Meeting in a regularly scheduled session on November 14th, the Murrieta Valley Unified School District School Board was briefed about a $7,500 grant received from Rotary District 5330 and the Rotary Club of Murrieta to provide additional reading materials for the district’s literacy intervention program.
The School District will use the grant funds to purchase Read 180 materials for five Murrieta elementary schools. READ 180 is an intensive supplemental reading program that replaces the basic curriculum with engaging, interactive books and materials that help accelerate the reading skills of struggling readers who are two or more years below grade level.
Through its Community Services committee, the Murrieta Rotary looked for a way in which it could address local literacy concerns and budgeted $5,000 for the 2012-13 Rotary year for this program. An additional $2,500 was granted from The Rotary International Foundation and Rotary District 5330 in which the Murrieta club resides.
“This is such a rewarding program for us in Rotary, and it fits perfectly into that part of the Rotary Code of Conduct to provide opportunities for young people, to work for the relief of the special needs of others, and to improve the quality of life in my community,” said Lou Ellen Ficke, chair of the Club’s Community Services committee.
One of Rotary International’s areas of focus is Education, according to Ficke. According to the Rotary International website, “. . .more than 775 million people over the age of 15 are illiterate. Our goal is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy.