SELLING POINT

Fall is here, and for many schools throughout Hidalgo County that means fund-raiser season.

Some schools have already started sending students out to sell everything from cookie dough to magazines to raise money for field trips, incentives and many other items like classroom computers and school supplies.

Laura Farias, community liaison for Liberty Middle School in Pharr, said the school holds one event each year to raise money for incentives, including field trips and snacks for students during standardized testing sessions. In less than six weeks of school, the school has already completed a fund-raiser selling cookie dough and magazines. Farias said parent participation usually tapers off once students enter secondary schools, so fund-raisers like these are the only way administrators can find money to pay for incentives, and in some cases, provide clothing or school supplies for low-income students. “This is the only fundraiser the school really has,” she said.

Liberty students typically raise between $8,000 and $10,000 each year, according to Farias.

Since campus leaders do not want students selling door-to-door, they encourage them to sell to family members and have their parents take the catalogs to work — prompting complaints from some.

“Crazy time of year”

Farias said the school has received a few phone complaint calls over the years from parents, some asking if their children have to participate. Farias said students are not.

But those calls, as well as those from customers complaining they did not receive their orders, “are few and far between,” she said.

Judy Vega, a McAllen parent whose son is a kindergarten student in McAllen, said her son barely started school and already he’s been sent home with a request to sell calendars, wrapping paper and candles.

“It really puts pressure on the parents. My son doesn’t know how to read yet, and already he’s getting fund-raising activities,” she said. “Thankfully, we have a large family.”

She’s concerned that these activities competitively pit the children against one another because they want to win the prizes associated with selling a certain amount of items.

“They say they’re not getting enough funding from the state. It’s not the kids’ fault; we’re already paying taxes for them.

“There are other things they can do,” she said.

“The fall is a crazy time of year,” said Marie Adamson, whose two children attend Rayburn Elementary School in McAllen.

Adamson, who is the treasurer of that school’s Parent Teacher Association and the president of a subgroup of the Texas PTA, said she recently finished helping sell popcorn for her son’s Boy Scout troop and is about to start selling it for Rayburn.

Adamson said she knows how these activities can wear out parents, but “in the end it’s worth it” because they pay for playground equipment, computers and other items students need that districts might not be able to afford on their own.

Alternative sources

Mission Junior High School leaders have found other ways to make money.

The school’s principal, Raul Sanchez, said the school still does some of the catalog sales, but its main fund-raising events are the annual fall festival and the University Interscholastic League (UIL) practice competitions it hosts in the fall and spring. Like Liberty, the money raised at Mission Junior High is used for student incentives.

The festival usually rakes in between $6,000 and $7,000 each year. The competitions usually yield about $14,000. The money raised from hosting the competitions is used for student scholarships for college. Sanchez said he likes holding those events because they involve the whole family, and in the case of the competitions, they promote academics.

“When we actually have a UIL meet and fall festival, we bring in people who generally aren’t involved with the school,” Sanchez said.

The fall festival also provides services to the public, including blood pressure and other screenings, he said, and doesn’t just blatantly pander for money.

“With the (sales) brochures, you don’t get that involvement. As educators, we’re able to serve as an example,” Sanchez said. “It allows parents to see the school is educating more than the curriculum; they’re educating the whole child.”

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Jennifer L. Berghom covers education and general assignments at The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4462.