LITTLE ROCK — PEARCY - When students in first through seventh grades at Lake Hamilton School District arrive for the first day of school Monday, they will be met with all the tools necessary for a successful year.
For the first time, the district will supply all the required school supplies, with the exception of backpacks, for students in those grades. The new
program will benefit about 2,500 students.
“We’ve counted and sorted and taken [the supplies] to the classrooms, and that’s a little bit extra on us, but it’s worth it,” Lake Hamilton Elementary School Principal Sharon Barton said. “If it’s going to help someone, it’s worth it.”
Assistant Superintendent Shawn Higginbotham said the district decided last spring to provide supplies for t he upcom i ng school year, based on the increasing number of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches, the “overwhelming use” of the district’s food and clothing pantry, and the increasing number of homeless students.
“We were taking an oppor t u nit y to help rel ievesome financial pressure on fa mi lies if we cou ld, a nd we just decided to find the money in the budget to do it,” he said.
The Lakeside and Hot Springs school districts, also in Garland County, were already providing free suppliesto their students.
“We have, of course, w atched t hos e prog r a ms over the last couple of years and realized they were successful, and we don’t mind jumping on a bandwagon if it’s a good thing,” Higginbotham said.
Though this is Lake Hamilton’s first year for the program, in previous years, the district worked with organizations to ensure that students in need received school supplies.
“All of the churches and ot her civ ic orga nizat ions have been good to provide school supplies for needy students in the past,” Higginbotham said. “I assume they will still be doing that for some, and students that we may not be serving in this capacity, but this program is for all students.”
Parents with children at Lake Hamilton have responded positively to the news. A mother who was registering her four children even began to cry, Barton said.
“She was so touched,” Barton said. “People are hurting. It’s a hard economic time and very difficult for folks, so even though it’s not a great deal of money that we’re saving them, it’s something, and it’s the thought. They know we’re trying to help.”
First- through seventhgraders were selected to receive supplies this first year because the supplies needed in the eighth through 12th grades are more “course specific,” Higginbotham said.
The district already provides specialty items, such as calculators and protractors, for students in the uppergrade levels.
Higg i nbot ha m sa id he hopes the district will continue to prov ide students with school supplies and thatthe program should expand to kindergarten next year, and the district will “look at the other grades.” “We want to be responsive to our patrons’ needs, but at the same time know that we have finite resources,” he said.
Tri-Lakes, Pages 121 on 08/14/2011