No, You Can't Buy That - Rant
I got a total of $500 to spend on my classroom this year! It's from two different pots of money. As an interventionist, I come up with fun ways to use random instructional materials. Anyways, I got an email asking me to justify certain materials like.... construction paper/graph sketch pad for a dysgraphia student/clip magnets for word cards and other things. Ok. So, I'll send an email justifying these things that cost maybe $50 total. Sure. Then I get an email saying the graph paper and magnets are rejected? Like, those were like maybe $20 total. But like, what the hell?
We get an email from the sup telling us not to share Amazon wish lists because of how it looks to the public, but yet there's numerous items that's been disproved in years past, like kleenex, feminine products, snacks/candy for prizes, hell, I had to even justify fidgets and receive an extensive approval process (I finally had to say it was on a student's 504 in order for it to get a reluctant "fine.") I don't need any more markers or paper or pencils, I can buy hundreds of those and maintain them because I hold them hostage due to some weird scarcity mentality. I come up with inventive ways to curate classroom learning and I basically have to spend my own money because it's not "approved."
So, I guess I'll go steal some graph paper from a math teacher and the rest of my funds will just go unused.