A parent from a neighboring state, Pd.D in psychology, contacted us after her daughter’s elementary school decided to run a Boosterthon Fun Run.
This is what she wrote us:
At our school, Boosterthon was permitted to speak at the morning announcements, could enter any classroom at any time, held assemblies, and were even permitted to eat lunch with our students at their tables. So I couldn’t even just request to keep my kids out of the assemblies to protect them from these people. I would have had to pull them out of school for those two weeks to keep them safe from the propaganda. I’m appalled this was allowed at my kids’ school.
My husband and I both have Ph.D.s in psychology and we are drafting a second letter to the school now (we wrote our first letter before we were aware of some of their practices). Given our backgrounds, our main concern is the psychological impact Boosterthon tactics have on our children. They create a hostile environment that is a breeding ground for bullying behavior. We are starting to gather critical incidents to support those claims. It’s awful how they put the kids against each other and actually suggest that the “losers” of the pledge competition will be humiliated.
She shared with us the 2 letters sent to the principal of the elementary school.
No to Fundraising in the Classroom 