Back to School Means Shopping for Supplies

Three pocket folders at $1.99 each. Two-inch binder at $8.49. Solar-powered calculator, anywhere from $11.49 to $17.99. Finding the best deals for items like these are what most area parents are thinking about this week. 

As back-to-school season is officially underway, parents are downloading supply lists from school websites and hitting the stores to make sure their kids have what they need this year. 

Abeni Johnson said it will cost her about $50 for her kindergartner's supplies and about $100 for her sixth-grader's items. Both are students at Cherokee Lane Elementary School in Adelphi.

"You not only supply for your own kids, but the whole class," she said, adding that boxes of tissues, hand sanitizer and sometimes paper towels are on the list of things to share with the classroom.

What's new on her list this year? A flash drive for her sixth-grader. But Johnson said it's a purchase that she thinks helps students.

"I think it will be great," she said. "It will get them ready for high school."

For Jim Colby, who's daughter Emily will be a fifth-grader at Glenarden Woods Elementary this fall, the sales are attractive. While shopping at Target over the weekend, he and Emily were buying the items on her list. But Emily said the red pens were hard to find.

"I'm eager to see what they use compared to what they are not going to use at all," Colby said about the required items. But in total, Colby thinks he'll only spend about $35.

That may not seem like much, but given the economic downturn, for some families, it just isn't in the budget.

Neftali Ortiz, the parent liaison at Riverdale Elementary School, said he has seen an increase in the number of families who need assistance in buying school supplies.

"Since most of our parents are low-income families, they need our support," Ortiz said.

Assistant Principal of Riverdale Elementary, Carol Buhr, said she, as well as the principal and teachers, all donate supplies to the school, so they have them on hand for students.

"We usually don't have a problem supplying our students," Buhr said. "We try to stock up as much as possible.

She said they try to buy them when stores like Target or Staples have their back-to-school specials.

Buhr also said the school relies on the kindness of others in the community. The Christian Life Center and the University of Maryland are just a few area organizations that donate supplies to the school. The PTA also works to help provide supplies when needed.

University Park Elementary School also has great community support when it comes to needed school supplies, according to Assistant Principal Massa Freeman.

"We have a parent liaison who collects supplies from the community," Freeman said. "Sometimes parents donate supplies and have a terrific PTA, and they donate lots of things."

She said she's amazed at how much the community supports the school.

Freeman said parents can also pre-order supplies through a program the PTA offers and pick up the supplies prior to the start of the school year.

Hyattsville resident Kim Sator was browsing the school supply aisle at Target searching for a specific planner her daughter wanted for her senior year at Northwestern High School.

"It's fun," Sator said, adding she hasn't noticed a big increase in prices from year to year. "Teachers take into account everyone is on a budget. I learned to get composition books up front every year because I know she is going to use them. "

An important lesson for anyone buying school supplies.