Meadow Elementary School Wins 2019 Nassau Region PARP Award
The Baldwin Union Free School District (UFSD) is excited to announce that Meadow Elementary School’s “Camp Meadow-waka S’more Fun with Books” PTA Pick-a-Reading-Partner (PARP) program has been named winner of the 2019 Nassau Region PARP Award. Meadow’s PARP committee has been invited to present its program at the Nassau Region PTA Fall Conference on Monday, October 28.
“I believe the home-school connection is essential to our students’ success,” said Echele May, principal of Meadow. “Last year’s PARP program was a perfect example of what can be achieved when parents and teachers collaborate.”
Because the daily activity of reading strengthens communication skills in children, the PTA PARP program encourages a “partner” (e.g., parent, grandparent, babysitter, older sibling, cousin, friend, etc.) to read with a child for at least 15 minutes daily, stressing the fact that reading is fun and informative. PARP aims to cement the necessary bond between home and school to encourage the love of reading in our children. Meadow’s PTA raised the bar when they encouraged their students to read 25 minutes every night, resulting in a total of 225,000 minutes.
“Your program was comprehensive and imaginative!” said Stephanie Avidon, Nassau Region PARP chair. “We are sure that your students, parents, faculty, and community are grateful as they benefited from your efforts.”
PARP was developed in 1978 by the late State Senator James Donovan, Chairman of the State Senate Education Committee. In 1987, the New York State PTA assumed the program’s helm and administered it since. This is the second year in a row for an elementary school within Baldwin UFSD to be recognized with a PARP award; last year, Lenox was selected as the winner for New York State.