End of year gifts to teachers

Factual Questions
1

My wife is a fifth grade teacher, and today is her last day of school. She is a terrific teacher, and the parents of her students are quite enamored of her. As is customary nearly everywhere I think, the parents of her students wanted to give her an end of year gift. Rather than each getting their own gift, they pooled their money and got her one gift from the entire class.

Money is tight in her school district, and as a result, students and teachers are being asked to provide most of their own supplies next year. So for their gift, these parents gave my wife boxes full of classroom supplies, topped off by a brand new overhead projector. It was a very generous gift, and was accompanied by multiple cards from parents praising her as the best teacher their children have ever had.

She was obviously very flattered and told her principal about it. The principle informed her that the district superindenent heard about the gift and wanted my wife to know that the gifts really belonged to the school, and that she would have to turn them over when she left.

So my question is: is he right? It is a terribly crappy thing to do if nothing else, but is it legal? The school has never before tried to lay claim to any gift given to a teacher, but now that it’s something they want, they’re moving in. If she had gotten a mug full of candy they never would have asked her to turn that over. The really crappy thing is the parents definately intended it as a personal gift, and had they known the district would pull a stunt like that they would have gotten her something else.

2

That’s ridiculous. The gift wasn’t to the school, it was to your wife, right? All she needs to do is show the card that says, “To Mrs. Racekarl,” and that would show that the gift was for HER, not her apparently very stingy school.

Now, my wife’s fourth graders’ parents took a collection, and she got a very nice gift of cash. That’s more like it. The parents are quite generous and like my wife a lot, and she really does clean up around Christmas and at the end of the year: cash, gift certificates, dinner certificates, you name it.

Your wife’s school is very petty, it seems to me.

3

Don’t they realise it is coming to the schools anyway. All they are doing is creating bad feeling. Perfect example of Bad Management Practice.

4

She could keep a record of all the expenditures she makes buying stuff for the class. When she leaves the school district, if they want the gift projector back, present them with the list of purchases she’s made on their behalf and tell them they can have the projector when they reimburse her for her expenses.

5

Is there a written policy saying all gifts are property of the school? If not, she can hand the principal one of the pencils and tell him to sit on it (assuming she has tenure).

Without a policy, they have no claim. The gift was given to her. If it was some lacy lingerie, would the principal lay claim to that?

6

Heh now, remember this is my wife we’re talking about :wink: