No. Teachers don't have a secret hand sanitizer fetish.

I love my job. I REALLY do. I have thought many times of changing careers, but when I sit down and think about what I would actually DO...I come up empty. There's nothing else I WANT to do in my life. I mean really...who WOULDN'T want to spend 168 or 170 or whatever it is this year, days with hormone ravaged 7th graders?? No two days are EVER the same. GEEZ...no two CLASSES are ever the same!! It's great!! I never get bored...that's for SURE!

With all that said...I REALLY dislike the beginning of school...no...not strong enough...I HATE the beginning of school. There are several reasons why.

First, I LOATHE mornings. You know how you always hear parents (including me) say "nothing good happens after midnight"? Well, nothing good happens before 9:00AM either!! My brain usually begins to function about then.  I can definitely tell you my name by then, most of the time. Usually, I can make rational, logical decisions by 9:00AM.  But before then? No promises. So for me to have to get up and be out of the house by 7:00AM??? That is CRAZY.  SOMEBODY needs to come up with a second shift school. Maybe not even a real second shift. Maybe just one that starts at say, 10:00AM. That would be AWESOME!! I hate mornings. So that's reason #1.

Reason #2 is sorta related to #1. Mornings at my house are stressful.  For the last six years, I have DREADED the beginning of school because two of my three girls are just like me. They hate mornings too! It was REALLY bad when Kerri was in school and we would have to be out of the house early. WHOA. Don't even want to THINK about those days! Now, it's just Kelly. She is not a morning person either. She also doesn't have a real good concept of time. Her 5 minutes and my 5 minutes are NOT the same 300 seconds. While SHE thinks she only needs about 20 minutes to get ready, in reality, it's more like 45 minutes. So I'm sitting in the van, ready to GO, and she's still brushing her teeth. And my ever chipper, nothing-wrong-with-mornings, let's-get-this-day-started, do-more-before-the-sun-comes-up-than-most-people-do-all-day hubby, doesn't understand ANY of this. And he gets frustrated with both of us! So...I hate the beginning of school because of all the STRESS I know it's going to bring.

Another reason I hate the beginning of school is because of all the MONEY involved! It is dang expensive to start school. Of course you have the obvious new clothes, shoes, and basic school supplies that every kid has to have. That's a WAD of cash right there. If your kid happens to be involved in any kind of school sports or activities, there are ALWAYS fees connected with that. (Almost $200 for volleyball, and that does NOT even count new shoes or anything! ) But...I want my kid to be able to play the sport she loves, so I'm gonna have to drop the cash. Simple as that.
But it doesn't stop there. There are parking fees, supply fees, and locker fees. That's another $60-$70.

(STOP!! INSERT SOUND OF SCREECHING BRAKES AND RED FLASHING LIGHTS!!!! I'm changing hats here.  Taking off the "mom" hat and putting on the "teacher" hat.  Ok...continue reading)

Now, since we're talking about money and school and stuff (well, I'M talking about...you are reading about it)...let's talk about those ridiculous supply fees that parents are asked to pay. I would venture to say that EVERY parent, at the beginning of EVERY school year, gets very aggravated at being asked to pay somewhere between $50-$75 for "supply fees" at their kids school, and then ALSO being given a teacher "supply list", none of which includes the student's personal supplies they have already bought. I know. I used to get aggravated too....until I became a teacher. I think a lot of the aggravation comes from lack of understanding of how things work in a classroom. So...I'm going to try to shed a little light on the subject. No, it's not going to make it any easier to write out that check, but maybe it will help someone out there at least understand why those fees are necessary.

Now remember, I am a middle school teacher, so I can ONLY speak from middle school experience. But I have LOTS of friends who are elementary teachers, and their situation is very much the same as ours. 
Ok. here we go. Let's say your student is going to be in my 7th grade language arts class this year. He/she is in my homeroom, so I am going to be the one collecting his fees. The total amount of his fees will include locker, agenda, and FIVE classes. I don't remember the EXACT amount of our supply fee last year, but let's just say $50 for the sake of example. That $50 is broken down like this:
$15=locker fee (goes to school account for maintenance, upkeep, etc...)
$5= agenda (this is an EXTREMELY important tool for students AND parents. We use them every day!!)
$10= science (you know those cool labs that your student talks about...like the one with eggs and vinegar and stuff?? Those supplies for those labs don't just magically appear in the teacher's closet! They have to be purchased.)
$5=math
$5= language arts
$5=social studies
$5=connections
So what would, say, a language arts teacher need with that kind of money? Well, here are some things I could buy with my classroom money: colored paper (for MANY different projects I do throughout the year), scissors, glue, colored pencils, tape, staples, pencils, pens,  supplemental reading books, computer software,educational posters, magazine subscriptions, website subscriptions...do I need to go on? There are a TON of things I could do with "that kind of money." But you have to remember, out of possibly 100 students, I MAY get 1/3 who actually pay ALL their fees. I might get $250 in supply money. But you know how expensive things are! That $250 doesn't go very far.
Here's something else I want to point out...actually two things: One-all of the above mentioned items are for STUDENTS. Anything I use my classroom money for is for STUDENTS in some way. It may not be something they put their hands on directly, but if I spend that money, there will be SOME connection to the students in the room.
The other thing I want to point out is that you should notice things like tissues, paper towels, hand sanitizer, and individually wrapped candy are not on that list. We can not use class room money to but THOSE kinds of supplies. Now think with me...100+students in a room over the course of a day, in  the middle of "cold" season...what's going to be happening? LOTS of sniffles...LOTS of sneezes...LOTS of germs! It is really NOT unheard of for me to go through a box of tissues every two days during the height of cold season. Does EVERY SINGLE STUDENT use a tissue EVERY day? Of course not. Are there some students who NEVER use a Kleenex from the box on my desk? Probably. Am I going to keep track of which students did and which did not bring in supplies at the beginning of the year and NOT let the ones who didn't bring in anything NOT have a tissue if they need one? PLEASE don't be RIDICULOUS!!! The point is...we go through a LOT of expendable supplies throughout the year. I, as a teacher, can not afford to keep a closet full of tissues. I just can't. That's why we ask for parent's help.  White board markers get used up. What do we do when we run out of them? Kleenex get used up. What do I do when I don't have any tissues on my desk and I have a kid with a runny nose? I have to send that kid to the restroom to take care of business. If he/she is out of my room, he/she is missing something. I DON'T LIKE THAT!!! I don't want kids out of my room unless absolutely necessary!

Is this making sense? Do you understand that we teachers don't have a thing for hand sanitizer? We just want to have the best possible environment for YOUR student. That's all. And unfortunately, doing that costs money.

INSERT VERY DEEP BREATH HERE....

Whew!!! I've said a LOT....and it's mid-afternoon. I think I'm going to go enjoy my last few days of vacation before I have to start setting that wicked alarm clock!

CIAO friends!!