NORFOLK PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS READ MILLIONS OF MINUTES IN SEPTEMBER FOR READ-A-THON

Councilman Barclay Winn to Present Banner to Top Reading Schools.

Norfolk, VA (October 27, 2006) - Some students read in the park, others read on the bus, and some read at special after-school programs. Some read science fiction, others read mysteries, and others read historical stories. When it was all over, Norfolk Public School students had read millions of minutes in September as part of the Creating a City of Readers Read-A-Thon sponsored by Norfolk Public Library and Norfolk Public Schools.

When the tallies were counted, Mary Calcott Elementary and Ruffner Middle School rose to the top, to win this year’s Creating a City of Readers Read-A-Thon. Special congratulations to the students, staff, and parents of these schools for being named Norfolk’s top reading schools in 2006.

On Friday, November 3, Councilman Barclay Winn, Dr. Stephen C. Jones, Superintendent of Norfolk Public Schools, Angela Wiley, Read-A-Thon Committee Chairwoman, and Norman Maas, Norfolk Public Library Director will present the winning schools with a banner. They will visit Ruffner at 10 a.m. and Calcott at 11 a.m.

The achievement of Mary Calcott Elementary School students and Ruffner Middle School students will be recognized with nameplates inside children books distributed to all youth departments at Norfolk Public Library. The books selected will encourage children in Norfolk to read.

All students at the winning schools are entered in a drawing to receive a $100 gift certificate to a local book store. One elementary student and one middle school student will win. The top reading class at each school will receive a small incentive for participating. This is the 12th year Norfolk Public Library and Norfolk Public Schools have held the Read-A-Thon. For more information, call the Library’s Public Relations Department at 664-7338.