3 ways Utahns can be 'all in' for schools and kids


7 photos
Save Story

Show 2 more videos

Leer en espaƱol

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

As the Legislature begins to tackle the herculean task of funding Utah schools, every Utahn can also play a role in supporting education and ensuring all children succeed.

KSL devoted a day with stories in every newscast to show three ways parents, community members and businesses can make small efforts that create a significant difference in the school year.

Volunteer:

On any given morning, Scera Park Elementary in the Alpine School District is a community gathering spot.

"I am delighted each day just walking in the halls and seeing what is going on here," said principal Lori Bellitti.

What is going on there is nothing short of impressive. A few 90-year-old "foster grandmas" greet students right after the bell rings, then they begin their shifts reading with students. As school gets underway, community members also arrive to volunteer their time reading with "Read Graduate Succeed, an AmeriCorps Initiative." Those volunteers are trained to help struggling readers, and they track the progress. Soon, Costco employees, who work nearby, will join the ranks of Scera's volunteer reading force.

As the day goes on, a regular team of dads alternates volunteer shifts in the "Watchdog Dads" program. With their official T-shirts and lanyards, these dads take a few days off a year and spend the day assisting in the classroom and monitoring recess.

Educators point to research that shows even volunteering once in the school year sends a message to children that school is important. Likewise, community volunteers provide individual mentoring and a sense of self-worth to children.

Read:

Several libraries across the state are launching a new program, "1,000 Books Before Kindergarten." The goal is to get parents reading to their children as soon as they're born. This program addresses what many refer to as the "opportunity gap." Children who are read to at home arrive at kindergarten with twice the vocabularies as their peers who don't read with a parent.

"We know that reading to your kids is the best way to get them ready to learn to read when they go to kindergarten," said Heather Novotany, a senior librarian with the Salt Lake County Library.

Each week at toddler story time, kids jump, stretch and dance around. Reading a story seems an afterthought. But librarians say the idea is to get moms and their young children excited about what the library has to offer.

Mom Megan Harr brings her toddlers to story time and took the challenge to read 1,000 books. "It sounds like a lot when you first hear a thousand," she said. But if you break down the math, it's really not that many."

KSL's Read Today program supports efforts like these to bring families together. So we've partnered with McDonald's to offer an incentive. Parents can go to their nearby participating library and take the pledge to read with a child and they'll receive a voucher for a free Happy Meal. Also for the next two weeks, those Happy Meals come with a book inside.

To find out details and participating libraries, go to readtoday.com.

Pull forward:

The school drop-off zone can be parents' most hectic 20 minutes of the day.

Parents try to beat the bell and the boss to work as they jockey for a spot in the line-up curb.

Exasperated mom Allison English drove around three times looking for a spot to park. "it's almost easier to bring your kids late than to bring them on time," she sighed.

Hundreds of cars and kids in a hurry can lead to dangerous, even deadly, conditions.

A pre-schooler died in Lehi in December after she darted out into traffic to get to the car ahead of her mom.

Schools have expanded beyond the traditional sixth-grade safety patrol to create enhanced safety plans.

At Lake Ridge Elementary, they have a volunteer community traffic squad that comes every morning to direct traffic and keep kids on the curb until it is safe to cross.

At Moss Elementary, they've separated the bus drop off and the pre-school drop off from the elementary. They've also re-configured the school crossing zone.

There, and at Park City's McPolin Elementary, the principals themselves are out directing traffic.

"It's the only way to get the cars out of the parking lot," said principal Judith Simmons-Kissell.

Several schools have created safety videos that are sent in school emails to every family. They show the do's and don'ts of the drop-off zone, demonstrated in a little humorous game show fashion.

Common rules in all those videos are "be courteous" and "don't park" in the school zone. But the one that will drive other parents and traffic supervisors crazy is those drivers who don't "pull forward."

"You need to pull up," shouts traffic supervisor Carol Williams at Moss Elementary. That's the key to keep traffic in this bottleneck moving.

After nine years on duty, Williams doesn't hesitate to let parents know when they're in violation of that or other rules.

"The safety of the kids is what I worry about right now," she said. "I get a lot of dirty looks. But that's OK." Deanie Wimmer anchors the KSL News and helps lead the Read Today program. contact her at deanie.wimmer@ksl.com

Photos

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

UtahEducationFamily
Deanie Wimmer

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast