Other districts, community organizations are also equipped on the supply front
Wilson Elementary School Title I Specialist Shawn Rosas organizes school supplies Tuesday. [Jamie Lusch / Mail Tribune]
Title I Specialist Shawn Rosas organizes school supplies Tuesday at Wilson Elementary School. [Jamie Lusch / Mail Tribune]
Recognizing the high cost of goods in today’s economy, the Medford School District says it will pay for all school supplies for its elementary school families.
The announcement came earlier this month, a few weeks before the start of the new school year on August 29.
“We want to alleviate some of the costs associated with rising store prices as you send your child to school. That’s why we’re providing school supplies for all elementary (and Ruch K-8) students this year,” the district said in its statement, posted online. “These supplies will go right into the classroom, ready for your child to use on the first day of school.”
However, elementary school families are expected to provide their children with a backpack and water bottle, the district said.
Because the district’s decision does not apply to families of middle and high school students, they are still expected to purchase necessary supplies for their child. If they cannot, however, the district encourages them to contact their school for support, and the district will make arrangements to pay for the supplies.
Natalie Hurd, director of communications and community engagement for the Medford School District, said the 2022-23 school year is the first time officials have purchased supplies in bulk for any of their schools. The effort will cost between $100,000 and $130,000, paid for through the district’s general fund.
“We wanted to start small and simple,” he said. “High school rosters tend to be a little more complex, given the nature of what they’re doing. At the elementary level, the lists are more generic”.
Elementary school principals will begin ordering supplies from the district this week when they return from summer vacation.
As early as 2017, the district set aside money in case some individual families made school supply relief requests. But those funds were not well known publicly, according to Hurd.
“It’s hard to come in and have a conversation and say, ‘I can’t afford the supplies for my student.’ It’s not a great situation to put our families in,” she said. “This summer, with inflation and the cost of goods rising, we thought, ‘Let’s try some things differently. We already have funds set aside; let’s use them as a district and buy in bulk’”.
When the district posted the school supply announcement on its Facebook page, many parents praised officials.
“Love this – so much stress to find certain supplies, gone! Thank you!”, wrote district mom Aimee Berkinshaw.
Other parents, however, were upset.
“There was a list online of things we needed to buy, so (we) already shopped. I wish I’d known sooner,” wrote the district’s mother, Davina Wintersteen.
Wilson Elementary is ahead of the curve when it comes to purchasing supplies. Officials met in May and decided to use leftover Title I funds to increase those items. They include: pens, loose-leaf paper, sticky notes, rulers, scissors, glue sticks and whiteboard markers.
“We feel very fortunate to be able to do this for our families, and we’re excited that it’s equitable across all grade levels,” said Wilson Principal Jean Bendele. “We’re just doing everything we can to make sure we ease that burden on families.”
Talent Middle School has also offered to pay the costs of school supplies for their families, if they need the assistance, according to a brochure provided by the Phoenix-Talent school district.
“Some families enjoy the activity of shopping for school supplies with their students, and for some families it creates great anxiety,” Brent Barry, the district’s superintendent, wrote in an email to the newspaper. “This is a way to provide options for any situation. I hope this helps.”
Central Point School District 6 has partnerships with local entities to help pay for the cost of school supplies. Central Point Rotary provides them each year for each new kindergarten student, and the Crater Foundation provides District 6 schools with financial assistance for families if they need school supplies and other needs.
“When it comes to school supplies, no student goes without the supplies they need for class,” Central Point Schools Superintendent Walt Davenport wrote in an email.
Not only are school districts focused on getting supplies; so are community organizations.
In a two-story studio at 31 W. Sixth St. in Medford, the up-and-coming nonprofit Rockafairy, started by a local bassist named Shane Ross, offers community members the opportunity to play musical instruments and record with a console. Ross believes that Rockafairy’s mission is intertwined with schools, so he wants Rockafairy to serve as a drop-off point for a school supply drive within the next month.
“Every supply that comes in, we’re going to celebrate,” Ross said. “The fact is, anything we can give to someone is going to have an impact.”
Initially she wanted to start by handing out bags of donated books, but now her first priority is to get lots of pencils, pens and notebooks.
“Imagine being in a classroom and you don’t have a notebook. So far, it looks good,” Ross said. “If you give the same kid a notebook and a pencil … they can take notes. They might revisit it later and form a version of themselves with that knowledge. Whereas, if they don’t have those supplies, that opportunity is lost.”
The local conversation about school supplies comes at a time when the National Retail Federation recently reported that the state of the current economy doesn’t necessarily prevent families from spending what they need to on school supplies; in fact, it exceeds pre-pandemic spending levels.
The organization’s data shows that individual families are expected to spend an average of $864 on school supplies, totaling $36.9 billion nationwide, far more than the $697 per household and $26.2 billion in total in 2019.
Contact reporter Kevin Opsahl at 541-776-4476 or kopsahl@rosebudmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KevJourno.
