August 19, 2024

Springfield Public Schools distributes backpacks, supplies Friday

BY Dave CantonMassLive

SPRINGFIELD — Several thousand school-aged kids and their parents lined up at Roberto Clemente Park on Plainfield Street on Friday morning to pick up their official Springfield School Department backpacks, loaded with supplies organized by the New North Citizens’ Council.

More than 3,000 backpacks with pens, pencils and everything a student needs were distributed along with lunch and other goodies as community nonprofit groups and service providers lined up to help kids to start the school year right.

Newly minted Superintendent of Schools Sonia Dinnall said the school district is ready to provide administrators and teachers with the training and incentives to improve the level of instruction in Springfield Schools.

“One of my goals is to continue the level of motivation, engagement and encouragement we provide our staff to help focus them heavily on instruction, making sure that our teachers can move from good to great, “Dinnall said. “We are also going to be focusing on leadership development to make sure that our middle schools are thriving and that our principals and our administrators know what it really takes to move a school in the right direction.”

The open field of Roberto Clemente Park was lined with booths providing information to help school families. Included were Community Legal Aid, masshelpline.com, Western Mass Care Solutions, Springfield Works, the state Department of Youth Services, A Better Life Home Care and the Springfield Police Department’s C3 unit, along with the equestrian patrol mounts “Flash Gordon” and “Billy.”

Jose Escribano, chief of family and community engagement for the schools, said this backpack party is one of many across the city.

“We have partnered with community organizations to sponsor back-to-school celebrations across the city. The backpacks come from the Springfield Public Schools, and we leveraged the community organizations to get the word out to the community and get these backpacks to families,” he said. “It is really about bringing the community together in support of students.”

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno lamented his days in school when you got detention if you didn’t have your books covered, and most covers were made from brown grocery bags.

“Thank God for my mom,” he said. “She used to use the paper bags and get them all done up.”

Sarno congratulated the New North Citizens’ Council for holding the largest of the city’s backpack fairs.

“Schools are doing them separately this year, and that makes this one of, if not, the largest in the city,” he said. “We used to have a single large one at Blunt Park each year. Let’s face it: Struggling parents might not be able to afford backpacks or supplies. So, we are able to do this free of charge to help these kids get a great start within the school system.”