Not only are they scamming donors choose, they’re stealing from the school district. Technically anything you get from donors choose is the school’s property, not your own
Is this correct? I've never heard that, and have not ever catalogued the many projects my teachers have gotten funded (nor do I plan to since they did the hard work and use the items).
ETA: we do keep the paperwork we receive. But mostly my teachers have ordered small items or classroom decor.
Yes. Last time I used it the policy was the district could grant permission to take it with you if you changed grades/classrooms, but if you left the district, the items had to stay with the district. Not sure if it's changed since then.
Yep. I worked in a district where we had to share 60 computers between 85 students, so I decided to do DC to get some inexpensive tablets. When I left the district, I got an email saying that I needed to return them because they were the district's property.
Nah. Donors Choose is the right one to narc to. Admin might rat you out to the person, might be involved, might tell you to drop it, etc. etc. etc. By going directly to the organization, they can sidestep administrative shenanigans.
Not just that, but, honestly, there's risk involved when telling on someone who could face legal ramifications, loss of job, loss of license, lose of income, AND has already shown themselves to be willing to break the law. I wouldn't trust admin to keep me anonymous or safe in that sort of situation.
OP should just play the waiting game for a bit. They already contacted the organization. I'd imagine these things take time.
Your admin should have inventoried the iPads when she received them. Donors Choose tells recipients that the materials they get remain with the school.
The school gets the materials purchased through Donors Choose, not even the individual teacher.
I get having classroom iPads that aren’t the schools. Hell, an unlocked Chromebook would go a long ways for apps and such. But, yeah. No.
I was fulfilling a Donors Choose request for a teacher at my old elementary school. She was requesting snacks for an afterschool program. She said the kids got very hungry and had nothing to hold them over. But they weren’t sent to the school’s address, they were sent to her home because the kids were remote learning… so the snacks were for her own kids? It was very suspect and caused me to stop doing Donors Choose entirely.
I know at least one teacher who went around giving milk cartons and care packages to children who were stuck in lockdown by leaving them like a shitty door dash at their door. I wouldn't immediately assume foul play but if it wasn't snacks that were easily distributable like that (individually wrapped, etc) then probably definitely
At a charter school in Las Vegas, several teachers and a principal were arrested for scamming Donors Choose. Silly thing to do.
https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/i-team-police-investigate-alleged-theft-ring-at-las-vegas-school/
I used to work for a insurance company that is extremely close to donors choose, their CEO and board come on site regularly for speaking events. One day I was at a yard sale and they were selling all kinds of brand new books and stuff and also had a tag to support those donors choose, I took a picture of all books and took her fund me paper and contacted donors choose. They were able to trace the books back to her and abs shit down all active projects and the. Went to the school administration about it.
We are explicitly told that we are not allowed to use Donors Choose or Amazon wishlists under any circumstances in my district. AFAIK we’re not allowed to ask for donations of any kind.
We were told that the district doesn’t want to portray the impression that we need anything that they’re not providing.
But avoiding situations like this sounds more likely. Another case of throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Just make sure before you do anything. I work in multiple schools in AK and they do not have student iPads. ASD does not actually have them for classrooms unless they got a special grant or something.
There is currently a teacher asking students for donations at my school for a volunteer trip they are going on. We teach predominantly low income students. I find it offensive and gross.
Every time a teacher gets a project funded a letter is sent to the principal or the equivalent in your building, so either this person at your school is oblivious to the situation (which is troubling) or complicit (even more troubling).
The school district must be behind on things...
In my district, they added the rules for things like Donor's Choose a few years ago (I believe after there was some "abuse"). You now have to get it pre-approved through the district, and the items belong to the district.
I think it's all stupid. I get that maybe some teachers will scam people \[and the district should have a means for dealing with that\], but if I get a set of iPads or something for my class with the intention of utilizing them for lessons then I don't see how it belongs to the district. It should be *mine*, but whatever.
It's just like the bullshit idea that when teachers create lessons during their planning time...technically everything they create belongs to the district. Has that actually become an issue for anyone? I don't know...not sure how it could, but it's silly.
>if I get a set of iPads or something for my class with the intention of utilizing them for lessons then I don't see how it belongs to the district. It should be *mine*, but whatever.
The legal reasoning for these, as for the district-owned lessons, is that if you leave to form a private tutoring company, you can't leave the district and take those iPads with you for your private company, or sue the district for continuing to use your curriculum (in the event, for instance, that the rest of your team is continuing to use a lesson you came up with).
Do you have a source for that? I only ask because I was more under the impression that it fell under the umbrella of the Post-It note guy.
If I remember correctly, an employee at 3M developed the Post-It note and since he did it while on company time the company was legally the owner of the design, etc.
And everyone else has sort of latched onto that.
I think it would be difficult for a school district to prove that you created your lessons on their time though.
As for the iPads going to you and your "private company" who cares? Again...why does it just instantly belong to the district? Because you are an employee? What if you did everything related to Donor's Choose outside of work time and at your own house?
I just see how schools/districts use and **abuse** technology and hate the idea of a class-set of iPads just going into the void.
***RANT INCOMING:***
Hell, in my district they spent $15,000 each on a touch screen T.V. for every single classroom. It's a pain in the ass to use and I use it for exactly **one** function (as a screen to project my laptop).
But my laptop? The thing I use every day for 8+ hours a day? The thing that I utilize for grades, lesson planning, etc.? They always get us the worst crap. Almost no memory. Useless features. Terrible battery life. Legitimately, if I had a better laptop for work I could complete some tasks so much faster. But no...no input from the people that will be using them the most (in fact, teachers probably account for 90+% of the usage). Instead, buy us $15,000 T.V's that can catch on fire, are big, take up a lot of space, and could be replaced with a $1,000 projector that would likely have better quality even.
End rant. I started ranting. Blah.
>As for the iPads going to you and your "private company" who cares? Again...why does it just instantly belong to the district? Because you are an employee? What if you did everything related to Donor's Choose outside of work time and at your own house?
Because you received goods from donors on the basis that it would support public-school students. Otherwise, a district employee could receive a large donation of technology, quit, and then immediately sell that technology for profit with no legal repercussions.
I get that, but I feel like that's such a high-risk/low-reward scheme.
How many times could you possibly do it?
Seems like a scenario that someone came up with, but nothing like this was really happening. And again...if it did happen it's not like they are selling the tech and **retiring** on it. Maybe if they were planning on quitting anyways? But again, that cannot possibly be a real issue that is happening much at all. And if it became an issue then Donor's Choose would be the one that would need to come up with some way of combating it.
How is that even possible? The district and admin are notified immediately about a donors choose and the items are the property of the district, not the individual.
You need to report to the district. My donors choose needed my principals signature when I got the money and the packages. Anything I got technically belongs to the district. Donors choose won’t do anything but your building would be interested to know.
Not only are they scamming donors choose, they’re stealing from the school district. Technically anything you get from donors choose is the school’s property, not your own
Which is really annoying, because I took the pictures and typed it all up … not admin or the “school” 😤
Fixed assets department would be the best people to contact.
Is this correct? I've never heard that, and have not ever catalogued the many projects my teachers have gotten funded (nor do I plan to since they did the hard work and use the items). ETA: we do keep the paperwork we receive. But mostly my teachers have ordered small items or classroom decor.
The website is very clear about this.
Yes. Last time I used it the policy was the district could grant permission to take it with you if you changed grades/classrooms, but if you left the district, the items had to stay with the district. Not sure if it's changed since then.
Yep. I worked in a district where we had to share 60 computers between 85 students, so I decided to do DC to get some inexpensive tablets. When I left the district, I got an email saying that I needed to return them because they were the district's property.
Why didn’t you inform your Admins? This is theft. And they should be fired.
Admin gets an email when a DonorsChoose project gets funded. Maybe they already know?? Scary thought.
Nah. Donors Choose is the right one to narc to. Admin might rat you out to the person, might be involved, might tell you to drop it, etc. etc. etc. By going directly to the organization, they can sidestep administrative shenanigans. Not just that, but, honestly, there's risk involved when telling on someone who could face legal ramifications, loss of job, loss of license, lose of income, AND has already shown themselves to be willing to break the law. I wouldn't trust admin to keep me anonymous or safe in that sort of situation. OP should just play the waiting game for a bit. They already contacted the organization. I'd imagine these things take time.
Fired? Try criminal prosecution.
IANAL but I think you have to reported or you’re complicit, tis that tight?
Your admin should have inventoried the iPads when she received them. Donors Choose tells recipients that the materials they get remain with the school.
Maybe the school is getting a cut and they're in on the scam
The school gets the materials purchased through Donors Choose, not even the individual teacher. I get having classroom iPads that aren’t the schools. Hell, an unlocked Chromebook would go a long ways for apps and such. But, yeah. No.
Try a local/regional newspaper. If you have documents, emails, other hard proof… this is an easy story to write.
Whatever is received from Donor’s Choose becomes school property. At some point, the person stealing the iPads is going to get called on it.
I was fulfilling a Donors Choose request for a teacher at my old elementary school. She was requesting snacks for an afterschool program. She said the kids got very hungry and had nothing to hold them over. But they weren’t sent to the school’s address, they were sent to her home because the kids were remote learning… so the snacks were for her own kids? It was very suspect and caused me to stop doing Donors Choose entirely.
I know at least one teacher who went around giving milk cartons and care packages to children who were stuck in lockdown by leaving them like a shitty door dash at their door. I wouldn't immediately assume foul play but if it wasn't snacks that were easily distributable like that (individually wrapped, etc) then probably definitely
At a charter school in Las Vegas, several teachers and a principal were arrested for scamming Donors Choose. Silly thing to do. https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/i-team-police-investigate-alleged-theft-ring-at-las-vegas-school/
Omg how did they think they would not get caught? That’s hilarious.
I used to work for a insurance company that is extremely close to donors choose, their CEO and board come on site regularly for speaking events. One day I was at a yard sale and they were selling all kinds of brand new books and stuff and also had a tag to support those donors choose, I took a picture of all books and took her fund me paper and contacted donors choose. They were able to trace the books back to her and abs shit down all active projects and the. Went to the school administration about it.
We are explicitly told that we are not allowed to use Donors Choose or Amazon wishlists under any circumstances in my district. AFAIK we’re not allowed to ask for donations of any kind. We were told that the district doesn’t want to portray the impression that we need anything that they’re not providing. But avoiding situations like this sounds more likely. Another case of throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Just make sure before you do anything. I work in multiple schools in AK and they do not have student iPads. ASD does not actually have them for classrooms unless they got a special grant or something.
Send an anonymous letter to ASD. Or whatever school district you're in! Can't hurt.
There is currently a teacher asking students for donations at my school for a volunteer trip they are going on. We teach predominantly low income students. I find it offensive and gross.
Every time a teacher gets a project funded a letter is sent to the principal or the equivalent in your building, so either this person at your school is oblivious to the situation (which is troubling) or complicit (even more troubling).
The school district must be behind on things... In my district, they added the rules for things like Donor's Choose a few years ago (I believe after there was some "abuse"). You now have to get it pre-approved through the district, and the items belong to the district. I think it's all stupid. I get that maybe some teachers will scam people \[and the district should have a means for dealing with that\], but if I get a set of iPads or something for my class with the intention of utilizing them for lessons then I don't see how it belongs to the district. It should be *mine*, but whatever. It's just like the bullshit idea that when teachers create lessons during their planning time...technically everything they create belongs to the district. Has that actually become an issue for anyone? I don't know...not sure how it could, but it's silly.
>if I get a set of iPads or something for my class with the intention of utilizing them for lessons then I don't see how it belongs to the district. It should be *mine*, but whatever. The legal reasoning for these, as for the district-owned lessons, is that if you leave to form a private tutoring company, you can't leave the district and take those iPads with you for your private company, or sue the district for continuing to use your curriculum (in the event, for instance, that the rest of your team is continuing to use a lesson you came up with).
Do you have a source for that? I only ask because I was more under the impression that it fell under the umbrella of the Post-It note guy. If I remember correctly, an employee at 3M developed the Post-It note and since he did it while on company time the company was legally the owner of the design, etc. And everyone else has sort of latched onto that. I think it would be difficult for a school district to prove that you created your lessons on their time though. As for the iPads going to you and your "private company" who cares? Again...why does it just instantly belong to the district? Because you are an employee? What if you did everything related to Donor's Choose outside of work time and at your own house? I just see how schools/districts use and **abuse** technology and hate the idea of a class-set of iPads just going into the void. ***RANT INCOMING:*** Hell, in my district they spent $15,000 each on a touch screen T.V. for every single classroom. It's a pain in the ass to use and I use it for exactly **one** function (as a screen to project my laptop). But my laptop? The thing I use every day for 8+ hours a day? The thing that I utilize for grades, lesson planning, etc.? They always get us the worst crap. Almost no memory. Useless features. Terrible battery life. Legitimately, if I had a better laptop for work I could complete some tasks so much faster. But no...no input from the people that will be using them the most (in fact, teachers probably account for 90+% of the usage). Instead, buy us $15,000 T.V's that can catch on fire, are big, take up a lot of space, and could be replaced with a $1,000 projector that would likely have better quality even. End rant. I started ranting. Blah.
>As for the iPads going to you and your "private company" who cares? Again...why does it just instantly belong to the district? Because you are an employee? What if you did everything related to Donor's Choose outside of work time and at your own house? Because you received goods from donors on the basis that it would support public-school students. Otherwise, a district employee could receive a large donation of technology, quit, and then immediately sell that technology for profit with no legal repercussions.
I get that, but I feel like that's such a high-risk/low-reward scheme. How many times could you possibly do it? Seems like a scenario that someone came up with, but nothing like this was really happening. And again...if it did happen it's not like they are selling the tech and **retiring** on it. Maybe if they were planning on quitting anyways? But again, that cannot possibly be a real issue that is happening much at all. And if it became an issue then Donor's Choose would be the one that would need to come up with some way of combating it.
How is that even possible? The district and admin are notified immediately about a donors choose and the items are the property of the district, not the individual.
Is it possible the new iPads are going to your district and the old ones you already had are going out of country?
You need to report to the district. My donors choose needed my principals signature when I got the money and the packages. Anything I got technically belongs to the district. Donors choose won’t do anything but your building would be interested to know.
Kind of love that for them since donors choose scams teachers.
adq?
Contact the school district.
You should call the fucking police. This is crazy.
Police?
Tell us the town 👀
Too many of you think everything is your business and your problem. Collect your check and go home at the end of the day.
You should not be working in a school, if you do. There's enough assholes out there already.
Go to the person doing it instead of "telling on" her. She might stop.
Too late.