The Stamford reading public has received a helping hand from community partners including Borders.
Borders Books of Stamford recently became the effort”™s charter contributor by donating more than 800 new books, valued at more than $7,500.
“The Stamford Public Education Foundation (SPEF) has done a great job in getting much needed resources into our schools,” said Joshua Starr, Stamford superintendent of schools.
Starr helped form the Partners in Education, or PIE, a community initiative designed to fund a variety of projects, beginning with comprehensive classroom libraries for the district”™s 12 elementary schools.
“Our children and families are reaping the benefit of a lot of hard work on the part of SPEF,” said Starr. “I”™m very thankful for the investment that Borders is making in Stamford public schools. This generous gift will not only help us in the classroom, but will increase family literacy as well.”
Starr said PIE will enable businesses to invest in Stamford’s public schools by donating funds toward the various academic initiatives that SPEF facilitates. He said PIE is designed to give businesses of all sizes an opportunity to participate in the enhancement of Stamford schools”™ literacy resources and programs. According to Starr, PIE will offer an automatic deduction program, making it easy for business owners to make comfortable, steady contributions to the public schools.
The classroom library project is to begin with grades K-2. As businesses sign on, the effort will include additional elementary schools and will expand to upper grades. There are nearly 300 elementary classrooms targeted to receive the libraries, each of which costs $2,000 to establish.
