VIDEO: Mobile libraries connect schools with families

Liesle Tallman (left), an instructional facilitator at Lee Elementary School, helps children check out books Thursday from the school’s Mobile Library at the Holcombe Street Apartments in Springdale. The library recently outfitted a bus and travels through areas of Springdale checking out books to children and distributing snack packs and fresh vegetables when available.
Liesle Tallman (left), an instructional facilitator at Lee Elementary School, helps children check out books Thursday from the school’s Mobile Library at the Holcombe Street Apartments in Springdale. The library recently outfitted a bus and travels through areas of Springdale checking out books to children and distributing snack packs and fresh vegetables when available.

SPRINGDALE — It was a quiet morning at Holcombe Street Apartments when the yellow bus housing the Lee Elementary School mobile library pulled into the parking lot Thursday.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

Molly Brock, Lee assistant principal, walks in front of the school’s Mobile Library with Stella Medlock, a second-grader, as they announce the library’s arrival.

Principal Justin Swope waved from the driver’s seat at Marcello Kanas, who sat outside on a balcony with his 6-year-old daughter Olivia.

Springdale School District

www.sdale.org

Will have 31 schools in 2016-17

21,260 students in kindergarten through 12th grade 70.5 percent of pupils from low-income families

Source: 2015-16 records from the Arkansas Department of Education

Swope found a place to park as Assistant Principal Molly Brock spoke through a megaphone to announce the arrival of the mobile library. Other educators, including Deanna Self, who specializes in teaching children learning English, and Liesle Tallman, a reading specialist, knocked on apartment doors.

Before long, children lined up to return books they had finished reading and to choose new ones to read. Each child also received a bag of snacks, a frozen treat and a piece of candy.

Olivia chose Scary Stories for Sleep-overs and High School Musical: The Junior Novel because she had seen the movie.

“It was my favorite movie,” she said. Her 5-year-old sister and 3-year-old brother also found books to read.

The Lee mobile library runs every Thursday morning through the summer. This is the 10th year for the program. For the first part of the summer, employees used their vehicles, but the new, temporary mobile library bus was ready for use this week.

“Are we ready?” Swope said when he climbed into the driver’s seat. “I’m excited.”

The mobile library provides a way for the Lee staff to combat the natural regression children experience in their reading skills over the long summer break, Swope said.

Kanas liked the idea of the mobile library to keep children learning in the summer.

“I really appreciate it,” he said.

Swope wants to expand the mobile library concept with a mobile classroom, he said. This fall, Swope plans to purchase a full-sized used school bus to outfit as a mobile classroom for the staff to take into neighborhoods for after-school literacy and tutoring programs. The bus in use now will go back to the Springdale School District.

More than 90 percent of children at Lee are from low-income families, Swope said. Many families have one car that is used by the parent who works, so many families are not able to pick up or drop off children from programs outside of the school day.

“Let’s take it to them,” Swope said.

Legacy National Bank donated $6,000 toward the mobile classroom. Bank employees routinely go to the school to read to kindergartners during the school year and join the staff for the mobile library, said Kellie Holmes, a credit analyst manager for the bank, who cut open ice pops for the children at the back of the bus.

Sometimes life feels too busy to volunteer, but it’s worth it to see the children come out to the bus and to see their enthusiasm for reading, she said.

After 10 years of knocking on doors, Brock and Self know the children and their families well and ask about children they miss seeing.

“I just like to see the kids reading over the summer,” Brock said. “I’m here for the kids.”

The neighborhood visits give the principals and teachers time to connect with the families, Self said. Parents have a chance to ask questions or discuss concerns.

The Lee mobile library started with former Principal Regina Stewman, who became principal of Sonora Elementary School when it opened in the 2011-12 school year. She started a summer mobile library for Sonora in the summer of 2014. Stewman was familiar with the idea because of J.O. Kelly Principal Sara Ford, who had a similar program at her school.

Springdale schools with mobile libraries this year include Hunt, Monitor and Turnbow elementary schools.

J.O. Kelly does not have a mobile library this year, but the staff has taken books to a little free library on Success Street and the school librarian put backpacks together for children to check out for the summer, Ford said. Bayyari Elementary also has books available for check out two days per week during a daily summer lunch program, and Jones Elementary opens its library from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. every Wednesday.

The Lee mobile library became more than just a literacy project.

Stewman remembers one trip when she was at Lee when children talked about a girl with a snake bite. School staff found the girl and saw that her leg was swollen. For the next week or two, the school staff checked on her to make sure she saw a doctor, got a prescription for medication filled and that she took the medicine. She recovered.

Her parents were unfamiliar with doctors and did not know how to get a prescription filled, Stewman said. They didn’t have a pharmacy or insurance, she said.

“We were able to provide and give them support and make sure they were able to take care of her,” Stewman said.

On Thursday at Holcombe Street Apartments, Edmon Aquino, 9, found a book about Spiderman, while his sister Wina Naisher, 7, wanted to read about Olaf, a character from the Disney movie Frozen.

Edmon reads in his house every day, he said. He misses school because he likes to “learn about everything and read.”

Brenda Bernet can be reached by email at bbernet@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWABrenda.

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