The following article appeared in full in this week's Reminder News:
BOE thinks RSVP program can help young readers be successful
BY JOAN HUNT ReminderNews Editor
If you can’t read, you can’t be successful in school, and educators agree that the early K-3 grades form an all important base for reading skills. So what happens to the child who needs a little extra help in these formative years? If he or she is lucky, they might get it at home, but it is very difficult within the parameters of a busy classroom to get the extra help that is needed.
This is where RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) comes in. According to newly-appointed Board of Education member Geoff Luxenberg, this program that matches senior citizens and retired people age 55 or older with students who have been identified by their teachers as needing extra help would fit the bill.
Luxenberg said several residents had approached him with ideas of having senior citizens become more involved in the schools. “One resident approached the board on senior citizen involvement and another senior mentioned a tutoring or mentoring program,” he said, “so I got a sense it might be something worth looking into.”
Once he started investigating, he found many options were expensive, hard to implement or inflexible. “Finally, I stumbled onto RSVP,” he said.
This is a program of the Community Renewal Team, Inc. that was started by Mary Wilcox, director of the Greater Hartford RSVP.
“This is a one-on-one reading program for children who want extra help but don’t qualify for special services,” said Wilcox. “It has proven that if they stay in the [grades] one to three program for all three years, they are reading most likely at the top grade level and sometimes above, and they have all the confidence in the world,” she added.
On the flip side, the seniors who have been involved in the program also benefit, said Wilcox. “It is so rewarding to a senior. Some of them are retired teachers or from other lines of work and they have a love of reading and know how important it is for children.”
During his research on the RSVP program, Luxenberg spoke to both Wilcox and to Kathi Young, who is the coordinator of the program in Vernon, which has been in operation for 10 years.
Young started as a volunteer with the program when she retired from teaching grades K-3 in East Hartford, the very grades that are impacted by the program.
“It is something that was meant to be, I think,” Young said. The Vernon program started with an after-school format in one school and has grown to include in-school and even summer activities at a total of five sites. Young believes strongly in the program.
“The seniors read with the same child every single week, and you see such bonds develop,” she said. At Maple Street School, where the tutoring takes place just before recess and lunch, some of the children would rather stay in and continue reading with their mentor than go out to play, she said.
“RSVP will not work with children who are severely learning disabled,” said Luxenberg. “They do work with kids who are below grade level and could be falling through the cracks at a critical early age.”
Training sessions are offered twice a year for senior volunteers, and Luxenberg said RSVP will help recruit the volunteers from the community. “What a great way to connect the community and the schools,” said Young.
Luxenberg said that Board of Ed Chair Margaret Hackett, the central office staff and most members of the BOE are supporting the program.
For more information contact Luxenberg at www.geoff07.com.
