Please join The Harvest of Books for Maxfield Elementary.
Sponsored by: Great Havest Bread Company - 534 Selby Ave.
When:October 21 - November 19, 2004.
What for:To collect books to benefit classroom Libraries at maxfield elementary.
Any questions call Haley Morgan at 651-293-8680 or email haley.morgan@spps.org
Last update: November 13, 2004 at 4:07 PM
Nick Coleman: School's lack of books draws donors, dismay
Nick Coleman, Star Tribune
November 14, 2004 NICK1114
Nick Coleman: School's lack of books draws donors, dismay
Nick Coleman, Star Tribune
This is how nuts we have become.
In order to teach kids to read, it helps if you have books. But when Zelma Wiley walked into Maxfield Magnet School in St. Paul and took over as principal a couple of years ago, there were hardly any books on the shelves of the school's 21 classrooms and not nearly enough books -- or the right mix of reading levels and subject matters -- in the school's library.
People are trying to find books for Maxfield now by drawing upon the goodwill of the folks in the Summit-University community. But before I tell you more about those people and their efforts to help 400 kids become readers, ask yourself a question:
How did we get to the point in Minnesota that we have a school in a minority neighborhood of our capital city where there aren't enough books?
If you don't find that situation outrageous, you are part of the problem.
Maxfield is on Victoria Street in the heart of St. Paul's African-American community, perched above Interstate Hwy. 94. It is a K-6 school. Seventy percent of the kids are black, 20 percent are Asian, a few are white or other minorities. Whatever color they are, 95 percent are so poor they qualify for free or subsidized lunches.
Throw in a host of factors, ranging from single-parent households to non-English-speakers to high mobility rates (kids don't stay in the same school long) and you can understand how Maxfield got on probation and got only one star on Cheri Pierson Yecke's Shame System Star Chart.
Former Education Czarina Yecke was canned by the Legislature but never seemed overly concerned about the special problems at a place like Maxfield. Then again, few have shown any interest. How else to explain that Maxfield doesn't have enough books?
"I was amazed," said Sarah Carlsson. "And a lot of the books we did have were the wrong level, like first-grade books in a fifth-grade class."
Carlsson is a "literacy coach" at Maxfield, but was previously a classroom teacher who was unaware that the other classrooms were as sparsely furnished with books as her own. She donated her own childhood reading collection to her class and quickly discovered that the kids were starving for books that matched their reading abilities and touched their imaginations. One little first-grade girl named Alex fell so in love with one of Carlsson's books called "I'm a Seed" that she scratched out Carlsson's name and scribbled her own inside the cover and took it home to keep.
"Any chance to have a book in these kids' homes is fine with me," Carlsson said with a smile. "I want my kids to read at home, but our families can't afford books. Maybe Alex realized how much I loved reading."
But Maxfield isn't just trying to stock its shelves. There is more at stake. The school is trying to get on its feet for a community that desperately needs its schools to do their job. Over the past two years, Maxfield has made progress in math and writing. But the battle to achieve success will come down to reading scores -- a problem when there aren't enough books.
Last spring, only 47 percent of Maxfield's students showed reading proficiency on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments. By next April, five months from now, 68 percent must hit the proficiency mark or the school's staff will be nuked: The staff will be "reconstituted." Which means that the school will be back at square one and the community will suffer.
When you are trying to teach reading in a climate of spending cutbacks, hostility from political leaders who control the purse strings and public indifference toward the poor, you are between a rock and a hard place.
Into that tight spot stepped Haley Morgan, a cultural specialist at Maxfield who has begun a campaign to come up with 1,000 new or gently used books. Morgan turned for help to Bonnie Alton, owner of Great Harvest Bread Co. Alton jumped aboard with both feet, and while the book shortage is far from over, books are coming in.
About 400 have been contributed so far, but another 600 are needed. And cash helps. About $500 has been raised to buy additional books.
"When they test kids, you can't see them sprawled out on the floor with a book," said Debbie Bell, another literacy coach. "That's not something that shows up on a test. Our kids don't have much, but their parents have the same hopes and dreams as everybody. And when our kids realize they can read, you see their eyes just light up."
Bell has been saving to buy a new couch for three years. Recently, her husband produced receipts totaling $700 for items she bought last year for her classroom out of her own pocket. The point is, when we expect teachers to buy supplies and turn to charity for the books that our schools need, something has gone dreadfully wrong.
"I was flabbergasted when I got here and saw the lack of materials," said Principal Wiley, a black woman who comes from Belize and is proud to serve a school that has been part of St. Paul's African-American heart for decades. "I'm tired of fighting to get our school on top of the list."
How could this happen? A school with not enough books?
"I don't want to go on the record with what I really think," Wiley said. "But I've never seen anything like this before. We haven't been adequately furnished. We don't have enough books."
We know what happened, don't we? The poor are being punished for being poor and the politicians, instead of doing their damnedest to get things solved, are doing their damnedest to pass the buck. Highways are more important than kids.
"This makes me sick," said retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Wahl, who donated a bag of children's books when she heard of the shortage at Maxfield. "The reason it happens is we don't pay taxes enough for the education of our children. And it's not just a good idea to educate them. It's a constitutional mandate. It's in the state Constitution."
Yes, it is. It's lucky someone hasn't sued the state for failing to fulfill its duties. So far, people are trying to be more generous than litigious.
So far.
Contributions -- of books and bucks -- are being accepted at: Cherokee State Bank, 985 Grand Ave.; Great Harvest Bread Co., 534 Selby Ave.; and Mississippi Market Food Co-op, 622 Selby. Donors may also contact Maxfield School at 651-293-8680.
Nick Coleman is at ncoleman@startribune.com.
If you would like to donate books or other donation to Maxfield school, please click on the link below.
http://www.impactschools.org/spps/schooldonate.cfm?schoolid=58 Thank you in advance for considering a donation.
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