This article tells a sad story of teachers in San Francisco who count on a yearly event called Teacher Appreciation Day to get free stuff for their students. Before the era of deep budget cuts, teachers didn’t have to forage for school supplies. But once the budget cutting started, it never ended.
The teacher in this story plans her day and figures she can visit nine stores to pick up free stuff that her students will need. But in store after store, the best she can finagle is an empty shopping bag. If her students need notebooks and pencils, teacher must pay for them out of her salary.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
And how many tax breaks do big box store corporations get?
How much do their CEOs and upper executives make and kind of loopholes are they privy to?
Does this big chain belong to ALEC or contribute money to reform organizations like TFA or Students First?
This was not teacher appreciation day for these teachers.
It was teacher insult day, and the big box store is laughing all the way to the bank, head turned back toward the teachers still left in the store empty handed and thumbing its nose.
In the end, the low wage, low tax plutocracy has won.
Picture it: a minimum wage worker with little to no benefits telling a veteran teacher with a Masters degree that the store policy and attitude trumps that of the teacher’s. . . . putting and defending unevenly distributed wealth – all to the disadvantage of the store clerk – above the educational needs of students. How cyclical: a starved education system with robotic standards produces non-critical thinking people who will only be suited to work in a big boc retail corporate franchise.
It makes Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” look like a sunny movie from Disney/Pixar studios.
We’ve come full circle.
What a perfect metaphor . . . .
I wish the article had named the store that changed “teacher appreciation day” from a bag of freebies to an empty bag. From the pictures I’m pretty sure it is Staples.
Yes, it is…this year was a bag and a discount on certain products. I don’t know what products, I didn’t go. I have plenty of bags. I need notebooks, paper and pencils.
Robert is asking all the right questions. Does this big chain belong to ALEC? I bet we could trace ALEC’s influence and come up with “yes” as the answer where many of these chains are concerned. And if groups like ALEC want to perform psy-ops on the average consumer, well why not withdraw from society something as basic and affirming as Teacher Appreciation Day. It just doesn’t exist anymore, further discouraging and impoverishing good teachers and removing from public awareness the very act of appreciating a free, public school educator. Fundamentalism in a nutshell wipes out the most basic act.
Keep telling their names. I definitely won’t shop there any more.
I’m familiar with that area, so I double checked store locators online for Office Depot, Staples and Office Max as well as advertised dates for Teacher Appreciation Day and only Office Max has stores in all of the cities mentioned in the article, as well as the Aug 3rd date scheduled for Teacher Appreciate Day. You can see a picture of the free bag –which is a walking Office Max advertisement– here: http://mojosavings.com/free-reusable-tote-bags-and-25-off-for-teachers-at-officemax/
I checked and did not find Office Max listed as an ALEC member, but I was shocked to see so many other companies which I didn’t know about that are or have been members of ALEC, such as Sara Lee and Outback: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Corporations
This is definitely pathetic, but is this teacher’s school a Title 1 school? Does she have ELD money from the state? I would be asking to see the school’s and district’s budget or get on the School Site Council. The schools I have been at that had poor students or Limited English students always had money for the basics for kids, and the wealthier schools had foundations or active PTA’s that could provide extra funds. I used to go into my own pocket as well, but mainly it was because I didn’t want to mess with the paperwork and red tape. As a principal it was easier for me to buy refreshments from Costco than to spend all my time filling out paperwork and double-checking whether my request was approved by the board or not.
It was the same thing here in Florida.
Office Depot gave a 5% discount and a bag with an old-fashioned plan book that we are not allowed to use anymore and every page is covered with coupons and advertisements.
Staples gave an empty shopping bag and 20% credit toward your Teacher Rewards account on all purchases that fit inside the bag. You can supposedly sign up and have a group of people devote a percentage of their purchases toward your classroom and receive a check but I work with very poor families that don’t shop at Staples so no help to me at all.
Office Max closed their store here last summer so nothing there; they were always far more expensive than all the other stores anyway.
I used to use the pencils, erasers, ink pens, highlighters, etc. to help out the poorest of my students with supplies. This year I had to buy those things myself.
I’ll shop online from now on and skip the Office Depot and Staples days altogether. I don’t eat the kind of food they serve and I don’t patronize the businesses that were hawking their wares. I’ve never earned enough “points” at either store to help me out with anything either. I won’t spend money at WalMart so I find the best online prices at mom and pop teacher supply stores online and buy from them.
This year we’ve been warned not to expect any money for supplies, not to plan on making copies for anything, and our school secretary has not been allowed to purchase a single item for the school yet, even though the kids come back next Monday.
So far I’ve spent around $1,200 buying necessities, money I earned by working this summer. Ah, the life of the “lazy, summers off” teacher! None of my kids will do without crayons or pencils or paper or glue sticks though and that’s what’s important to me.
Bless you.
I buy books for my library every year, the ones the students want to read. I do have a small book allowance each year but I try to support the curriculum with that as well as the Newberry’s, Caldecott’s and state awards winners. I know classroom teachers spend a lot on books for their rooms also.
My school is over 95% free and reduced lunch and the Title I money is a there but shrinking every year as all of the schools in my system now qualify. I have never seen the money used to buy school supplies for the students per se but we have generous churches and former educators who help the students and of course the teachers do a great deal of that too. It’s a shame we don’t get the corporate tax breaks and can only take $250 in deductions. Actually I could probably write a paper calle “It’s a Shame”.
Title 1 money is supposed to directly benefit the students. Why hasn’t some of the money been used for school supplies would be my question.
Ms Carthwheel Librarian, I am a consultant for Usborne Books and I’d love to talk to you about getting your school 50% more books for FREE through our grant matching program. Free shipping too! My website is below and you can reach me through that.
In August, I shopped with a pal at one the ‘big box’ stores where we ALWAYS bought folders, and other supplies FOR OUR STUDENTS – and they made you make a purchase to get only a few folders, would not give you more than 10 (every class these days is nearing 25) and most teachers color code folders for organizing their kids work by subject..and the manager seemed almost to relish the words he said, as he told us, “You have to make a purchase to get those 10 folders for 1c…when most teachers purchase about 120 to put students work in manageable order…EVERYONE is kicking teachers in this country..and LOVIN’ it..and we are too busy trying to save YOUR kids via educating them, too busy trying to support and buoy their souls, when they feel lost and overwhelmed, and too busy fighting tooth and nail to maintain a semblance of what school culture USED to be before Big Business and Test Mania…
Shameful that Office/Big Box stores have now gone on the bandwagon to kick us when we are down…I know I and many others will begin to do without the items we used to purchase to make our classes be more organized – because we can’t afford to financially support other people’s kids..we have OUR OWN families to support….I’m afraid the breed of teacher that allowed passion to eat into their bank account at the rate of hundreds of dollars a year (not $250 IRS) is slowly realizing we have been made into fools..and it’s time we just do with what the District gives us…
Or if you parents want to donate, and see what we really spend out of pocket..I am SURE no teacher will turn you down..
Last year staples gave us a free empty bag and a smile. Office Depot staff was wonderful, but said we only could purchase 10 of the items we wanted at the discounted price. Teachers being resourceful, we met up in the school selection, ditched the massive complaining, and everyone purchased everything whether we needed it or not. Then we went outside and traded wares right in front of the store. It took a very long time, it felt dirty, but I DID get those pencil boxes for most of my students. Hopefully, Office Depot will let us get what we really need this year for our students. It’s not like we are selling the stuff black market!
The same thing happened in New Jersey. I can understand if the company no longer chooses to provide freebies however, they should not advertise on their bags that “Staples Loves Teachers”!
The first year I found out about the Teacher “Appreciate” Days I thought that I had won the jackpot. The bags from both Staples and Office Depot were loaded with freebies. The following year (and every year since) has been a complete disappointment. The bag provided MIGHT contain a pen, pencil and folder along with their coupon book (some of the coupons can only be used during certain weeks!!). I also had the displeasure to discover that some of the items that were supposed to be on sale were sold out because the sale started earlier in the week. I definitely did NOT feel appreciated! It’s just plain sad!
I got a fancy folded slick card today, July 30, from Office Depot telling me I should “join us for TEACHER APPRECIATION DAYS. In tiny 4 pt or so type inside the card it said to contact my local store and *while supplies last. I checked online and it supposedly was July 18-22, so I opened the “Chat” feature of Office Depot’s Web site and said I needed some help. My card that arrived today asked the PO to deliver between July 28-30. I got “Amelia” who proceeded to “answer” my question with the most inane responses that were obvious she didn’t speak English and couldn’t figure out what I was telling her. I asked her what language she spoke and was ready to try it again in ones I’m familiar with. She replied, “so sorry.” What a laughable Teacher Appreciation “event.” I may never go into an Office Depot store again.