Medina district will provide school supplies for all students this year

MEDINA – The school district announced today that it will be providing school supplies – folders, paper, pens, pencils, rulers, erasers and binders – to all students in the district. That’s about 1,400 students in grades prekindergarten through 12.

“We feel it’s a great thing for our families in the district,” said Dr. Mark Kruzynski, Medina Central School superintendent.

Kruzynski said some families struggle with the expense of the all the supplies, or sometimes they are sold out and difficult to locate in time for the school year in early September.

“It’s something we can do to make it a little easier for our families,” Kruzynski said today.

The district has a master list of school supplies and will order them for all students.

“The list has been getting longer and longer each year, and more specific,” he said. “This way we can get exactly what the teachers want and get everyone started off right.”

The district can also get a better price by ordering in a larger quantity, he said.

Medina has a high poverty rate, Kruzynski said. This is the latest effort to try to ease some of the financial pressures on families, he said.

Medina in 2018-19 started offering free breakfast and lunch to all students through implementation of the Community Eligibility Provision of the National School Breakfast/Lunch Program.

That program provides the opportunity for schools in high poverty areas to provide two nutritious meals every school day, while eliminating the stigma for those students previously identified as “low income.”