School Pictures

whatever22 · #1 11-01-2001, 01:55 PM

This kind of a dual rant (oh how I love to complain!)...

Picture day is today. However, the school didn't send the order forms home until Monday! That left 3 days to come up with picture money. Seeing as we live in a city, most of the parents (like me and hubby) are low-income. 3 days is not enough time to plan for picture money! But this isn't even my complaint.

I was not even going to order school pictures seeing as I feel it's a huge waste of money. They want anywhere from about $11 to $40 to photograph what could basically be called a 'mug shot' of my child. (I'm sure many of you parents remember picture day from being in school) Why would I waste money on such a thing when I can take my kids to Wal Mart and get a 'school picture' taken for a lot less money and have it be better quality?

I save the good photo shoots for places like Olan Mills. Not to mention, I ordered school pictures last year and never received them. I contacted the school and they didn't know where the pictures went or why I didn't received them. That would add to my determination never to order pictures from school. But, my mother wanted pictures of Tyler, so she gladly forked over $23 for one 8x10, two 5x7's, two 2x3's, and some mini-wallets.

This is not my complaint either...

My complaint is about the small print at the bottom of the order form that says children who do not pay for pictures on picture day will not be photographed! Excuse me? When I was in school, they photographed us anyway! How can a class picture be complete without all the children in it? I feel that even if a parent doesn't want to purchase pictures (and it's our right not to want to since they look like crap 95% of the time anyway), the child should still be photographed for class picture purposes!

How will Tyler remember all his classmates years from now when not all of them will appear because their mommy and daddy could not or did not want to buy pictures?

mtbat · #2 11-01-2001, 03:58 PM

There are a number of things that bother me there-

First, you need more than three days warning, no matter how much money you make-but it might not be the "schools" fault-it may be the teacher forgot to send the stuff home earlier.

have you not yet heard about last years pictures? if not-THEY OWE YOU! tell them to credit you this year-

the whole not taking pictures of kids who don't pay really bothers me-and is 100% wrong-our school does yearbooks-what would they do if there weren't pictures of all the kids?????

start with talking to the teacher or principal and go from there-good luck-but keep complaining-it's just not right

#3 11-01-2001, 04:28 PM

I always looked like a dork in my school pictures. The thick black-rimmed glasses didn't help.

whatever22 · #4 11-01-2001, 04:32 PM

I've thought many times about contacting the photo studio that does the pictures not only in the city schools, but pretty much in the entire metropolitan area. Talk about a school picture monpoly lol! I only paid $5 for a class picture last year, so I guess that's why I didn't bother to say anything.

But, this day just keeps getting better. They photographed Tyler's class after lunch. When I picked him up from school, his shirt was covered in food like it normally is. Which means, he is going to look a mess in his pictures lol! Common sense would tell the school that Kindergarteners should be photographed before lunch because they are messy little eaters and cannot be trusted to keep their clothes clean lol.

As a matter of fact, I believe Kindergarten through 2nd grade should be done before lunch and 3rd through 5th or 6th should be done after lunch. Would make the most sense to me. Oh how I can't wait to see what my mother's $23 paid for lol! I bet the food on his shirt should look lovely against the bronze/brown background I chose to compliment his brown eyes and brown hair. ROFL!!!

kurt_messick · #5 11-01-2001, 05:17 PM

Well, I am on a mission to search and destroy all the old school photos from my childhood, in addition to any super-8 films and other stupid stuff my family did. I won't have any children to whom these things will be ebay-fodder in the future. I'd just as soon be done with them now, before they can come back and embarrass me now!

mtbat · #6 11-01-2001, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kurt_messick
Well, I am on a mission to search and destroy all the old school photos from my childhood, in addition to any super-8 films and other stupid stuff my family did. I won't have any children to whom these things will be ebay-fodder in the future. I'd just as soon be done with them now, before they can come back and embarrass me now!

You could always auction them off to help out a fundraiser or something

I'd be glad to bid :O

Actually, my daughter's picture is really cute this year-If I ever get around to reconecting the scanner I'll show ya'll. But first I have to figure out what it was I plugged in when I disconected it in the first place.

Oh yeah-my daughter's school has about THREE different portrait days-

There is the school pic day that gets in the yearbook.

then there is the class picture day-they also take extra pictures, turn them into hoky Cr*p to sell us they are realllllyyyy sneaky w/ this one-they send all the hoky junk home and tell us-oh just pay for what you want and send the rest back-yeah, like I'm allowed to send BACK pictures and bookmarks, idtags ect with my daughters face on them

and then, there is another school picture day-for why I don't know

Fridai

cristina1 · #7 11-03-2001, 04:41 AM

Quote:

My complaint is about the small print at the bottom of the order form that says children who do not pay for pictures on picture day will not be photographed! Excuse me? When I was in school, they photographed us anyway! How can a class picture be complete without all the children in it?

In my son's preschool, if you dont order pictures they wont take an individual pic of your child, but all kids are in the group class picture. Maybe this is what they meant.

I cant wait to get his pictures back. They sound really cute. They went with a fall theme this year - with a wagon and pumpkins, etc. It sounds adorable.

jenninca · #8 11-03-2001, 07:52 AM

I've always been pretty satisfied with the pictures that my students have gotten (and actually, with my own picture), but at my new school this year, I noticed something weird. All the kids got their pictures taken, but the only halfway decent ones were of the kids who bought pictures. All the others had looks on their faces that were awful! Not a smile in that bunch! Looked awfully suspicious to me.

Cindy

**pluckyduck** · #9 11-03-2001, 11:27 AM

Where do I start?

Okay, I usually buy picture packages in the $20 range. First year of school, everything went fine, nice pictures.

Last year:

Dan's picture was awful, he had the weirdest look on his face.
Adam's pictures never arrived, they were lost.

I never used Dan's pictures and was too negligent to get a refund for Adam's. He kept telling me they were "looking for them" at school.

Class pictures for both boys were nice, so I got something out of it. :thumbs:. We had the pictures on the refrigerator until I noticed they were missing a few days after school ended. After questioning the boys, I discovered that Dan threw them out the last day of school. Why? Because the school year was over, of course.

This year

Adam's pictures came out fine.

Dan's pictures? For crying out loud! The kid thought he was smiling, and it ended up being some Frankenstein smile with his chin all jutted out. He looked either demonic or subhuman

So, I say to myself, this year, I'm going to do it right. It says right in the paperwork that if you don't like the package for any reason, hold onto it, and look for "retake" day. You can return the complete package and get a new one for "free".

Good plan, right?

Well, Dan got into the pictures and pulled out all of the fun things (there are book marks and ID cards and such with his picture, along with the normal portraits), separated them from the packaging and posted them all over the fridge.

I cannot win.

Andrea

**amykhar** · #10 11-03-2001, 11:35 AM

Andrea,
last year Sarah's picture STUNK. We decided to get retakes. However, on the day she was supposed to have them retaken, she forgot to take in her old package. The photographer took the pictures anyway and said don't worry about it.

I am angry about the not taking pictures of kids who don't pay for a different reason. It is a manipulative act on the part of the photography studio to use peer pressure to force parents to buy pictures. You all know how it is in schools. Anybody who is "different" gets picked on. Thus, put the word out that if your parents don't fork over money, you will be set apart from the crowd... you get the picture.

Our school makes everyone get their photo done for a school id anyway. Everybody is photographed. This is a GOOD thing.

Amy