By Riley McCoy
For The Register-Herald
Beckley — As students prepare to return to school, Raleigh County Schools prepared for a different kind of return.
The district’s annual Back-to-School Fair returned Friday, Aug. 15, to the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center and continues a tradition administrators estimate has run for nearly a decade.
The event comes less than two weeks before Raleigh County students return to class Aug. 26.
Teachers, support staff, police officers and community partners joined school officials in helping parents and students prepare for the upcoming school year.
Both Superintendent Serena Starcher and Assistant Superintendent Eric Dillon worked a booth at the heart of the convention center auditorium.
In the commotion, an estimated 1,000-plus students and parents received school supplies, go bags, free haircuts, clothing and other items ahead of the new school year.
“Oh, this has been a wonderful day,” Starcher said. “We have been extremely busy, which is thrilling to me to see all of our students and parents out and about.”
Dillon said last year’s event drew about 1,200 people and typically serves between 800 and 1,000 students. This year, over 60 vendors participated.
“We feel like this is a good opportunity for students and parents to connect with their school, their school principal, their schoolteachers,” Dillon said. “And we have outside vendors here, so it’s a good way to provide community support.”
Every Raleigh County school was represented at the fair, along with central office staff and community partners.
Students and families could receive a meal through the district’s child nutrition department, get a free haircut, board a school bus and pick up socks, underwear and other back-to-school supplies.
Dillon said Arby’s and Little General provided $10,000 toward a giveaway that supplied students with a week’s worth of socks and underwear, for free.
Law enforcement agencies also used the fair to connect with students they may see again once classes begin.
Cpl. Christine Schack with the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office said deputies and Beckley police split D.A.R.E. instruction among elementary schools across the county.
The program is taught to fifth graders throughout the school year, while Schack’s table Friday also offered notebooks, bracelets and information about the department’s special needs registry.
“We’re going to be in the schools,” Schack said. “We don’t want them to be afraid of us if we pop into the schools. We want them to know that we’re friendly and can come up to us whenever they want to.”
Nearby, Beckley police handed out coloring books, pencils, stickers and other items in “go-bags” while officers talked with students and families.
“It’s important for us to be here just to be involved in our community, talk to the kids, give them handshakes, high fives, give them hugs, just to give them a good positive experience with law enforcement,” Cpl. Adam Justice said.
Justice said the fair is among the department’s most heavily attended community events and one of its largest opportunities each year to interact directly with the public.
Starcher stated the district is not beginning the year with any major new initiatives, but will continue work already underway, including Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports and the Third-Grade Success Act.
“It’s going to be a busy year,” Starcher said. “We just ask our parents to keep working with us and our students to be ready to go on Aug. 26, because we are.”
Read more from The Register-Herald, here.
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