MI Foundation Boosts School Libraries
Foundation kicks off reading campaign by donating $500,000 to 13 Grand Rapids media centers
By Donna Liquori -- School Library Journal, 6/1/2004
"I felt like I won a pageant," says Michelle Coyne, the principal of Kent Hills Elementary School, who was moved to tears when she learned her school was one of the recipients. Donors and fund-raisers, ranging from companies such as Alticor to an 11-year-old Forest Hills student, pledged between $13,000 and $54,000 to purchase books for the libraries.
With individuals and organizations eager to boost the literacy rate in Grand Rapids's schools, the foundation's goal is to raise $4 million to buy 200,000 books by 2008 for the city's 37 elementary school media centers. Although less than a quarter of the kids in the Grand Rapids Public School District read below grade level, the goal is for all students to read at or above grade level by 2007.
The foundation will work with the schools' principals and media specialists on book selection to bring the libraries up to national standards, says Susan Heartwell, the foundation's executive director. Until recently, many library books were outdated.
"We have been struggling along here with a less than vibrant collection of books," says Gianine Casassa, the media specialist at Kent Hills. An updated library will hopefully spark more interest in reading. "These days I really think there are a number of kids who see reading as torture rather than as an asset," Casassa says.
