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Around Amherst: Reader to Reader sending 7,000 kids’ books to Springfield schools
By SCOTT MERZBACH
AMHERST A global literacy organization based in Amherst is donating more than 7,000 new children’s books to Springfield’s public schools.
The books, from Reader to Reader and with a value of over $70,000, were provided by American Girl Publishing.
“We are very excited to be able to make a donation of this magnitude,” Reader to Reader founder David Mazor said in a statement. “With the COVID-19 pandemic limiting children in school time, it is all the more important to get books into their homes.”
The books are part of the Reading Success by 4th Grade Initiative.
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It’s been almost a year since Massachusetts public schools closed their doors to prevent community spread of COVID-19. Recently, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley announced plans to “take remote and hybrid learning models off the table” by April. It’s about time.
For months, we have known that the risks of harm to students from school closures far outweigh the risks from COVID-19. It was clear last summer not only that students are at low risk from COVID-19, but that transmission from students to staff is rare, particularly when risk mitigation protocols are in place. And yet, today, more than 20% of Massachusetts school districts serving approximately 400,000 students, remain fully remote. Many others receive more than half of their instruction online.
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Authorities in Colorado have used advanced technology to create a likeness of an unidentified man who was murdered more than 15 years ago, and whose killer has never been found.
The man in question was found dead in Saguache County on Oct. 19, 2002, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said in a release issued last week. Authorities with the CBI and the Saguache County Sheriff’s Office recovered the body in an area near Colorado State Highway 114; the man was wrapped in a blanket or quilt of some kind, and appeared to be between the ages of 40 and 60. He is believed to have been 6 5 tall and weighing between 225 and 300 pounds. When he was found, the victim was wearing black boxers and a black Harley Davidson T-shirt advertising Fort Washington, Maryland, authorities said. The autopsy showed that he was murdered.
Springfield Looks to Identify and Provide Skills Students Need to Thrive
But maybe an adjective is in order to get the complete picture, pun intended.
Indeed, what the Springfield Public Schools are focused on now is creating a portrait of a successful high-school graduate, through an initiative designed to gain feedback from a host of constituencies regarding the skills as in all the skills that young people will need to not only earn a high-school diploma, but thrive in an ever-changing, technology-driven economy.
And this portrait will become a valuable blueprint of sorts as school administrators go about creating a new strategic plan for the city’s public schools, said Superintendent Dan Warwick, who stressed repeatedly that Portrait of a Graduate is very much a community-driven process that will define success for Springfield students, including the values, knowledge, skills, and work habits they will need to thrive as learners, workers, and leaders.