 |
|
|
|
|
City Beat
SJ mayor kicks off a program to boost the literacy rate
SJUSD first- and second-graders will get library cards
By Chantal Lamers
San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales wants to arm 23,000 first- and second-graders with a weapon--a library card to help fight illiteracy.
Wild About Reading, a program initiated by the mayor a year ago, was officially kicked off on March 22, at the Biblioteca Latino Americana Public Library in Downtown San Jose. Gonzales' first goal is to make sure every first- and second-grader in the San Jose Unified and Moreland school districts has a library card by May 2001.
"For our community to be successful, we must work together ... to ensure that all San Jose school children can read by the third grade," Gonzales said. The mayor wants to help prepare children for successful careers and futures.
Wild About Reading was launched in response to the vision of California Gov. Gray Davis, who set his own goal for ensuring that all children read by the third grade.
The program is a joint effort by San Jose public elementary schools, San Jose Public Library, Pacific Bell and elected officials.
San Jose Unified School District superintendent Linda Murray said she's excited about the program and grateful that her students will benefit from it. With 29 elementary schools within the district, Murray said, it will help emphasize the district's focus to improve literacy.
Librarians and volunteers will visit classrooms and introduce the library system to youngsters. After parents fill out library card applications, librarians will return to the classroom with cards and book bags for the children.
Paul Underwood, assistant city librarian, said the program is ambitious, but he revels in the new partnership between schools and libraries. "I think it's a great way for the city to help the schools, that we're there to help teach the kids to read," Underwood said.
"It'll establish a good link for students early on to services the library has and encourage them to read."
Underwood said that cards issued to children in the classroom are being "coded," giving library officials the opportunity to track how often students are using their cards.
Underwood said that, with the mayor's input, he and library staff began working on the project last May. Wild About Reading is modeled after similar programs that exist in Contra Costa county, Houston and Portland. "We learned a lot from them and developed a pilot program with the Oak Grove School District," Underwood said. During that pilot program, the public library issued about 3,000 library cards to children.
Underwood said about 11,500 students should be receiving library cards within the next year. Although public libraries are already overcrowded, Underwood said staff want to keep busy. "They know the value of what they're doing, it's really fun and rewarding."
He says his staff is "simply wild about Wild About Reading."
|
|
|
|
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
