PORT ARTHUR — Stephany Gonzalez brought her 8-year-old daughter Maria to Port Arthur ISD’s One Stop Registration Tuesday, but it was Maria who insisted on getting the free dental exam.

Maria, who starts third grade at Staff Sergeant Lucian Adams Elementary School and her second year at PAISD in August, was all shy smiles after her exam. She was even ready to go back to school.

PAISD began the One Stop Registration, held in the Robert A. “Bob” Bowers Civic Center Tuesday and today from 10-8 p.m., to facilitate the required registration process. Every PAISD student must register, so the school district created this event in 2011, sponsored by the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, to allow for a smoother transition for parents, students and faculty, who often get bombarded at the beginning of the school year, said Kristyn Hunt, media specialist for PAISD.

In addition to registration, students could receive free dental and vision exams and immunizations as well as information from the Child Nutrition, Bilingual and Special Education departments, the PTA and the Port Arthur Public Library. Free transportation could also be arranged. But this year various vendors, such as Office Depot and O&M Pharmacy on Houston Avenue, were on hand to hawk uniforms, school supplies and other services.

Emmanuel Onourah, co-owner and CEO of O&M Pharmacy, said he heard about the registration event and made some inquiries because he wanted to help people who did not have access to medication or transportation. The pharmacy provides free delivery and generic prescription plans.

“We’re going to see what we can do to help the economy, but mostly we want to help people,” Onourah said.

But by far the biggest attraction at One Stop Registration was the free lunch application line. People with pens in hand filled table after table, and the waiting line round all the way around the room and lingered outside the door. This was the first year the Child Nutrition department participated in the registration event, but T. Rene Bodden, a nutritionist with the department, said it would be back next year.

“We’ll probably have a little better organization system,” she said. “The first time always sets the precedent so you know what you’re going to do right next time.”

The Child Nutrition department accepts free lunch application all year, but the department wanted to participate in the One Stop event to receive applications early and target more people so it would not be inundated with applications at the beginning of the school year. The state determines the guidelines for free lunch qualifications, which depend on income and household size. Currently, PAISD is in the process of getting approved for a free lunch program for all students, which would cut down on the application process and the piles of paperwork that go along with it, Bodden said.

Long lines were a common theme at the One Stop Registration. Hunt said there was a line out the door at 8 a.m. and that the turnout was impressive this year despite the rain.

bcrum@panews.com