I have always welcomed kids selling candy and gift wrap to raise funds for school. I think it's a good experience for all involved and a worthy cause.

Get rid of the fundraising all together and tax to the max! Better yet, raise all school expenses, fees, parking lot fees, athletic fees, etc.. and we won't have to worry about the fundraisers.

We live in a country where we have the Freedom to Choose.
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Simple answer: NO Thanks.

I think there are much better ways of fundraising than to ask our friends and neighbors to spend way too much money on candies and wrapping paper. We just tell our kids...sorry not this time. With most everyone we know (including my family) has either been laid off or lost jobs completely, I refuse to beg. My kids don't get to do the "parties" or anything. Of course they are upset but they do understand. I will allow them sell reasonable things such as the discount cards. That way everyone gets something out of it.

It sounds like they are taking advantage of good people that can't say no. It's no wonder home schooling and charter schools are on the rise.

I never allowed my children to participate in "junk" fundraisers. I simply told them no, and tossed the forms in the trash...
until our
elementary school started a Run/Walk Fundraiser.
Make a simple donation (whatever you can afford at the time). Ask a few close family members for a few bucks. Parents can join in the day of the walk. Your done.
No pressure on kids, no door-to-door sales, no pick up/delivery of junk, no trying to collect from people that ordered and don't pay.
It encourages a healthy lifestyle, and ALL the money goes to the school.
Love it!

It's ridiculous these days. My daughter is in elementary school in Janesville. The latest fundraiser was hyped up in school (an assembly, I believe), so my daughter came home all excited about the stuff she could win for selling (mostly all garbage in my eyes, but not to a 4th grader). Then we get home and there's a message on the machine from the principal of the school all about it (using the new automated phone thing that the school district has decided to abuse..but that's a whole 'nother subject), then they remind the kids over and over again that they are NOT to go door-to-door selling the stuff because it's too dangerous. So basically, they are sending this stuff home for the parents to sell at work or for the kids to hit up their relatives and/or family friends, who are tired of buying crap. The "fundraising" part of it is NOT about the kids anyway, so why pump them up for a stupid 50 cent plastic toy that they might get for selling a few things? I, for one, am very frustrated with it!

Wifezilla that sounds like a terrible experience. This is not giving me much hope that Sperry will do what is right.

I remember when I was in high school and was required to sell candy bars for tennis. I tried to sell as many as I could, without much luck. At the end of the fundraiser I returned my mostly full box of candybars and told them I didn't have much luck. I remember my tennis coaches acted like it was the end of the world and that I was a horrilbe team member. I thought well sorry I tried. Then I got called to Mr. Sperry's offic (he was in charge of sports only then) during the next day's practice. He pretty much sat me down and said "You WILL sell these candy bars and I don't care how it happens." I was mad, but I didn't want to be punished and not get to play tennis. I took what little money I had from my few hour a week high school job and bought my own remaining candy bars. Suddenly I was in everyone's good graces again. When the next tennis season came around I thought "screw you guys" and didn't go out for tennis. If it was like that 10 years ago, I can't imagine what pressure is on kids today!

I think it's a hoot when Mom's go door-to-door while their kids sit in the car (sometimes without) and the Mom asks me if I want to buy Girl Scout Cookies. No thanks! :)

you want a good fundraiser do a golf outing, that way the people that participate either by corporate sponsorship or by golfing give the money to the school. win-win, as well it has potential to be a huge fundraiser and only takes 1 day to pull it off.

In my first year of organizing a golf outing for my school, we made a shade over $6,000. Not to shabby for a day's work and no one had to "sell" anything and then go back and deliver it. All they had to do was ask do you want to golf or have your business get some exposure?

The last year i ran it, we made almost $13,000, again in 1 day, and no kids were called out for not selling enough.

Even though my username is "involvedparent" have have never had any of my children participate in the school fundraisers. My employer does not allow solicitation of any kind on company grounds and I am not about to send my children around the neighborhood selling wrapping paper.

My daughter brought home the magazine subscription fundraiser from Marshall. She asked if she could do it and I said no. She threw it away - no questions asked.

I have refused to participate for the last two years. There are too many fundraisers. No to mention that most people have more than 1 child in school. It is way too expensive. My youngest son came home last year and said I had to order something so that the class could get a duffel bag full of sports balls. I called his teacher and explained that I would not buy a candle for $30.00 but I would be more than happy to go to the store and buy all of those balls and the duffel bag if the class needed it. She declined my offer. Obviously they didn't need the balls that bad.

I love it when parents bring in their childrens' fundraiser forms into their place of employment and try to have co-workers fill it up. Great message we are sending to our children, "Let mom and dad take care of your fundraiser for you."

JohnDoe...parents can always decide that their children will not sell things for school. However, there are parents that want to help their school but don't want to purchase things from a book that they'll never use. More and more families are sending checks directly to the school instead of participating in selling. Not all the parents are aware that they can just donate $20 to the school intead of making a purchase. Since it is happening more and more, the schools do need to recognize those children and reward them as if they sold items. I'm in these schools everyday. It's happening more and more. I know people are tired of seeing the same fundraisers coming home every year. More schools are getting more creative in their fundraising. The bottom line is these schools need money all the time to cover costs not associated with school fees. It needs to come from somewhere. It's a way of life so we need to get used to it. Field trips cost a lot of money. Should we just get rid of them altogether? I don't think so. PTO/A's depend on a lot of money every year for a host of things. Whatever can help offset the cost is a good thing. Again, no child should ever be humiliated in front of others for not selling. The schools need to be grateful for whatever amount of money they can raise and just leave it at that.

Jvlparent you mention little league, boy scouts. When you OPT to be part of an organization you should be required to help that organization, but not in schools! Humiliating a child is abuse and there is no other way about it. If I stood in line at Wal-mart and yelled at my son because he didn't get a paper route to help pay for the groceries someone would turn me in to CPS. The question to you Dr. Sperry is will you do anything to prevent abuse in the schools? Historically the school board has not, will you take a stand or be shushed? Sure have the band sell candy, have the football team sell widgets. If you participate you need to help out, but school funding is paid by taxes not candle sales. Dr. Sperry take this opportunity to let the parents know that you support the children first, then the community.

As a parent I am able to chose not to participate. I understand the schools need money for things. I think the point of this article is staff should not single out a child if they do not meet their quotas or sell the items. I know in sports if my son did not sell cookies at Beloit HighSchool he was told he would have to run laps. I think the concern is that the staff is making the kids feel like crap for not participating. We get so many fundraising events that I have to limit which ones we participate in, and because of that I do not think they should punish my child or make them feel like crap because I said "NO" I am not participating in a particular event.

Really, the children aren't selling this overpriced stuff. The parents are. Children are actually told not to go door-to-door to sell their stuff so who gets to do it? Mommy and Daddy at work. I don't know how many times I've been bombarded with catalogues of candy, wrapping paper, cheese, nuts, candles and other overpriced things...not to mention the endless pimping of Girl Scout cookies. Enough is enough. Let the kids opt out with no fear of punishment or reprisal.

"I have seen several schools attach a letter to the fall brochure that tells parents they can opt out by sending a check to the PTO directly."

You call this opting out? What a joke.

I'd call it extortion.

Another parent and I voiced concerns at a PTA meeting about the fundraising and the characters, especially for the younger grades. I went the next month, and found that topic of discussion was omitted from the minutes of the meeting. Nothing changed that I am aware of as the characters were back this year.

How much classroom time is wasted on this garbage? This sounds much, much worse than any fundraising I took part in as a child attending Catholic schools. There was no making examples of low-sellers or any party that one needed to sell a certain quota to be able to attend. I have an idea for jvlparent: Post your address here and let the junior salesmen/women come push the junk on your doorstep.

My kids are now all out of the Janesville school system but I was PTA president at their elementary school and followed the PTA thru newsletters later. There are many different types of fundraising and the money raised goes to a whole range of value added programs. The PTA/PTO groups at each school decide on the fundraisers and how to spend the money. Many PTA groups do not have a lot of people at the meetings to voice concern or ask questions. The same people make the decisions for several years. Most PTA/PTO groups include the principal or at least a teacher representative. Go to a meeting and have your opinions heard. Say no, I don't want my kid doing that and be prepared to say why or have an alternative.

Yes it is sad when a kid cannot go to a IN SCHOOL party simply because they didn't sell 5 items. My daughter had to do worksheets to fill that time, while other kids played in those bouncy houses. Sure we sent in a cash donation, but that doesn't count. Perhaps they needed to have the "PARTY" after school hours so as to not disrupt actual learning time. I thought school was for learning, not giving perks to kids for peddeling trinkets and food items. Too many kids these days can't participate in these fundraisers and singling them out in this way only makes them feel bad about themselves.
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At our old school I was part of the fundraising team. We made sure no child ever was left out, that they all got a prize simply by having a parent sign a sheet saying the kids talked to them about the fundraiser...never did they have to sell! or get singled out for not being able to sell. In fact we encouraged monetary donations instead, and it was very appealing to many families.
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Besides who really wants a $20.00 item from a fundraiser, when you can go to the dollar store and buy it for $1.00...true story, same item, same company tag on it, in the catalog it was $20.00...saw it at Dollar tree for a buck, and then the school only gets about 40%...what a rip off. granted the company needs to make money, but come on not like that.
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I make cash donations. I'm not going to send my kids around pushing overpriced junk onto all the neighbors and I don't want to buy that stuff either. They can still go to the party if they make a donation. I also take issue with the Chucky Cheese and Culver's ice cream cone visiting the schools to push junk food onto the kids. My kids need permission to watch the President speak about education, but not to have some costume push them to go to a restaurant and eat fast food???? What is wrong with this picture????

These fundraier's are all scams. We usually make a donation~but there's the rub. Our kids never get the prizes. My pure profit donation makes no difference when they tally their totals. Everyone knows when you don't get the prize! There has to be a better way. Way to go~Duwayne.

I am a sales rep for a fundraising company. Most of the schools in JVL do not use my company for their fall fundraising. It's unfortunate because I think we offer better items. My company is already in most of the schools on a monthly basis anyway. Most of the other fundraisers offer a lower percentage of profit to the schools. They do this because they offer the school a carnival of some sort with bounce houses and such. That costs money so they pay a lower profit. Personally, I would much rather see the school make more money upfront and not bribe the kids with bounce houses. I know for a fact that my company does NOT force selling or encourage forced selling. Yes, we offer prizes for selling, but nobody is singled out for not participating. In fact, I have seen several schools attach a letter to the fall brochure that tells parents they can opt out by sending a check to the PTO directly. 100% of their money goes directly to the PTO as opposed to 40 or 50%. I am totally fine with that. The main purpose of fundraising is for the school to make money to cover things like field trips or upgrading playground equipment, etc. Unfortunately, there is no way to reward students with prizes for sending in money since the prizes are coming directly from the fundraising company and gets added on to the students orders when they are filled. The school does not pay for the prizes as it is a free service provided by the company. I suppose the school could set aside funds to purchase little trinkets to hand out to students that don't participate in selling but have money donated by their parents. It doesn't cost much for that. A good sales rep can make that happen. Never, never, never should children be singled out and embassassed and humiliated for not selling. If teachers are doing this, they need to stop immediately.

I can't believe I forgot to add that many of our teachers donated their time and money even though our fundraiser was held on a Saturday!!

jvlparent: I beg to differ. I donate plenty to PTA, Girls Scouts, schools, etc. Don't generalize with your statements. I also support increases in taxes that support education regardless if we cannot get our state to pay the funding they are suppose to.

Wow, I have children in 3 different schools in this great city of ours, I happen to be the president of the PTA at one of them. Our biggest fundraiser is in the fall, we do a walk/run, the kids can get pledges/donations if they choose to. I believe this is an excellent fundraiser, all the profits go right back to our school, people that want to participate can donate any amount they choose, it might be anywhere from $1.00 to $100. Every little bit counts. I can't speak for every school, but I am aware that our school has over half low income families. This money we raise goes for children that cannot afford to pay for milk at snack time, it pays for educational field trips, it provides much needed classroom supplies, snowpants,boots,gloves,and winter coats for those that cannot afford them, I could go on forever. I am proud of our school,and all of the students and staff. There has been so many programs cut along w/funding in many of these cases it is left up to the ptas to cover these expenses. NOONE should ever be singled out for not selling, that is ridiculous, and I agree this needs to be investigated.

To all who say they would rather donate money to the PTA... Go ahead, what's holding you back? This is why they have fundraisers. You say you would rather donate, but have you ever done that? I didn't think so.

A key aspect of this issue is distinguishing necessary school ciriculum supplies/activities versus extra activities. There needs to be a fair system (without the humiliation tactics) put in place that allows both parent/child the option to NOT raise funds for any particular EXTRA ciricular activity. As long as the parents realize the consequences of their decision and can explain to their child why they will or will not be excluded from the extra activity. The taxpayers shouldn't foot the bill for student's EXTRA activities. In the bigger picture theory, this is a life lesson for students of "something for something". In adult life, extra activities cost extra money and the burden of cost falls on the participant.
I agree that the merchandise in the programs are overpriced and not worth the cost.
This issue may end up affecting after school sports and the funding for those activities as well.

I would prefer to simply make a cash donation when asked to purchase for fundraisers rather than purchase the expensive crap they sell and the school only make a percentage of what the kids sell. However, I have been told that that won't count toward the prizes the kids win for selling stuff. How can my $20 cash not count as much as the percentage the school makes off of $20 for wrapping paper?

What about Little League? Boy Scouts? Girl Scout cookies? Should we end all Fundraising because Mr. Severson doesn't approve? It's funny how those that choose not to participate are the first ones in line with their hands out to accept the profits. I think the school board should worry about it's own fundrasing efforts and leave the schools and the PTA alone! These fundraisers are very important to the schools.

I agree that there are way too many fundraisers and that the companies make way too much off of those that purchase. However, the same people on here that complain about the fundraisers also complain about their taxes over and over. If the state/federal funding formula wasn't shorting districts every year, schools wouldn't need to do all the extra fundraising.

Brewnut: Most of the fundraising goes to help with those students that cannot afford many of the basic things at school. These items include folders, pencils, notebooks, glue, bus tokens, and a rare field trip. Many teachers also spend several hundred each year on these items to help those in need. I wish there was a better answer than fundraisers, but that is why they are opening up the discussion.

Personally, I'd rather give a school $20 instead of buying the junk they sell.

My daughter brought home a PTA fundraiser two weeks after her choir fundraiser. She sold stuff for choir but not the PTA. I'm sorry, but $23 for a candle is just too expensive!

I remember being in Middle School and the teacher announcing the kids names that did not sell and I even remember the teacher questioning them as to why they don't have any sales. This was back in the 80's I guess I am not surprised it still goes on. My daughter who is in 6th grade right now did the fundraiser they had. Not because she wanted to, or because I thought it was a decent deal...( buying expensive junk) She participated because that was the only way she would be allowed to go to a special party. It is awful that they exclude kids from a party and worse yet, require them to sell an unreasonable amount of items to get to play the games and such. It is nothing but a racket and no one wins but the company that sells the junk.

I have never seen the teachers out there fundraising. I have had words with Mr. Sperry in the past regarding this topic. What a waste of class time. If my son was singled out I would consider legal action. NOW, if it is for a special event, band, sports, chess club or what have you I do see a value in putting some work into it, but not to pay for a play ground or a teachers lounge upgrade.

I am philosophically opposed to it. So are 98% of the people that took the poll so far (28 to 1).

THIS is a ...*TRAVESTY* ..........nothing else needs to be said.

I definetly support families being able to OPT OUT of fundraising if they/the child don't wish to participate. For years, I've heard my kids come home to tell me they were FORCED to participate "or ELSE".. what kind of education is that? Where is freedom of CHOICE?? These are children here, not adults. They should *NOT* be forced to sell fundraiser items for the school if they choose not to. Those that do, that's fine, but don't make it a mandatory school requirement. It's not education-related.

They are looking into, How not to single out kids who can't sell or don't want to sell, not getting rid of the menace all together. If public funds and parents who's children participate cannot cover the cost of the activity maybe the activity should be removed from the school.
Student fees, clothing, my families fee to get into games and travel all add.
The board should consider bringing back the family sports pass.