Just curious if anyone has ever moved to a new school district and been told by their previous district that they cannot take their materials that were funded via Donor's Choose with them?
How did you deal with it?!
Just clarifying- DC says you can take the stuff if your principal says so. But a TON of my things have been funded by a friend of mine and some family members, so they bought them for me- not my school. I'm just curious as to whether most schools are ok with this or not.
Doesn't the Donor's Choose website specify that the donations usually stay with the school?
I understand taking time/energy to create a DC project, but at the same time I read the projects as being donated for *that* classroom in *that* school. I mean people donate to help struggling schools. It wouldn't be fair to take the donation to a more well off school, not that I'm saying they would necessarily go to a better off school.
It's my understanding that you can take your donated items as long as you are moving to a school with a similar population (as well as approval from the P). Can you explain to this person that it was your family and friends who donated money through DC so you could have these items? Otherwise without his/her consent, you'll just have to leave them.
Any materials that have been delivered to the school by default should remain at that school if a teacher leaves. However, the teacher is welcome to take the materials with him/her to a new school if both of these criteria are met:
The teacher will continue to teach in a public school and in a position that meets our eligibility criteria.
The principal gives consent for the teacher to take funded materials to use in his/her new classroom.
When I moved schools I brought my DC items with me because the school I was moving to had an even higher poverty level. I don't think my P even cared or thought to ask me about it. Very few teachers in my district know about DC!
We had two teachers who were not renewed this year who took their DC items with them. Our P sent an email that said any DC stuff needs to be recorded in the office so they can keep track of it.
It sucked, but I left my DC items at my old school. At the time, I didn't know where I would be teaching (I moved to a different state), and I felt that the grant was fulfilled because of the type of school I worked in (very low income population). Your situation is tough though, because you know your donors. I would do whatever you feel comfortable with.
my principal always gets an email when I get something. However, this became an issue in our district, so it is now written into district policy, that items donated belong to the teacher, for the very reason you mentioned, many of them have been funded by family and friends, or parents, or by the work of the teacher (i.e. codes, Limeades for Learning voting, etc.).
Personally, if there is no policy in place in your district, and your principal has never mentioned it (since they do get notification), I'd take my donations with me if I were moving to a different school. We also used the argument that if we had moved over the summer and a project was funded, it would come to the new school, not the old one. I'd not even mention it or ask. My thinking is, the principal knows, if they wanted to keep it, then it should be as the PP stated and have a record of it on file.
I would take my stuff, as my previous principal knows nothing. He got the e-mails but that is the extent of it. My new principal thus will know nothing. I know there are a couple of people on DC from school, but hardly anyone at my school does anything.
I would take your donations with you if it doesn't violate the DC policies. IF the P knows about the stuff and you take it anyway, you could get banned. However, I hope that is not the issue because I know how much time and effort we spend "getting" donations. Those who don't do it think it just happens by itself. I wish!
I also funded or had family/friends fund a lot of my projects. I don't think (except for the first project) that I even just got funded-I had to get codes and do the publicity. Also, what if you leave the stuff and it is misused or not used at all? I would never dream of leaving my school but if I did I would personally take everything with me. Plus, I have spent a lot of money maintaining my donations. For example, I got IPad that I had to buy the screen covers, cover, stylus, apps, etc. Also, I buy the batteries for everything with batteries and make sure that everything stays in the room and is not "borrowed." I can't imagine just taking it all for someone else to misuse or steal. Even paperback books that I repair, tape, label, and all that. I think someone else would just box it all up instead of maintaining this huge library....
I don't think my P would even know what is a personal item and what is a DC item. I would just pack it up and not say anything if the items would benefit your new group of kids.
I got an Elmo from Donor's Choose my second year of teaching. I was so excited that I told the Principal about it. He told me to tell the librarian so she could put a barcode on it. I didn't know any different and I did. Well 5 years later I realized, "Hey! That is my Elmo." So I went to the librarian and told her that I want to take it with me if I leave. She agreed with me and took it off. I really don't think anyone would have noticed if I had taken it anyway.
I feel like I put the work into getting it, it should go with me.
The items belong to your school because of the intent of the donor. So, in most cases, when you don't know the donor, they are giving because of the needs of the kids in your school. But the intent of your friend and your family is that you would have the items to use for your teaching. I would be inclined to take the items that were funded by your friend and family members, since their intent was to help you, and to leave anything funded by unknown donors, since they wanted to help that particular school. jmho!
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07-25-2012, 12:22 PM
