Charleston Reporter

Charleston County School District issued the following announcement.

Ladson Elementary School and North Charleston Elementary School are recognized for their community engagement efforts in this year’s National Network of Partnership School (NNPS) Promising Partnership Practices handbook. In fact, North Charleston Elementary is featured on the cover of this year’s publication.

North Charleston Elementary was the first school from CCSD to be featured in the annual NNPS handbook last year, thanks to their initiative, Painting on Purpose with Parents. This year, the Dolphins earned recognition for their participation and engagement surrounding ReadBowl 2021, an initiative encouraging students and their families to read together. One “team” from NCES actually won the state title for their level (Kindergarten through second grade). The school ended up logging a combined 51,678 minutes of reading.

Every student from the classes that won received a party with pizza, seafood, ice cream, and popcorn, along with and a copy of Malcolm Mitchell’s book, My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World. Parents and guardians who attended the party also received a copy of the book for their home library and also enjoyed the feast.  

“To be featured in the NNPS handbook for the second year is a major boost for our entire school community,” explained North Charleston Elementary’s Family Service Advocate, Tyra Johnson. “The recognition, along with the program’s success, would not be possible without the dedication of our teachers, and the support from our students’ families. We are truly building something special here at NCES.”

The NNPS handbook is a collection of programs, events, and initiatives from schools across the country and the world. Forty entries from 14 districts in nine different states, as well as schools from Ireland and Scotland, are in this year’s edition. The publication provides other schools with quality examples of community engagement from schools, which create better educational atmospheres and opportunities for students and their families.

CCSD has been part of NNPS (sponsored by Johns Hopkins University) since 2017; 40 of the district’s Title I schools are involved with this network.

Ladson Elementary’s Reading Patrol was recognized in the 2021 handbook. The Bulldogs’ program also encouraged reading at home, but with officers and staff from the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO).  In the past, the program involved deputies reading to children in the school and encouraging them to read for fun at home. COVID-19 changed the effort last year, when Sgt. Kathleen McCullough-Mclean, then the School Resource Officer for Ladson Elementary, organized an effort to film deputies reading separate pages of a book, The Biggest Snowman Ever. The resulting video produced by CCSO’s Public Information Office was shared with children and parents at the start of winter break in December. The school also gave copies of the book to children so they could read at home. Students and parents later assessed the program through at-home surveys. The program not only increased students’ enthusiasm for reading, but built positive relationships with local law enforcement agencies.

“A few parents said their children ‘reenacted’ the story by reading like the officers did, creating positive family memories,” said Ladson’s parent advocate, Vanessa Smith. “Parents say the Reading Patrol is a great motivator to encourage their children to read, and students told me ‘police officers are cool!’ Our goal is to make reading fun and more inviting, which enhances learning at home."

You can see the online edition of the 2021 Promising Partnership Practices handbook by clicking on this link; information about Ladson is on page 5, and the write-up for North Charleston Elementary is on page 6.

For more information, contact CCSD’s Division of Strategy and Communication at (843) 937-6303.

Original source can be found here.