{"id":17890,"date":"2019-08-22T17:29:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T23:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/news\/as-school-supply-spending-soars-community-programs-help-students-be-prepared\/"},"modified":"2019-08-22T17:29:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-22T23:29:00","slug":"as-school-supply-spending-soars-community-programs-help-students-be-prepared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/as-school-supply-spending-soars-community-programs-help-students-be-prepared\/","title":{"rendered":"As school supply spending soars, community programs help students be prepared"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Grand County schools are partnering with the Mountain Family Center to help local families get the school supplies they need.<\/strong>
Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Glittery pencil pouches, rows of rainbow folders and pens galore fill grocery stores across the county right now, signaling that it\u2019s almost time to go back to school again.<\/p>\n

This year families are expected spend a record amount to satisfy school supply list requirements. To help alleviate some of the costs, Grand County schools partner with the Mountain Family Center to provide students everything they need to be successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe school will do whatever we can to help make sure the students are successful,\u201d explained Jack Daly, principal at West Grand K-8. \u201cWe don\u2019t want anybody to miss out on an opportunity because their situation is not ideal at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the National Retail Federation, families with school-age children will spend an average of roughly $697 on school supplies this year, including clothes, shoes and electronics, which is roughly $150 more than what families spent 10 years ago.<\/p>\n

Many school districts are conscious of the rising costs of education when they compile the supply lists and try to ask for only what\u2019s necessary, said officials at both the East and West Grand school districts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a size where our teachers are very aware of what their student population is like, they know them very well and they take that stuff into account to make sure we\u2019re not over-asking,\u201d Daly said.<\/p>\n

On top of that, both districts partner with Mountain Family Center for its backpack program, which provides backpacks full of the specific supplies on the participating schools\u2019 lists for students at no cost.<\/p>\n

The districts estimate how many backpacks will be needed based on how many have been used in years past and how many students are enrolled in the free and reduced-price meal program. However, the backpacks are free to any student, no questions asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cSchool supplies are an added expense at the beginning of every school year; it can be hard for families to fit that into their budget,\u201d said Katie Stuvel, marketing and events coordinator for Mountain Family Center. \u201cWe just don\u2019t want people to have to choose between putting food on the table or being able to provide school supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each year, the nonprofit typically spends around $7,000 to put together an average of 350 backpacks for the county, which can be picked up at the schools\u2019 front offices. Any extra backpacks are made available to students throughout the year.<\/p>\n

Since the program has been initiated in West Grand, Daly has seen a similar response. He noted that the simple act of carrying a backpack can help children feel more comfortable and ready for success in school.<\/p>\n

Plus, the program indirectly helps teachers save money because they don\u2019t have to supplement as many student supplies. On average, teachers spend $480 per year on supplies, almost double the $250 tax deduction that\u2019s available to teachers, according to the National Center of Education Statistics.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who teach, teach because they care about kids and when they see a student that\u2019s lacking, they\u2019ll fill that need themselves,\u201d Daly said. \u201cBy having these programs, it helps my teachers not have to go into their own pocketbook and focus on what they need for the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

East Grand Superintendent Frank Reeves said every year he has parents asking when the backpacks will be available and has seen the program become commonplace in the schools, so students who participate don\u2019t feel any stigma around needing help.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe make sure that no kid is punished or feels ashamed because they didn\u2019t have something,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really normalized the whole idea of helping each other and not making someone feel lesser because they need help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the supplies, the school districts partner with Mountain Family Center to provide free food totes for students to take home over the long weekends. Like the backpacks, any student can access the food totes.<\/p>\n

For students that do qualify for the free and reduced-price meal program, both East and West Grand also waive student fees, such as those for extracurriculars.<\/p>\n

Bottom line, Reeves said, is \u201cif families can\u2019t bring it in, then they can\u2019t and we understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grand County schools are partnering with the Mountain Family Center to help local families get the school supplies they need.Courtesy photo Glittery pencil pouches, rows of rainbow folders and pens galore fill grocery stores across the county right now, signaling that it\u2019s almost time to go back to school again. This year families are expected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17890","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-13 22:36:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17890\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}