Hats off to young readers

On Friday, October 2, 2009, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District will host its 4th annual “Hats Off to CMSD Kids Day,” a celebration of students and a time to encourage and motivate them to become lifelong learners. Members of the school communities will be present to greet the students as they arrive in the morning and will “doff” their hats in a ceremonial way of recognizing the children.

In an effort to enrich this event and make it interactive, the Greater Cleveland Educational Development Center at CSU, as the coordinator of the Cleveland School Book Fund (CSBF), is inviting guests to each elementary school to visit one of the primary classrooms (Pre-K through grade 3) to read a book to the students and invite a student, in turn, to read to them. The CSBF is an initiative that through the generosity of a citizen’s group has put at least 125 book titles in each of the 1,000 primary classrooms in CMSD.

In addition to the books provided to the schools, the CSBF provides staff development activities for the teachers to support their enriched use of the books to promote student recreational reading and citizenship.

The public is invited to join the “Hats Off” celebration and recognize young Cleveland students and visit a classroom to read to them. For additional information contact Dr. Dennis J. Kowalski, Coordinator of the Cleveland School Book Fund at 216.523.7106 or by email at d.j.kowalski@csuohio.edu.

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About the Cleveland Schools Book Fund:

Cleveland businessman Stephen C. Morris established the Cleveland Schools Book Fund in 2003 with the goal of providing funds each year to purchase books for students in grades Pre-K through 3 of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD), thus enhancing classroom libraries and supporting teachers through professional development in their literacy efforts.

That year, 32 donors contributed $1 million, enabling the fund to purchase 7,000 professionally selected hardback books that were delivered to 12 elementary schools into the classrooms of 3,600 students of the CMSD.

Since then, the fund has grown to more than 200 donors and an endowment of nearly $4 million, and more than 100,000 new hardback books have been given to more than 84 schools, reaching more than 20,000 children and 1,000 teachers. The goal of the Cleveland Schools Book Fund is to maintain a library of 150 books in each Pre-K through 3 classrooms in the 84 elementary schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

Since 2006, the Book Fund has been managed and administered by Cleveland State University’s College of Education and Human Services’ Greater Cleveland Educational Development Center and the Cleveland State University Foundation.

The College continues to work with the CMSD to manage the project and select, purchase, and distribute the books. The College will also support The Book Fund with its expertise through its many ties with local schools through the Department of Teacher Education, Center for Educational Leadership, and Ohio Reading First Center.

The Cleveland State University Foundation Inc. administers the fund and raises money for it. The Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation created in 1969 to serve as an independent, tax-exempt organization to solicit, receive, and distribute gifts to Cleveland State University in accordance with the wishes of the donors. University fund-raising efforts provide some $8 million each year in private support for scholarship assistance, research, equipment, educational programs and facilities.

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