Getting ready for school: Hampton Roads parents should expect some changes

Hampton Roads families can expect a few changes to the start of the new school year this time around. Many schools are starting earlier, and back-to-school shopping has led some families to get creative to save money.

Many school divisions in the area will start before Labor Day for the first time this year. Most schools on the Peninsula already had pre-Labor Day starts, but Virginia Beach and Norfolk Public Schools are getting ready for their first years doing so. Both divisions will welcome back students on Aug. 28.

Also new, the sales tax holiday that shoppers typically can enjoy at the start of August expired last month. For the first time in more than a decade, Virginia did not offer the three-day sales tax break that applied to some school supplies, clothing and footwear.

For Kristina Hanson, a kindergarten teacher at Willard Elementary School in Norfolk, this is an exciting time — families meet their students’ teachers, and teachers get to welcome a new set of students. As a parent herself, she also understands it can be stressful.

Her fifth grader’s supply list was longer than her two high schoolers’ — one a freshman and the other a senior — but she said that is to be expected. High school teachers will likely send out lists in the first week or so of school. Until then, she lets her teens decide what basics they might need to get started. More and more, the students are working on their Chromebooks, which means she did not feel like they need as much as they might have before.

Between any new clothes they might need and supplies, she expects to spend about $75 per child. She starts her shopping basically at the end of each school year, so she has the whole summer to shop and avoid the “last-minute scramble.”

She said she hopes parents understand the supplies list is for items that will help the students succeed in the classroom that year. For example, if a list asks for five boxes of crayons, that is likely because all the crayons go into a communal bucket at the start of the year. Then, as the kids break or lose the crayons, that supply gets smaller and smaller. She said that at the end of the year, there might only be a handful of boxes left in the entire class.

“We try not to make (the list) more than it needs to be, and a lot of times, we are just asking for the bare minimum,” Hanson said.

In the coming weeks, there will be several back-to-school events and giveaways to help families gear up for the new year. These events are hosted by local nonprofits, community groups and the school divisions, and they focus on a variety of needs and often help hundreds of families get much of what they need.

As families get ready for the start of the new year, many are looking at back-to-school shopping. According to the National Retail Federation, spending on school supplies and other essentials is expected to break records, reaching $41.5 billion nationwide. This would be up from $36.9 billion last year.

School supply lists continue to include the basics — scissors, folders, glue sticks and such. Virginia Beach resident Audrey Leak said her students’ supplies list “wasn’t outrageous,” but because of the economy, she said she has paid closer attention to ways to save money.

Part of it was looking at giveaways. Leak said she was able to get free backpacks through Verizon. Then, she found crayons for 50 cents a box and summer shorts — because school is starting earlier and the temperatures might be hotter — for a few dollars each. Throughout the year, she also looks for other opportunities to save money such as earning rewards and using apps.

“I found out the hard way that now that things are getting tougher, you have to learn how to save and do these little things with freebies,” Leak said.

Kelsey Kendall, [email protected]

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