Pick up any paper or watch any news cast these days and you’ll hear about how hard our local schools struggle to educate our children. It seems that no matter how many bonds we pass local schools are always short of funds. And when schools are short of funds one of the first things to go are library funds.
The WNC has always made it a priority to address issues that affect the children in our community. In mid 2006, the WNC was made aware that many elementary schools in our community were suffering severe shortages of books. In fact, many of the public schools libraries fail to meet state mandated standards. In an effort to start to address this issue the WNC voted an allocation of $2200 for books to be divided among the four elementary schools in Winnetka: Fulbright, Limerick, Sunny Brae, and Winnetka Elementary.
Each school’s principal and librarian were able to choose whatever books they felt were appropriate. The books could be ordered through the normal LAUSD suppliers so that the school could take advantage of the LAUSD quantity discounts.
In October, Limerick Elementary received the first shipment of books purchased with these funds. Members of the WNC Board (JJ Popowich and Erick Lace shown above) were on hand Monday, October 15, 2007, as 44 brand new books were made available to the students. The books covered a wide range of topics ranging from citizenship to fictional stories to crafts.
The WNC continues to focus on the youth in our community and we encourage you to become involved in our Neighborhood Council and help us help our children.