Fees and school supplies lists for Putnam County students are now aligned by grade level after the school board approved lists created by the District Guiding Coalition.
Curriculum Supervisor Bubba Winningham said the coalition worked with principals to identify needs and let them work with their teachers to ensure the lists covered all bases. He said for elementary schools, the lists are broken up into two groups, Putnam County kindergarten and first graders, and second through fourth graders. He said parents will have clear expectations as they begin school shopping this summer.
“Each individual school, of course, has different individual needs, but overall, it’s the same needs at each school,” Winningham said. “And so, to make it easier for our teachers and our parents and our students, we just feel like the alignment of this process kind of does that for us.”
Winningham said lists likely will not differ much from what parents are used to, including supplies like pencils, glue sticks, and rulers. He said the most notable change is the addition of earbuds, added to lists as classrooms rely more heavily on technology like computers and Chromebooks.
“We look at it every year,” Winningham said. “So we try to update it if there’s any needs that need to be updated every year. We send that out to schools beforehand and say, “Hey, look at this list. Is there something on here that we don’t see and we need?”
He said teachers and faculty have been closely involved with the development of the lists to ensure that those in the classroom each day have their hands in deciding what supplies need to be prioritized. Winningham said elementary schoolers will also be asked to bring crayons and markers, while middle school lists will include dividers, but some of the supplies on the lists will overlap.
“A lot of it being online and digital, and the use of Chromebooks now, most elementary, most middle schools, are one-to-one,” Winningham said. “Meaning they have one device per student in their school. And so, the accessibility of those students using that technology is there.”
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