covered almonds or cookie dough or the thousands of other things people are selling. Sometimes I am afraid to answer the door.

These are the fundraisers we will be doing this year- 10 hot lunches (raising anywhere from $300- $650 each), a school dance complete with raffles, cookie dough, compost and whatever else they decide to think up. It is not a casino year, and I am sure our principal wishes it was, since it made the school approximately $85,000 last year.

My friend attends a public school not to far away from my school and they had talked about revolting, literally refusing to do any more fundraising so that the government realizes parents will no longer cover their shortfall. The problem with that is that it is our children who will suffer now. It will be good for the children starting school in 5 or 6 years, but who wants to make their own kids miss out? And I think Klein and his friends know that. So he can continue screwing us over and over and over and we will continue to take it.

And the really sad thing for me is that now that Liam is in a different school I will have two sets of fundraising duties. Bugger.