“This is a game changer. I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment,” said All District Reads founder Gary Anderson as he welcomed nearly 100 people to the Coastal Virginia ADR Launch Event at the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Suffolk on Wednesday, August 10.
Suffolk Public Schools is the first local school system to participate under the All District Reads model, which involves finding outside funding and community leadership to establish the program in partnership with the school system. Beginning in October, students and their families across all of Suffolk’s elementary schools will read Cleo Edison Oliver, Playground Millionaire together over several weeks.
Suffolk Superintendent Dr. John Gordon, III discussed the benefits the All Suffolk Reads program will bring to schools, families, and the broader community. “We think getting children to read for pleasure is the missing piece of the puzzle,” Gordon said. “We are so excited to partner with All District Reads.”
Dr. Kelli Cedo shared her experiences leading the Hampton Reads One Book program. She described how the program lifted literacy across the whole community by helping to build family home libraries and decreasing the equity gap. Cedo is currently the Senior Director of Early Learning and Title I for Norfolk Public Schools, and they are now doing district-wide reading of books as well.
Nationally known education leader Mike Poore spoke about how he used a district-wide reading program to help bring dramatic improvements to the struggling Little Rock School District in Arkansas. He noted that the program brought together parents, the school district, the business community, and the local Rotary to support literacy across the community. “One of the most challenging things is to get parents behind what you are doing in the schools,” Poore said. District-wide reading programs do that.
Poore, who was named Arkansas Superintendent of the Year in 2021, partnered with the Rotary Club and local businesses in Little Rock to garner financial support for the program. Likewise, the All Suffolk Reads program has drawn strong funding support from the North Suffolk Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Downtown Suffolk, as well as local businesses and foundations. “Literacy is foundational,” concluded ADR Vice President Trey Campbell. “Let’s change students’ foundational experiences to create a spark that lights their literacy fire.”
