The back

Even as the experience of shopping can be be fun for students, the financial impact can be burdensome to some families. “As the years go up, it gets more expensive,” said Tina Sweet, of Adams.

Community Voices Editor

Pamela Shute, 13, and her dad, Nate, pick out school supplies and fill a backpack recently at the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition's 11th annual back-to-school event in North Adams. “It’s been a great help,” Shute said of the free-backpack event.

NORTH ADAMS — Nathan Shute has gotten used to getting school supplies once a year for his daughter Pamela, who is now 13 and going into eighth grade at Drury High School.

On Aug. 17, Shute queued up with dozens of parents and children to pick out free backpacks, magic markers and school supplies. He's on a fixed income, he said.

Shute and his daughter chose a notepad, lined paper, a simple calculator, pencils, highlighters, erasers, a ruler and a folder, but among the offerings they didn't find the $110 Texas Instruments TI-84 calculator she’ll need for math, according to a list of school supplies she received.

Still, “it’s been a great help,” Shute said of the free-backpack event, which he’s attended for the past four years.

Families needed to register to take part in recent school supply giveaways in North Adams, at a Dalton mansion owned by Berkshire Money Management and at Great Barrington’s Family Resource Center. While some parents received detailed lists of school supplies for their children, others attended without those lists in hand.

Not every school in Berkshire County sends home lists of school supplies that families are expected to provide. And those that do generally help students who don’t come to school with the full set of supplies.

But in a time when the phrase equity in education has become a valued and touted principle, the school supplies list divides those who shop in a store from those who wait in line — or who simply show up to the first day of school empty-handed.

Brianna Mallet, 7, picks out school supplies and fills a backpack. Free backpack events like this one are held throughout Berkshire County every year.

For Julie Lech, of Adams, the North Adams backpack event checked some, but not all, of the boxes on her two children’s lists. Among the things still needed for her 7-year-old second grader, Brianna, was a box of No. 2 Ticonderoga pencils.

“There's certain brands that last longer, are more durable, easier to sharpen,” said Lech, who works as a paraprofessional at Hoosac Valley Elementary School in Adams, where her daughter is a student. “So that's why they asked for that, even though they're like mighty expensive.”

While Lech wasn’t concerned about the financial impact of filling the gaps, she enlisted both her mother and her mother-in-law to be on the lookout for sales. And she expected to spend “a couple hundred dollars” on clothes for each of her two children. Her son Nate is 9, heading into the fourth grade at Hoosac Valley Elementary Middle School.

“I think there's an element where students really like going with their parents to pick stuff out to help set their school year off, and I think they like taking ownership of it,” said Erin Beaulac, principal of Hoosac Valley Elementary School. Still, she said, “We’re happy to supply any supply to any student.”

These days, in a post-COVID pandemic world, some school supply lists also include consumable products, such as boxes of tissues, disinfectant wipes and rolls of paper towels.

Tracey Tierney, principal at Emma Miller School in Savoy, purchased 50 each of composition notebooks, Crayola brand markers and crayons, pencils, pens, watercolors and other supplies so that her students wouldn't have to.

Tracey Tierney is the principal of Emma L. Miller School in Savoy. Each year, she hunts for bargains and shops online as well as at the Walmart Supercenter for the students at her school.

On Aug. 16, Tierney filled a cart at Walmart with 50 each of composition notebooks, Crayola brand markers and crayons, pencils, pens, watercolors and other supplies. Using a tax-exempt card that most parents don't have, her total came to $198.23. She had also spent about $150 on supplies at Amazon, bringing to nearly $350 the total amount spent for 50 sets of school supplies.

Purchasing school supplies can be a rite of passage for some families who can afford and have the time to shop. For others, “it’s just asking them to do one more thing,” said Nicole Prevost, chair of the Massachusetts Teachers Association’s initiative The Massachusetts Child.

Tierney said teachers at her school are also given a $150 allowance for additional supplies. There are just two things children at Emma Miller School are expected to bring the first day: a lunch box and a backpack.

“If I had 400 kids, I wouldn’t be able to do this,” she said.

In addition, teachers are allowed a $300 federal tax deduction for out-of-pocket classroom expenses as of 2022, according to the IRS. The previous limit had been $250.

There are just two things children at Emma Miller School are expected to bring the first day: a lunch box and a backpack. “If I had 400 kids, I wouldn’t be able to do this,” said Tracey Tierney, principal at Emma Miller School in Savoy.

Nicole Prevost is chair of the Massachusetts Teachers Association’s initiative called The Massachusetts Child. It reimburses classroom teachers, who purchase basics for specific students, such as hats, gloves, clothing, as well as school supplies. The initiative began in 1996, following the lead of other state teaching associations.

Reimbursement for school supplies isn’t frequently requested at Mass Child, as the initiative is called.

“We tend to get more requests for clothing,” Prevost said.

She teaches kindergarten in Quincy, a city she referred to as at a lower socioeconomic level. She asks parents to supply paper and cleaning supplies, rather than school supplies, which either she purchases or requests that her district does, often in bulk.

“It’s just asking them to do one more thing,” she said.

At Farmington River Regional Elementary School in Otis, the school supplies list contains the email address of a staff member who can help families who need assistance purchasing supplies. The district’s website listed the date of the backpack giveaways, along with the Otis Police Department’s upcoming Tuesday school supplies event.

Laurie Flower is principal at the school, which has 130 students. Her school sends out lists of suggested school supplies and posts them on the website.

Cheyanne Pearson, 14, picks out school supplies and fills a backpack with her parents. Many families are given back-to-school supply lists before the start of the year.

“When families prioritize and actively participate in acquiring school supplies, they're sending a message of support and encouragement to their students,” Flower said, adding the practice also “lays the foundation for a successful educational experience.”

Jeremiah Ames, principal of Lenox Memorial Middle and High School, whose school also has suggested school supplies lists, expressed a similar sentiment.

“I think a lot of parents feel good about being able to contribute to the things their child needs to be successful in school,” he said. “But we don't want families to feel like because I couldn't afford a large box of markers, for example, my child was somehow the lesser prepared for the first day of school."

His school has "plenty of supplies and we distribute them as we need to, to make sure that all kids feel welcome,” he said.

Lily Szklasz, 9, picks out a backpack at the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition's 11th annual back-to-school event. Some educators say getting items on a back-to-school list help students get excited for the upcoming school year.

Amber Besaw, executive director of Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, which hosted the North Adams backpack event, said she believes school supply lists fulfill a purpose.

"I think lists are helpful for families to understand what their child may need as their grade changes and what they're going to be doing academically changes," Besaw said Aug. 24, adding that not every school district can afford to provide supplies to every student.

She deliberately created the North Adams event to allow all participating students to have the experience of picking what they'd like or shopping in order to help build the excitement of going back to school.

Still, "I think it does stretch parents when things are expensive."

At Pittsfield High School, most teachers don’t send home school supplies lists, said Principal Maggie Elaine Harrington-Esko.

“We don't have an official policy,” Harrington-Esko said. “But we have always asked that our educators be thoughtful of the expenses that are incurred in the beginning of the school year.”

She said students make use of school-issued Chromebooks to take notes online and to turn in assignments.

“We've written grants over the years and provide calculators for students in the classroom, so they don't have to provide their own,” she said. “We have some great partners. Staples has reached out every year and provided us with some back-to-school materials.”

In addition, there's a room stocked with extra basics, including school supplies as well as clothing, such as sweatshirts.

“We try to keep everything at a minimum,” Harrington-Esko said. “Many of our teachers do not ask for anything more than a notebook and a pen.”

Even as the experience of shopping can be be fun for students, the financial impact can be burdensome to some families.

Tina Sweet, of Adams, supports her son and grandson Maxson solely on her income. Maxson, who is 8, participated in the North Adams backpack giveaway from home via video.

“As the years go up, it gets more expensive,” she said. “I'm glad I didn't have the expense of a backpack because those aren’t cheap.”

Jane Kaufman is Community Voices Editor at The Berkshire Eagle. She can be reached at [email protected] or 413-496-6125.

For the Pittsfield Public Schools, most students will head back to class Aug. 31. At the Berkshire Hills Regional School District and Central Berkshire Regional School District, the first day is Aug. 30. If it feels earlier than usual ... it is ... and it isn't.

It seems incredible that, at many schools around the county, both parents and teachers pay out of pocket for school supplies.

Community Voices Editor