Kurtistown The loss of RAP ADVERTISING They say, “It takes a village to raise a child.” The Read Aloud America’s Program (RAP) epitomized this accepted wisdom. It brought together students, parents, families, teachers, staff, administrators and volunteers at three local
The loss of RAP
They say, “It takes a village to raise a child.” The Read Aloud America’s Program (RAP) epitomized this accepted wisdom. It brought together students, parents, families, teachers, staff, administrators and volunteers at three local elementary schools — Kaumana, Waiakea and Hilo Union.
RAP night is a fun-filled event where students and their ohana come together and enjoy listening to great stories on their journey to becoming lifetime readers.
At RAP, volunteers read to toddlers and students in grade level classrooms. There are no quizzes. This encourages a love of reading on one’s own terms. Their imagination soars and comprehension skills increase as they create images in their own minds about the stories. Parents receive tips on reading aloud to their children for pleasure and are encouraged to turn off all technology on school nights. A book excerpt is read and the adults experience the joy, perhaps long forgotten, of being read to. They are also reminded that our public libraries provide no-cost family entertainment (library attendance significantly increased during RAP). Families enjoy a pizza dinner and a book and prize giveaway, the perfect climax to a fun evening for our community — i.e., our village.
The Read Aloud Program on the Big Island ended due to funding cuts by the Department of Human Services. Four elementary schools slated for RAP — Keaau, Mountain View, DeSilva and Kalanianaole — were unable to offer it. The program was cut back on other Neighbor Islands as well, but several schools and their communities on Oahu and Maui chose to fund the program themselves. Their villages have sent up a rallying cry that students’ success takes precedence. Will our village do the same?
We talk of reforming the education system, so why cut funding for the very thing we so desire? Do we not want to enhance and improve the educational experience for students while engaging the parents in the process? RAP engages parents, schools and the community around a simple yet successful concept of building lifetime readers.
Real education reform will come from increased family and parental involvement. What better way to bring families into the process than RAP?
Beverly Heikes
Hilo
‘Bag ban’ useless
What is the mayor (Billy Kenoi) expecting to solve from banning plastic bags? Banning the bags doesn’t seem to solve anything. The trash in plastic bags is enough … so why the plastic bags?
Since this will affect our community, doesn’t anybody think we should have been part of working this out?
If this is all about plastic, well, 90 percent of everything seems to be wrapped in plastic. Let’s put this aside and consider fixing the crumbling main roads through downtown Hilo — Kilauea Avenue, Kinoole Avenue and Keawe Street. And a few stop lights seem to need far more kokua than banning the plastic bags.
I recycle my plastic bottles, newspaper, cardboard and lots of other things to kokua our community. There’s got to be a better way to understand what the heck all of this is about.
Lynise Tarring
Kurtistown
