Dear Reader,
The Covid-19 pandemic sent 70,000 children home from school across Vermont to prevent the virus from spreading. Full remote and hybrid learning replaced in-person schooling for most Vermonters this year with grave consequences for our children’s education and mental health, especially students with heightened needs.
As we head toward the end of this unprecedented school year, school administrators are grappling with how to help students recover from disruption caused by this public health crisis. In at least one supervisory union, administrators estimate that process could take at least two years. The ground lost is greatest for low-income students as measured by free and reduced-price lunch and students with special needs.
This year for our spring membership drive, VTDigger is partnering with the Children’s Literacy Foundation to donate one new book to low-income, at-risk and rural kids for every member donation during our Spring Drive.
Our goal is 3,000 books in 30 days. Will you join and send a book today?
Summer reading is always important to keep kids from backsliding during summer vacation. This year, it’s going to be more vital than ever.
However, according to the Children’s Literacy Foundation, 61 percent of low-income families have no children’s books at home.
VTDigger will be continuing to follow the story of how Vermont’s educators and students have been affected by the pandemic. But we want to do more, and we suspect our readers do as well.
VTDigger’s staff is incredibly grateful for our readers and members. This year has been painful in so many ways, but I hope that we continue helping each other find resources, information and ways to honor each other’s stories.
Steadfastly yours,
Anne Galloway
Learn more about CLiF’s impact and how books and programming are delivered to children at risk of low literacy levels across the state.
