School supply lists try
patience and wallets

Students return to classes in
waves beginning this week

John Pak's eyes jumped stealthily, item by item, from a crinkled, highly highlighted list to a shopping cart nearly overflowing with reams of notebook paper, boxes of thick markers and stacks of cartoon-themed folders.

"Good news," the Waikiki resident's nod seemed to say: He was nearing the finish line in an annual marathon of consumer wit and parental patience that he has participated in since his boys started grade school.

"Almost to the end," Pak said, flashing a look at his two giggling boys in an effort to divert their attention from a wall of comical birthday cards at Longs Drug Store on King Street to the at-times exasperating chore of school supplies shopping.

Pak's boys will enter the second and fifth grades on Wednesday, along with hundreds of other Hawaii public school children.

In all, 87 public schools will resume classes this week after summer break. The biggest return will happen Thursday, when 46 schools start their fall semesters. Eight schools will go back today, 25 on Wednesday, and 16 will start up again Friday.

Next week, students at 17 schools will return.

The remaining 99 public schools on a so-called "traditional" school calendar, with a three-month summer vacation, will reopen Aug. 22 and 23.

Parents like Pak, whose children return to school this week, canvassed their neighborhoods for back-to-school sales yesterday, checking off materials from teacher-provided lists. At Wal-Mart in Mililani yesterday, the school supplies aisles were packed with parents bending low, reaching high and digging deep for just what their children needed. "Everyone's running around with a list in their hands, saying 'Where's this, where's that?'" said assistant manager Diane McCabe with a laugh.

This is the last year that Hawaii schoolchildren will go back in waves. Last month, the state Board of Education approved a uniform school calendar that will have almost all public school students returning on the same day, expected to be around July 27, which could create an even bigger run on school supply retailers next year. The change was aimed partly at making things easier on parents who have children in different schools, sometimes with conflicting schedules.

This week's return of public school students is expected to make traffic a bit heavier, but state Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said many commuters will not see a difference.

That is because most public school children go to a school in their own neighborhoods.

Rather, he said, drivers should worry about late August's "back-to-school jam," when classes at many private schools and the University of Hawaii at Manoa resume.

The state Transportation Department plans to halt all roadwork between late August and early September to "help folks get back to the flow of things," Ishikawa said.

Outside of Longs yesterday, Quynh Phan scanned her list of school supplies while waiting for a ride home. The 14-year-old will start eighth grade at Washington Intermediate on Wednesday.

"Pencils, paper, folders," Phan said, going down a long row of required materials.

She did not want to miss anything.