Putnam County Schools’ unified school supply lists for elementary and middle school students helping to reduce costs and simplify the back-to-school process for local families.
Curriculum Supervisor Bubba Winningham said the district moved to centralized lists for grade bands K-2, 2-4, and 5-8. Winningham said the initiative aims to reduce parental anxiety by providing a single, easy-to-find list.
“It came a couple years ago,” Winningham said. “We had a lot of schools and a lot of teachers sending out different lists, a lot of grade levels at different schools sending out different lists. And a lot of the things were very similar on those lists, but you know, it caused some confusion among parents.”
Winningham said the district collaborated with school administrators who worked directly with teachers to establish uniformity across the different buildings. Winningham said the lists are reviewed at the end of every school year to determine if specific items should be added or removed based on changing classroom needs.
Winningham said high schools do not use a centralized list because the diversity of course offerings and programs makes a single list difficult to implement. Winningham said the district evaluates whether the curriculum already provides certain materials to ensure parents are not asked to purchase redundant items.
Winningham said the initiative has worked to save local parents money on back to school supplies.
“I mean I would hope that that’s one of our goals in that is to try to save for, you know, them from going out and spending money on unnecessary items,” Winningham said. “So I would hope that the savings would be beneficial and the savings would be there.”
Winningham said parents who are uncertain about specific requirements should contact their child’s school building directly to speak with officials before making purchases. Winningham said the district tries to keep supply costs minimal and noted that teachers often purchase their own classroom supplies to help limit the burden on families.
“I would hate for them to spend money on something that they don’t need and have a question on and go ahead and get that answered,” Winningham said.
Winningham said the first full day of school for the district is July 31. Winningham said he suggests families take advantage of the state’s tax-free holiday to further reduce the financial impact of back-to-school shopping.
