Sunday, November 07, 1999
District celebrates American Education Month
Theme, literacy; focus is new tests Lesson to kids: Read to succeed
BY SUE KIESEWETTER
Enquirer Contributor
MONROE — Prison warden Anthony Brigano sat down in a child-sized chair in the media center at Monroe Elementary School. Fifteen students in Joan Allen's second-grade classroom sat cross-legged in front of him, waiting expectantly.
Before he could pick up the book he planned to read, Allison Perdue had a question for Mr. Brigano, whom the children were told was similar to the principal at their school.
“Do you take any kids? That would be bad,” Allison said. After assuring Allison that the prison took only adults who had done things they weren't supposed to, Mr. Brigano picked up The Story of Cochise, An American Indian, and began reading.
So began the Middletown/Monroe School District's celebration of American Education Month.
Mr. Brigano, warden at the Warren Correctional Institute, was at the school last week to bring 120 books and a $205 check donated by prison employees during a six-day stretch in August. The gifts were coordinated through the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction's “Get Hooked on Books” program. The project was coordinated by Amy Short, who has a child at Monroe Elementary.
“Reading is so very important for being rich and important and successful and all those things you want to be,” Middletown/Monroe Superintendent Wayne Driscoll told the children. “If you can read, you're called literate. If you can count you're called numerate. If you can do both those things you can do anything. Then you won't have to visit Mr. Brigano.”
The district will celebrate American Education Month in November by focusing on the theme of literacy, Mr. Driscoll said. This year's second-graders will be the first group of students required to pass the fourth-grade reading proficiency test before being allowed to enter the fifth grade.
Statistics show that students who score in the 90th percentile on standardized tests read at least 20 minutes a day outside the classroom. Those who rank in the 50th percentile on standardized tests read, on average, only 4.6 minutes a day outside the classroom, Mr. Driscoll said in a press release.
To help parents understand the new requirements and expectations, the district will sponsor a Parent's Reading Night Thursday. It will begin at 7 p.m. in the board room of the administration building, 1515 Girard St. Reading consultant Elizabeth Van Tine will present suggestions to help children with reading at home. Library card registration and program information also will be available.
Parents and community members are also being asked to sign up this month for the “Readers Are Achievers” program, in which adults come to school to read to the students. Those interested may call Karen Jackson at 432-0781, ex tension 338.
Other events planned this month to promote literacy include attendance at the Ohio Literacy Council Conference Nov. 15-16; a Nov. 19 workshop for administrators to learn better ways of teaching reading they can share with teachers; a Family Learning Night at Roosevelt Elementary School on Wednesday that focuses on reading activities; and a Nov. 18 discussion for teen-agers sponsored by the schools, Miami University's Middletown branch and United Way. The discussions will allow teen-agers to talk about their concerns, and brainstorm solutions.
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