Subject Expert: Book Buddies
Expert: Carrie Smith, Alumni & Community Engagement Manager, SAISD Foundation
As a complement to Read Across America Day celebrations next week, Carrie Smith can speak to how initiatives such as Book Buddies help children grow a love of reading, while developing their own home libraries.
• Program of the SAISD Foundation with goal to deliver nearly 100,000 books to children at 45 SAISD campuses.
• Distributes books for preschool, elementary and middle school-aged children, as well as culturally relevant and bilingual books.
• Works with book resellers and accepts new and gently used book donations from company- or community-sponsored book drives.
• Uses volunteers to sort through books by grade level, assess the condition of the books, clean them, and place them into boxes to be distributed.
* See related calendar item below for information on Sam Houston High School’s satellite Book Buddies program, in which high school students will be reading with elementary school students in celebration of Read Across America.
Calendar items
Feb. 26 (Sat) – SAISD Special Board Meeting
9 a.m., SAISD Board Room, 514 W. Quincy St., 78212 or online
Link: https://www.saisd.net/page/dis-board-videos
The SAISD Board of Trustees will hold a special board meeting on the budget at the central office building. Masks are required to enter.
Feb. 26; March 1, 3 (Sat, Tues, Thurs) – Free tax preparation
At times listed below, CAST Tech High School, 637 N. Main Ave., 78205
CAST Tech High School is hosting a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site on its campus to help households making $65,000 or less file their income taxes for free. CAST Tech students in Principles of Business, Entrepreneurship, and Practicum of Business classes do the data entry, while supervised by tax experts. The program assisted 146 taxpayers last year and has a goal of 200 this year. For more information, call (210) 554-2700.
• Feb. 26 (Sat), 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• March 1 (Tues), 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• March 3 (Thurs), 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
March 2 (Wed) – Read Across America: Little Free Library celebration
10:30 a.m., Highland Hills Elementary School, 734 Glamis Ave., 78223
In collaboration with Little Free Library, a global nonprofit movement, SAISD’s Highland Hills Elementary School will celebrate literacy for its students and neighborhood with a public book-sharing box located near its Glamis Road entrance. Highland Hills’ Digital Teacher Librarian, Paula Lenington, sought out the nonprofit to help create a community of readers that would always have access to books and help spark a love of reading. The event will take place on National Read Across America Day, to motivate community members of all ages to read every day.
* March 2 (Wed) – Read Across America: Older and younger students are “book buddies”
11:30 a.m., Miller Elementary School, 207 Lincolnshire Drive, 78220
Not only will elementary students receive free books in celebration of Read Across America, but older students from their neighboring high school will be on hand to read with them. Sam Houston High School students started a satellite Book Buddies program, an SAISD Foundation initiative, and already have sorted and delivered books to Miller Elementary School. On Read Across America Day, the high school students return to help the youngsters select and begin reading their books.
March 3 (Thurs) – SAISD Facilities Services job fair
4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Alamo Convocation Center, 110 Tuleta Drive, 78212
Registration: https://saisdcareers.com/events/
San Antonio ISD is holding a job fair for custodians, construction helpers, painters, carpenters, licensed electricians, licensed plumbers, licensed HVACs, drivers/warehouse, roofers, masonry, and heavy equipment operators. Interviews will be conducted on-site.
March 4-11 (Fri-Fri) – SAISD schools and offices closed for Spring Break
All campuses and district offices will be closed for Spring Break. SAISD will reopen Monday, March 14.