Gift limits for teachers irk givers, recipients
That $25 gift card to Miss Brown for all her hard work through the school year? Could be more trouble than it’s worth. And don’t even think of getting something costing more than $50, no matter how good she was with the children.
A new state advisory on the rules governing gift-giving to public school teachers is causing a stir for the second straight year, with good government advocates saying big gifts to teachers can be seen as attempts to influence and parents griping about restrictions and red tape.
The problem is many-fold. The giving of gifts can become the stuff of legend, with each parent trying to out-lavish the next; in certain instances it's easy to see how a well-to-do parent might "thank" a teacher for helping their child more than the average parent. It's also equally interesting to see the teachers and teacher's unions fall over themselves scoffing at the idea that lavish gifts might have an effect on the teacher's perception of the student... Of course teachers are immune from the forces that act on every other human on the planet...
Good, bad, or indifferent, them's the rules folks - you take the King's shilling, you dance the King's dance...
That is all.
3 comments:
Wonder how many forms lil' Johnny has to fill out before he can put an Apple on Mrs. Smith's desk at P.S. 123?
In favor of the gift limits. My employer does the same, for much the same reason (though it's generally aimed at vendors attemtping to bribe their way into contracts, it also applies to management relationships).
Caesar's wife...
I teach.
If I were given a cash/gift card I would use it for classroom supplies.
Like almost all teachers I end up using my own cash for supplies in the classroom. Such as paper and pencils for students.
A FOSS kit for a elementary school is an excellent idea http://www.fossweb.com/
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