The new school year may not start in East Aurora School District 131 until Aug. 20, but the parking lot and sidewalks around East Aurora High School Saturday morning looked like classes were already in session.
Beginning at 10 a.m., the district held a four-hour back-to-school fair at East Aurora High School at 500 Tomcat Lane in Aurora.
“I’ve come to this before and I’d say things are moving very well,” said Keith Russell of Aurora, who stood Saturday morning in a line that ran around the entire west side of the building. “I’ve been here five or six years now, and this back-to-school event makes things easier for everybody. You don’t have to go out and buy the supplies yourself. (The district) gives you everything you need and kids like it because they have activities inside that make it fun.”
Officials said students registered for the new school year received a free backpack with school supplies at the event. Other highlights offered Saturday included haircuts, a petting zoo, photo booth, food trucks and physicals provided by VNA Heath Care.
Brittney Walker, who serves as East Aurora School District’s public relations officer, said this was the fourth year the district has held the event and that 3,000 backpacks would be given away “in an effort to make things easier for parents and students.”
“I think these back-to-school events have ramped up over the past few years to make it one less step for families,” Walker said. “Families are busy and there are a lot of additional financial challenges or whatever they might be. This is one less thing for them to hurdle in order to get here.”
Walker also noted the event was something officials hoped would spur on school attendance by getting kids off on the right foot.
“Across the country there’s been attendance problems and we’re just trying to make sure there are no additional barriers to prevent students from getting here and being here every day,” she said.
That theme of attendance and more was echoed by East Aurora School District Superintendent Bob Halverson, who was on hand for the event.
“This is just amazing. We had over 3,000 backpacks reserved for our community and we had those all reserved about a week ago and we’re excited to give back to our community,” he said. “This giving of supplies is important to get the students the things they need ahead of time and making sure everybody has everything to be successful, which is crucial and why we really went after this.
“This is a way to encourage kids to come to school as well as our getting out in front of the community since there’s about a week and a half before we start,” he added.
Walker was directing traffic inside East Aurora High School Saturday morning as hundreds streamed into the building.
“People were lining up two hours early and they are moving in and out pretty quickly,” she said.
Alejandra Monjaraz of Aurora said she came to the event last year and noted “it was very good because we don’t need to buy a lot of supplies.”
“I have five children although a couple are in college now – I brought the younger ones,” she said while looking at her daughter Alexa, 7, and son Agustine, 13, who came to get their backpacks. “Economically, this is very good for us because we are a big family and while the older kids are in college we still have the younger ones.”
Like many parents, Monjaraz liked the convenience factor the event offered.
“I don’t have to go to the stores as we have almost everything we need here (in the backpacks) and don’t have to go to Target or Walmart with a list and look around and to see whether they have the supplies or not,” she said.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
