One book transforms a school

WEBUTUCK — The Webutuck Central School District’s Board of Education (BOE) unanimously decided to provide funding this year toward grades K-3 at Webutuck Elementary School for the One School/One Book reading program that was held last year as a part of the People As Reading Partners (PARP) month-long event.

Last year’s program was held in the Amenia Elementary building, where staff toiled to transform the classrooms and hallways into a blossoming rainforest in honor of the book, “Snake and Lizard,� by Joy Cowley. A private donation of $2,000 allowed the school to buy hardcover copies of the book for every student.

Teacher Lynn Buckley said the project was met by the students with “lots of enthusiasm,� and got the students (and their parents) actively participating in the event, which took place over an entire month and culminated in the “rainforest day.�

School librarian Beth Murphy mentioned that participation in the PARP program, which is held every year, went up 10 percent as the result of the reading initiative; 89 percent of the students were actively involved.

The staff has already decided that this year’s book will be “Akimbo and the Lions,� by Alexander Smith, giving the PARP-filled month an African theme to work with. The problem, Buckley explained to the Board of Education during its Feb. 1 meeting, was that the staff didn’t want to go back to the same donor to ask for another contribution, yet it was having trouble raising the approximately $1,250 needed to put on the program again.

It was a no-brainer for members of the BOE, who had nothing but positive things to say about a program that showed such significant and concrete results.

Board of Education President Dale Culver went on to add that he would like the program’s budget to be incorporated into the elementary school’s budget every year.

“It’s a small input [financially] for a large return,� he said. “It’s not hard to figure out how to find that [money]. It will happen.�

Feb. 26 will be the day that Webutuck Elementary is transformed into the grasslands of Africa. Buckley and Murphy confirmed that the staff has plenty of surprises for the event.

“It’s about interaction to the point where the child is thinking on another level,� Murphy said.

“The students are actively participating,� Buckley said. “One of the parts of the reading is engagement, and this is a perfect way to encourage reading.�