READING Help for Our NAVY Children
Donation protected
Just four years ago, I retired from teaching elementary school in Florida after 35 years. Determined to do some volunteer work, I was led to an amazing school in Atlantic Beach, Florida. The school is Joseph Finegan Elementary School. The moment I entered the building, I knew something was special about this place!
As I walked down the halls, I noticed that the children were the most polite I had ever seen in 35 years. Each class of students walking down the hallway stopped at the intersections in the hallway, and the older students always let the younger students pass. I continued to observe the manners and respect shown by these students, and was curious to find out what was different about this school. I was soon to learn that 98% of the students at Finegan are from military families. In fact, when the children walk through the gate at the back of the school, they are on Mayport Naval Base - where almost all of them reside.
These are the children of the men and women serving our country to protect our freedoms. These are the children who face the unique circumstances of having a parent deploy for long periods of time throughout their son's or daughter's sensitive and formative school years.
These are the children who often have to pull up roots and move to another state or country, just as they have settled in and bonded with their friends and teachers.
And yet - even given the challenges unique to military families - Joseph Finegan is a high-performing
school, with the most respectful learning environment I have ever witnessed. The teachers on the faculty have a great understanding of how military life challenges the continuity of academic, social, and emotional growth of the children, and they CHOOSE to teach - and love - these special families and their children. The level of appreciation at this school is unbelievable; gratitude expressed for the smallest, slightest, most seemingly insignificant donation of time or money or ANYTHING
is always present. However, these teachers and their students - whose parents are protecting all of us - need our help.
As of this past school year, schools were unable to use school funds to purchase an incredibly effective learning tool. The Accelerated Reader program has been vital to the childrens' inspiration to read, read, and read more. The program - nationally recognized as a wonderful tool to inspire readers in ways no other approach can - is used to have the child manage their own accountability for comprehensively successful reading. Last year was the first year without the program, and it was sorely missed - by both students AND teachers. Other schools (who are supplemented by PTOs that raise thousands and thousands of dollars each year) are able to purchase the AR Program with those funds. Given the abnormally small population of Finegan Elementary (app. 500 students) and the transitory student body, the Finegan PTO (run by a tiny handful of parents) has a GREAT year if they raise $500.00! Purchasing the AR Program is not a viable option for Finegan Elementary School.
Therefore, I am nudging......encouraging........ no - I am BEGGING you to help me help the children at Finegan obtain an important learning tool for their further success! Their parents give us so much - and the children of our patriotic troops should not go without this tool just because they do not attend a large and wealthy school! This school is such a special place that I drive 30 miles roundtrip to volunteer there, when I can hear the bells of 2 other schools ring from my front porch!
Please donate....anything you can, and as soon as you can. The program can be put back into place as soon as the funds are available. School started today, and every moment is a missed opportunity to inspire these children to reach for the stars! Let's give back to the families that give so much to us!
As I walked down the halls, I noticed that the children were the most polite I had ever seen in 35 years. Each class of students walking down the hallway stopped at the intersections in the hallway, and the older students always let the younger students pass. I continued to observe the manners and respect shown by these students, and was curious to find out what was different about this school. I was soon to learn that 98% of the students at Finegan are from military families. In fact, when the children walk through the gate at the back of the school, they are on Mayport Naval Base - where almost all of them reside.
These are the children of the men and women serving our country to protect our freedoms. These are the children who face the unique circumstances of having a parent deploy for long periods of time throughout their son's or daughter's sensitive and formative school years.
These are the children who often have to pull up roots and move to another state or country, just as they have settled in and bonded with their friends and teachers.
And yet - even given the challenges unique to military families - Joseph Finegan is a high-performing
school, with the most respectful learning environment I have ever witnessed. The teachers on the faculty have a great understanding of how military life challenges the continuity of academic, social, and emotional growth of the children, and they CHOOSE to teach - and love - these special families and their children. The level of appreciation at this school is unbelievable; gratitude expressed for the smallest, slightest, most seemingly insignificant donation of time or money or ANYTHING
is always present. However, these teachers and their students - whose parents are protecting all of us - need our help.
As of this past school year, schools were unable to use school funds to purchase an incredibly effective learning tool. The Accelerated Reader program has been vital to the childrens' inspiration to read, read, and read more. The program - nationally recognized as a wonderful tool to inspire readers in ways no other approach can - is used to have the child manage their own accountability for comprehensively successful reading. Last year was the first year without the program, and it was sorely missed - by both students AND teachers. Other schools (who are supplemented by PTOs that raise thousands and thousands of dollars each year) are able to purchase the AR Program with those funds. Given the abnormally small population of Finegan Elementary (app. 500 students) and the transitory student body, the Finegan PTO (run by a tiny handful of parents) has a GREAT year if they raise $500.00! Purchasing the AR Program is not a viable option for Finegan Elementary School.
Therefore, I am nudging......encouraging........ no - I am BEGGING you to help me help the children at Finegan obtain an important learning tool for their further success! Their parents give us so much - and the children of our patriotic troops should not go without this tool just because they do not attend a large and wealthy school! This school is such a special place that I drive 30 miles roundtrip to volunteer there, when I can hear the bells of 2 other schools ring from my front porch!
Please donate....anything you can, and as soon as you can. The program can be put back into place as soon as the funds are available. School started today, and every moment is a missed opportunity to inspire these children to reach for the stars! Let's give back to the families that give so much to us!
Organizer
Gwen Hargrove
Organizer
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL