This was published in the Times-Argus on February 8, 2021, with some good information about the program and our plans for the fall.
FROM THE TIMES-ARGUS
Reading group hoping to get back into schools in the fall
By Eric Blaisdell, February 8, 202l
MONTPELIER – A group of volunteers is hoping to return to classrooms this fall to continue reading to students about inclusion and diversity.
In response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the group called Central Vermont Reading to End Racism has made videos available where children can have books read to them.
The group has been working in the area for more than 20 years. It was founded by Vermont educator and activist Paij Wadley-Bailey, who died in 2016.
The volunteers go into elementary school classrooms in Central Vermont on the same day once a year and read children’s literature that relates to racism and bullying. They also engage students in activities and discussion of the issues and thoughts the books raise.
Janet Van Fleet is one of the members of the group’s steering committee. Van Fleet, who taught elementary school students for about 10 years in Montpelier, said years ago she was looking for something to do in relation to racial justice.
She said racism is something this country has struggled with since its founding. “Until we deal with that, things aren’t going to be right,” she said.
Then she heard about this reading group. Van Fleet said the group’s work sounded like what she was looking for.
“Children are our most important resource,” she said.
Van Fleet said this group helps children with questions about fairness and justice at an early age, and helps them feel comfortable asking those questions.
Rachel Cogbill is another member of the group’s steering committee. Cogbill worked as a teacher for 39 years and joined the group after she retired about five years ago.
“I have been a teacher all of my life,” she said. “And I believe that children are the most important key to our future, and working with them is key in helping our society become a better and better place.”
She said the volunteers work alongside the teachers to find the right books for their students. She said if a book is addressing someone in the class in particular, like a student of color, the teacher will reach out to that student’s parents and get their thoughts on whether the book is appropriate.
“So we’re trying to be sensitive to the different backgrounds of the children in the class through collaboration with the teacher because the teacher is the one who really knows the students,” she said.
But those in-person reading sessions couldn’t happen this year because of the pandemic. Instead, the group has collected some publicly available videos of people reading certain children’s books and made them available at the group’s website: cvreadingtoendracism.blogspot.com
The videos are broken up into two categories, one for kindergartners through third-graders; and the other for third- through fifth-graders.
The videos for the younger students are broken up into topics which include what race is, multiculturalism and taking action. Videos for the older students focus on biographies, civil rights and racism and taking action.
The website gets about 100 hits a month, and Cogbill said people from outside Vermont have discovered the videos and are using them.
While the videos can help for now, Van Fleet said the volunteers want to get back into classrooms to have in-person interactions with students.
“The reason we do it the way we do it, where all the classrooms in the schools are having it at the same time, is that the children are then having a collective experience and we’re all learning about this.”
She said the pandemic has shown remote learning can be more difficult than in-person learning and the idea of the group is to have face-to-face discussions about these issues in the community.
She said the group is trying to help the students become good people. “I hope that when children are coming up in an environment of trust and kindness and justice and equal opportunity then maybe we can put this stuff to bed a little bit,” she said.
