PTA Program Helps Students With Back to School

As reality seeps in for children in the area that the first day of school is Monday, many have spent the evening packing up their book bags with supplies, finishing up that last summer reading book and pulling out the best outfit to wear.

University Park Elementary School parents had a little help preparing for the first day.

For the second year in a row, the school has helped parents with a program that allows them pre-order school supplies.

Parents were able to pick up a pre-ordered box of school supplies Thursday through Saturday with the help of the school's Parent Teacher Association and SchoolKidz USA, an Illinois-based school supply kit company.

The company, in conjunction with Staples, provides students with an array of supplies, including pencils, notebooks, hand sanitizer and book covers, at bulk-discounted rates.

Clara Carey and her husband, Bill, volunteered to hand out supply boxes Friday. Carey and another PTA parent, Deborah Moore, coordinated the program. Carey, whose daughter is a fourth-grader at the school, said the best things in the fourth-grade boxes are the adhesive identification labels.

"The kids have so much stuff nowadays, the labels help keep it all organized," she said.

For many parents, knowing that school supplies were taken care of for the upcoming school year meant they could focus on using finances in other ways, Carey said, especially parents with multiple children at University Park.  

Another benefit is avoiding retailers who are already inundated with thousands of area students returning to school in the coming weeks, she said.

"This is my second year participating, and my son is headed to the sixth grade," Naga Kodali said. "I am very busy and this program helps us transition from a lazy summer into an exciting school year mind-set."

Carey said about 100 parents participated in the program this year, and they hope to start getting orders in earlier next year so that more parents can use the program.