Business
Young students enjoy new books donated to Northside Elementary School
You could call it an early Christmas gift to La Crosse elementary schools.
Literary grants from the La Crosse Public Education Foundation are providing new books to local public school classes from kindergarten to 5th grade.
School superintendent Aaron Engel stopped by Northside Elementary on Wednesday, as kids there were starting to check out the new fiction and non-fiction books presented to the school. Engel spoke about the grants which are paying for teacher training, as well as books.
“It’s been incredibly beneficial to have access to these resources, sooner than we ever would have, both in terms of the books that we’re able to provide to our students, as well as the training for our teachers,” said Engel. “It’s really been an incredible opportunity.”
Both fiction and non-fiction books were donated to the kindergarten through 2nd grade classes at Northside. In general, teachers can have kids read both fiction and fact about the same subject through companion books.
La Crosse district literacy specialist Melissa Ender argues that computers and the internet don’t make books obsolete.
“We have a lot of, obviously, technology where students can read and families can read on devices,” said Ender, “but when you get that paper book in hand, there’s really nothing that compares to that, because you can touch the pages, you can go back, you can look, you can point things out to your friends.”
Two grants totalling $88,000, gifted to the foundation by an anonymous donor, are helping to fund the books and special teacher training in the La Crosse District.
walden
December 5, 2024 at 8:41 am
So how many books does $88,000 buy?
$88,000 / $10 each = 8,800 books?
How is this money actually spent, along with the other $10 million per month the District spends?
LG
December 5, 2024 at 12:28 pm
Is it just me or does this photo show four different books with numerous duplicates? If that is correct, they look like booklets that will be handed out to students to take home never to be seen, read, or reused again. Somehow, this does not sound like a good use of $88,000. Put another way, is this money well spent and is it sustainable?
Gregory
December 5, 2024 at 1:19 pm
Walden–the LPEF is run solely on donations. LPEF receives a lot of their funds from teachers’ pocketbooks. We’d love to have you on board to help build a stronger community, educate youth, and help others. Time > Money. Donations are accepted, but involvement is even better. There are a ton of opportunities to get involved in the community. 🙂
walden
December 9, 2024 at 11:28 pm
I already involuntarily donate to the School District via property taxes; its the largest line item on my tax bill. I have no beef with the LPEF and its donors…it’s private money and if donors want to donate to support the District’s lack of performance and transparency and the school board’s woeful lack of oversight that is their right.
State and local funding sources have increased financial support to the District by $150 million including the last two referendums and record levels of increased state funding. Yet these “educators” continue to carp over lack of funding and make no inroads on actual academic achievement.
Thanks.