shoes and school
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
United States
June 25, 2012 1:12pm CST
Two weeks ago school ended for my kids on a Thursday. Now my Daughter told me a few days later on Sunday that she forgot her gym shoes at school. I call the teacher on Monday leave a message. Try to contact the school secretary... leave a message. So no one calls back at all. I go over to the school and ask the Summer Program advisor who's there and she said "oh they packed everything up on the shelves that Friday, you can go look upstairs but it's probably gone" So for kicks I go and look... nothing there.
I'm just pissed off! I've asked hubby if I should call the school district office and he said no because they wouldn't do anything about it. But the point is if I have to buy an extra pair of shoes for them to keep at school for gym class and I'm not getting them back then they can kiss my grits about me sending another pair of gym shoes to school next school term for either girls. I have to live in the real world of paycheck to paycheck praying to stay out of the food pantry line and I should pull another $35 out of my back end to buy good shoes that will only be used for gym class and that they donate on you if you don't get them in under 24hrs of school letting out?!?! 
Is my hubby right and I should let it go and just not send gym shoes with them to school to keep there? or should I send an old pair of shoes if I send any at all? (as they worry bout the floors getting damaged and the debris on the gym floor) Or call the school district office and have a fit just to get it out realizing they probably could care less? Afterall the teachers in my district make $53,000-73,000 yr so shoes are trivial to them, but not to me!!!
Is my hubby right and I should let it go and just not send gym shoes with them to school to keep there? or should I send an old pair of shoes if I send any at all? (as they worry bout the floors getting damaged and the debris on the gym floor) Or call the school district office and have a fit just to get it out realizing they probably could care less? Afterall the teachers in my district make $53,000-73,000 yr so shoes are trivial to them, but not to me!!!3 people like this
11 responses
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
26 Jun 12
She's 9. I'd hate to take her money but have her help pay tward another pair or help more around the house.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
25 Jun 12
Go to goodwill and look for a pair of shoes for your girls for gym. A lot of times they have nice looking shoes there, and all that needs to be done is a little cleanup. Could they have been put somewhere else or maybe still in her locker? Either way something needs to be said, maybe to the principle when school is back in session.
2 people like this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
28 Jun 12
If all kids are doing this...where do they all put their "street" shoes while in the gym if no lockers? They should at least be able to leave their "street" shoes at their desk while in gym
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
25 Jun 12
It's hit or miss going second hand if they'll have sizes and decent condition. I'd cr@p if her shoes were there on the rack if I went into the one up the way! I doubt it though...
She doesn't have a locker, they don't get those til middle school she's only finished 3rd grade.
That's a thought also they are getting a new principal in fall. They should give people a chance to get things left in the classroom and at the coat hook. I thought teachers stayed atleast the week after doing grades and such. I know they start setting up their room atleast a week before school starts.
1 person likes this
@danishcanadian (28953)
• Canada
26 Jun 12
NO!!! You need to PERSUE this, and if they won't cough up the damn shoes, get legal aid, or whatever free legal service America might have for low-incomes (it's called Legal Aid here in Ontaro Canada!), and get a lawyer on their azzes. If they donate something that does not belong to them, then they have STOLEN it!!! They can kiss my grits too, as far as I'm concerned!
1 person likes this
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
28 Jun 12
It is quite a lousy policy if you ask me. Now they do send notices home on and off during the school year for parents to check the lost and found as by such and such a date they will donate the items. But I agree not giving anyone a chance to collect something that was on a shelf above their coat hook is BS. It's not like it was left unused, abandoned for weeks/months... it was forgotten and in under 24hrs they made the judgement to donate everything?!?!? This is one reason why when they ask for donations for the office for when kids don't have mittens, hats ect they can get something but why not hang onto the stuff that was in the lost and found, take it home and wash it and leave in a bin the following year. No they donate everything every chance they can get.
My one daughter had claimed a hoodie that was not hers and I sent her to school with it and an e-mail to the 5k teacher explaining she had taken what didn't belong to her. I also bought her own hoodie with butterflies on it after that and she hasn't taken what wasn't hers since.
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
25 Jun 12
I agree with the others. Go to Goodwill or another thrift store--Goodwill is kinda pricey!--and buy her used ones and make her kick in a dollar or so to help since it was her responsibility to remember them. If she has to spend some of her own money, you can bet she'll take good care of those shoes!
2 people like this
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
26 Jun 12
I agree maybe asking her to help pay a dollar or two ward a new pair is fine. Yes Goodwill & St Vincent De Paul are always pricier than Salvation Army. Only trouble is finding something not beat up.
One would think the logic in contributing to the cost of the item will help in the item being cared for properly.... someday I hope it kicks in.
@savypat (20216)
• United States
25 Jun 12
When life throws this type of challenge at me, and believe me there have been many.
I always look for the best place to put my energy. More and more I try to look at life as energy. First I am annoyed at the whole situation, do I get angry? Do I try to place blame? Can I get the shoes back? Can I get more shoes? What can I do to solve the problem? What can I do to make sure it doesn't happen again? etc.
Once I have the outline of the problem written down I start to solve the problem.
Pretty soon I realize I am no longer so angry, I know my Daughter messed up, I know that the school at this time has no more control over the situation. So what do I do? Well what will you do? Blessings, I can't solve your problem, but I am sure you can, maybe you should include your Daughter at some point in this exercise.
2 people like this
@PhillyDreamer (3039)
• United States
25 Jun 12
Wheres the rule that says you have to send new shoes? If you can find an affordable used pair go for it. The thing you dont want is for your daughters to fail gym for being inadequately prepared.
2 people like this
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
25 Jun 12
They prefer shoes that haven't been worn on the street. But you know they have kids that don't show up with anything so they should be thankful for what your kids do bring for supplies.
Philly-I'd send them with gym shoes they'll just be the ones on their feet all day long. No changing between dress flats to tenny shoes and back again.
1 person likes this
@PhillyDreamer (3039)
• United States
25 Jun 12
They can prefer a lot of things, but at least you are trying to contribute.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157627)
• United States
25 Jun 12
In your position, I would make my disappointment known to the district office, but more importantly to the school board. They help set policies. My kids could never fit their old gym shoes the next year, they always grew, however your child could have gotten a lot of good wear out of them this summer. When fall comes I would either buy a cheap pair of shoes for the gym or I would wash up an old pair from home, and buy a good pair for every day use. If you do not send any gym shoes, you are not hurting the school in any way. You are only giving them a reason to single out your child for not having them, whatever the reason is. In the end it just hurts your kids.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
28 Jun 12
I'd say if it was that big a deal to the school to keep the gym floors in good repair...why don't they do something about it and make a place where kids can change their street shoes to their gym shoes before and after gym class? Shoe cubbies, lockers...i mean they do this at Chuck E. Cheese and other "bounce house/ play area" kind of places. 30 kids in a class...30 little shoebox size cubbies along a wall in the gym.. good grief, how hard is that? I quarentee you it is cheaper than paying for new shoes for all 30 of those kids..not to mention 30 kids in what...6-8 classes? Talk about expensive! And this problem would never happen again...as any shoe left in the cubby the teacher can say "hey wait...who left their shoes?"
@patgalca (18181)
• Orangeville, Ontario
25 Jun 12
How old is your daughter? It is my guess that by the time school starts again she is going to need a new pair of shoes anyway. They grow so quickly. When my daughter was in grade school she would go through two pairs of sneakers in ONE school year. I would call the district and see if you could get them but honestly, I think you'll still have to buy another pair come fall.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
28 Jun 12
True, you are wasting your time trying to get them back. Schools don't care about that. But give them guff anyway. At least make them work a little bit for their arrogance! But then again, they'll just say it was your daughters fault for not remembering the shoes. The school isn't responsible for anything and they will be the first to inform you of that!
If they have an actual gym class where they change clothes and shoes and have a locker to put it all in, just get a less expensive pair..since they will only be worn for 55 minutes a day at the most. Check the thrift stores...this one in my town always has new looking name brand sneakers. Kids out grow them faster than they out wear them. If the school is so concerned about debris and damage to the gym floor..they need to fix it so that can be accomodated...meaning lockers for changing shoes and the last day of school during gym class all lockers are opened by the teacher to make sure all items are removed. How hard is that! But I'd say definately, next year..find out the story of how the shoes will be "taken care of" and if they are just "whatever" then buy a cheap pair at Kmart or something.
1 person likes this
@JenInTN (27514)
• United States
26 Jun 12
I would be mad about it too. I have huge issues with some of the things they want us to shell money out for in the first place and then to lose a perfectly good pair of shoes. They should have been taken somewhere that they could have been available for you and after a certain amount of time..sure..maybe then..but not any less than a few months or at least until the beginning of the new school year.
I remember one year the school my girls went to had two packs of tennis balls on the supply lists. I wondered about it and thought that maybe it was a Science project but it was on both the list and my girls were a few grades apart. Anyway..come to find out it was to split them in two and place on the bottom of their chairs...keep them from messing up the floor
1 person likes this
@asyria51 (2861)
• United States
3 Jul 12
My school district, or at least my particular school, keeps items until the open house of the next school year. We put all the items out in the gym, and in the first letter home for the year let the parents know that many items were left behind last school year, and that any items that were found will be in the gym looking for their rightful owner.
We do occasionally do the same thing throughout the year as our LOST and FOUND gets out of control. For example, right around the time for parent teacher conferences we send the letter out to parents to remember to check and that all items still there will be donated.
