Source: United States Department of Justice News
MIAMI – Reading is crucial to a child’s educational development and future success. This is why staff from the Law Enforcement Coordination and Community Outreach Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida hold weekly readings for pre-kindergarten children in at-risk South Florida schools.
“Good morning, everyone,” said Law Enforcement Coordination Specialist Mark McKinney to a group of pre-kindergarten students at Robert Ingram Elementary School in Opa-locka. “Are you all excited? We have to begin a new book to keep building your vocabularies.”
The children got quiet, sat down, and listened with great attention as McKinney read books predominately about animals. In between books he would stand the children up and play a quick game with them before grabbing the next one from his bag.
“He has such an impact on these kids,” said Adriana Ruiz, a pre-kindergarten teacher at Robert Ingram Elementary School. “He sparks a curiosity about books. After he leaves, we have playtime and the children choose a book even though they can’t read it yet—they pretend. There is a big difference between having to read and wanting to read. Mark motivates them.”
That is the reason for this program, to build a solid educational base by giving children a love for reading.
“We’ve been doing these readings for at least six years,” said Law Enforcement Coordination and Community Outreach Section Chief J.D. Smith. “We started this because research indicates that if children don’t read at grade level by the end of the fourth grade, they start to fall behind their peers academically. This can result in many of them eventually dropping out.”
Research suggests that poor readers are, in fact, four times as likely to drop out of school. Law Enforcement Coordination and Community Outreach Section staff organize these readings at schools in areas considered to be book deserts. These communities lack access to certain resources, books among them.
“Some of the most vulnerable pre-kindergarten kids don’t have access to a library so we bring books with us to help build up their home libraries and develop that love of reading,” said McKinney. “If they get that at an early age, it will help their odds of success in the future.”
Anyone interested in donating children’s books may do so by emailing U.S. Attorney’s Office staff at usafls.vrp@usdoj.gov or by calling (305) 961-9134.