Holiday Gift Giving

The Department of Education has strict conflict of interest regulations, and staff members are not permitted to accept gifts of significant monetary value from individual parents/students. No gift at all is necessary, but if you want to give a card and a small token of your appreciation, such as a homemade treat, that is fine. Often parents collect money from other parents in the class to give a larger class gift. This is fine within reason and with certain guidelines, but the gift should not be excessively large. If a class is doing this, there should not be a suggested monetary amount and no one should feel pressured to give anything. Ask the whole class once or twice, but do not send constant reminders and do not send extra reminders to parents who haven’t given. A parent who is collecting money should not share with other parents who has given and who has not. These names should never be shared. Any class gift given to a staff member must be given on behalf of all the families in the class, and no distinction can be made between those who have contributed and those who have not. Thank you very much for cooperating with these guidelines and not putting staff members in the awkward position of having to turn down a gift. Your kind words to staff members–in cards, emails, or verbally–are what mean the most.