ELKINS — With the first day of school for students in Randolph County less than a month away, parents may be wondering what school supplies their kids will need before reporting on Aug. 18.

Recent financial problems with Randolph County Schools won’t affect what students in the county will or won’t receive for the 2005 school year, said Director of Elementary Curriculum and Federal Programs Amy Smith, who noted “everything is the same as it was at this time last year.”

“We don’t necessarily buy supplies, we do a per-pupil allocation and that covers all types of supplies, like copy paper, ink, and that type of stuff,” Smith told The Inter-Mountain this week. “And that number stayed the same this year. (RCS Chief Financial Officer) Brad Smith was able to get that to where it didn’t change at all.”

Smith said individual supplies that students use are typically purchased by the parents of the students. But in circumstances where families can’t afford supplies, each individual school will make sure children get what they need.

“Because we realize it is a financially trying time right now, schools publish their school lists early,” Smith said. “Because when they do that, they get people to donate or sponsor to make sure if parents can’t afford supplies, the kids get what they need. Teachers don’t use the same specific thing in every classroom, so they all put out an individual supply list. But they always make sure students get what they need.

“Most of the schools have their list on the school Facebook pages,” Smith said. “Teachers plan for students to not have everything they need on the first day, so they will send a list home that first day as well.”

Smith added that there are circumstances when teachers will use some of their allocation funds for students’ supplies.

“When I was in the classroom I would use it to buy notebooks, because I wanted all of my kids to have the same type of notebook and I didn’t want to have to ask parents to do that,” Smith said. “So they often supply items from the pupil allocation, especially at the elementary level, because they need so many things like crayons, pencils, glue and scissors.”

Smith said parents can call their children’s school if they don’t have any luck finding supply lists on Facebook.