State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond will hold a virtual town hall on Monday, December 6, 2021, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. to spotlight promising practices and elevate new ideas that support California’s literacy and biliteracy goals. He will host a panel discussion with education and community leaders who lead programs or initiatives that show potential for improving literacy and biliteracy rates and enhancing family engagement in diverse communities throughout the state.
Panel participants include:
- Dr. Martha Hernandez, Executive Director, Californians Together
- Greg Lucas, California State Librarian
- Dr. Barbara Nemko, Superintendent, Napa County Office of Education
- Brooklyn Williams, Oakland Freedom Schools
The town hall will be livestreamed on the CDE Facebook page, and anyone with an idea to improve literacy and biliteracy may send an email to [email protected].
As part of his initiative to ensure all students in California can read by third grade, State Superintendent Thurmond is expanding the collaboration between schools and public libraries by ensuring 100,000 K–3 students get their first library cards. He has also committed to securing the donation of one million books to students and families in need across the state. To this end, Thurmond has partnered with Renaissance Learning to ensure that every California student can permanently access thousands of reading resources. Starting December 1, myON digital library and news articles can be accessed for free by all pre-K to grade twelve students in California for two months. All books downloaded during this time are able to be kept and accessed afterwards. Schools will provide the code to access these resources.
Thurmond will also embark on a tour of libraries in the new year that highlights the opportunities for students and families in our public libraries in communities throughout California.
