It’s that time of year again. Kids dread it; parents may be feeling some relief. Area students will return to school in early September, and parents are already thinking about school shopping.
The average American family will spend $606.40 on clothes, shoes, supplies and electronics, compared to $548.72 last year, and close to the $594.24 spent in 2008, according to research by the National Retail Federation.
Brighton and Pittsford schools have developed a number of ways to make the school supply shopping experience as simple and cost-effective as possible for parents.
Mendon Center Elementary School parent Maria Sherwood has five kids and knows how hectic school supply shopping can be.
“When you have various levels of kids getting different supply lists, there is never one store that sells everything,” she said.
For the past three years, Sherwood has coordinated a program at the school in which parents have the option of getting supplies without visiting stores ― or even going online. An order form is sent home with students in the spring, and parents simply needed to write a check and pick the supplies up at the school’s open house.
The program proved popular, as about half of the kids in the participating grade levels signed up. Sherwood said it does save money when compared with buying from area stores. A small amount of the cost goes to the PTSA.
In both Brighton and Pittsford elementary schools, teachers aim to keep supply lists uniform by grade level and put the lists on the districts’ Web sites.
Mendon Center Principal Melanie Ward said the lists are released at the end of the school year so parents can purchase supplies before they know who their child’s teacher will be in the fall.
French Road Elementary School Principal Tom Hall said his school also releases supply lists at the end of the school year. In past years, Hall said parents struggled to get the colored folders requested for teachers.
“A lot of the colors were off the shelves by the time we got the letters out,” he said. “So we came up with a building-wide color scheme, that’s brand new this year.”
The red folder is the math folder, so if parents buy a vinyl folder for their third-grader it can be reused in fourth and fifth grade or with younger siblings.
Technologically, Mendon Center recommends that students purchase a USB thumb drive for saving data and a set of ear bud headphones for using classroom laptops. However, Ward said the items aren’t required.
Both schools remain conscious of the economic climate.
“Teachers every year look at supply lists, it’s not static,” Ward said. “We make sure they still want the things on the list. If they’re things we no longer find they’re using or the building is supplying, they’ve been taken off the list.”
“They’re all suggested items,” Hall said. “If you come and don’t have those, we’ll set you up as best we can.”
