How Frisco ISD is helping students deal with a school year unlike any other

From technology assistance and a school supply drive to curbside meal pickup and partnerships with local businesses, Frisco ISD is hoping to do its part to help students find success during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are trying to cover the whole child, from education to sustenance to health and hygiene,” said Allison Miller, the district’s director of community relations.

Here’s how the district is making sure students stay on track in an unprecedented academic year.

Getting students the supplies they need

The school district has supplied Chromebooks and wireless hot spots to ensure all students have access to the district’s virtual academy. Students also have the opportunity to borrow calculators from their school.

The district is also hosting a school supply drive for low-income students. Community members can go online through Sept. 8 to buy school supply kits for $7.50 and backpacks for $4.50. Kits will include vouchers from businesses across the city.

About 8,000 of Frisco ISD’s 63,000 students are economically disadvantaged, Miller estimates. The district’s goal is to have about 8,500 school supply kits to distribute across all campuses. Any extra kits will be stored in a closet to distribute throughout the year as teachers and counselors learn of different students’ needs.

Miller said she remembers the happiness and pride she felt as a child on the first day of school, with new supplies, a fresh haircut and a new backpack. She wants students to feel the same — even if their first day of school is online.

“They will be in school, but it will just be virtual,” Miller said. “We want them to feel like they are just as much in school.”

Building partnerships in the community

Vouchers included in school supply kits will offer student athlete physicals, hearing and vision screening, discounts to area businesses and ice skating tickets, among other offers. Sport Clips donated 7,000 haircut vouchers, while the Frisco Fighters indoor football team donated 5,000 tote bags. Scottish Rite for Children donated reusable water bottles.

Several churches and religious organizations in North Texas have donated about 5,000 snack foods, while the district’s partnership with the nonprofit meal provider Frisco FastPacs provides students in need with snacks and meals for the weekend.

More than 30 local businesses have partnered with the district for the 2020-21 school year, Miller said.