Thousands in Montgomery attend Back to School Fair
An estimated 10,000 people gather information, supplies before school starts Monday
While parents collected information on programs offered by Montgomery County Public Schools, children collected, pencils, bookmarks and bags of school supplies Saturday, the last weekend of summer vacation before school starts Monday.
They got their faces painted, jumped in a moon bounce, waited for Washington Nationals T-shirts, "shopped" for healthy food, identified seeds and were given lots of water to drink.
It was all happening at the third annual Montgomery County Public Schools Back to School Fair at Carver Educational Services Center in Rockville. Five thousand backpacks filled with school supplies were distributed, said school system spokesman Dana Tofig.
Large white tents dotted the parking lot of the Carver Center, which houses many of the school system's administrative offices. Music played, families danced and people wandered the large open space peeking at displays set up by educational offices, other county services, corporate sponsors and businesses.
"There is a lot of helpful information," said Yumei Ye, who attended the fair with her son, Andrew Xie, 8, who will be a third-grader at College Gardens Elementary School in Rockville when school starts Monday. "Now I will go home and read it."
Drivers and route supervisors from the Randolph Depot brought a new school bus for students to climb aboard and sit in.
"We have a lot of parents who are nervous about putting their kids on the bus. One mother said she came [to the fair] just for this," Shelly Harter, a route supervisor, said.
The fair was organized by the school system's Department of Family and Community Partnerships.
"We wanted a way for school system staff to interact with parents, to connect with families, answer their questions and give them resources and information to help their students at home," said director Eric Davis. "We had, it looks like 10,000 people, that's what I was hoping for."
Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Gazette. And check www.gazette.net Monday for reports from the first day of school.
pmcewan@gazette.net
Copyright © Post-Newsweek Media, Inc./Gazette.Net