Moorpark : ‘Posse’ Has Young Readers Doing Time

Moorpark schoolteacher Peggy Weak had a brainstorm last summer that has inspired students at Peach Hill School to zoom through more than 522,000 minutes of reading time at home since September.

Weak was attending a PTA meeting with one of her colleagues, who happened to have a pet opossum sitting on her shoulder.

“We had volunteered to do a float for Moorpark’s Country Days, and we threw around the name Peach Hill Possums, but came up with Peach Hill Posse,” Weak said. “On my way home, the idea just lent itself to a reading incentive program.”

Now, teachers wear T-shirts with the message, “Wanted: Readers,” and parents display Peach Hill Posse bumper stickers on their cars.

The involvement of everyone is the crux of the program’s success, said Principal Juanita Suarez, and readers have received encouragement from First Lady Barbara Bush and entertainers Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra, who sent letters or autographed pictures to the students.

Depending on the amount of time students read or are read to at home, they receive monthly awards at a “roundup assembly” at the end of each month.

Awards range from a Peach Hill Posse pin for 200 minutes of reading to a sheriff’s badge for 3,000 minutes.

Parent Cindy Gibbons said her son, Tommy, 7, was having reading problems at the end of first grade last spring. She was contacted by the school and told that Tommy should be placed in a special reading class.

“At first, when the reading incentive program started, he would say that he had to get his reading minutes in, like a contest. But after a few weeks, it was no longer a contest--he wanted to read.”

Gibbons said the reading time has brought her family together.

“I work two jobs and sometimes I’m tired. But the other night we put in 45 minutes . . . we were just having fun,” she said.

Tommy has improved so much in his reading that he may be leaving the special reading class soon, Gibbons said.

As part of the plan to get the 760 students interested in the program, a kickoff assembly was held last September. Moorpark middle school teacher Ray Hebel, who performs around the world as an Elvis Presley impersonator, put on a Western show as Wrangler Ray.

Later in the month, the neighborhood school for kindergarten through third-grade students hosted a chuck wagon dinner with square dancers and storytellers who told stories about Pecos Bill and Davy Crockett. More than 800 students, parents and staff members attended.

By October, the students had logged 250,000 minutes, and had more than 522,000 at last count. More events are planned to keep the momentum going, including another chuck wagon dinner in the spring.

“All reports from parents are, ‘My kids want to read now.’ Part of our concern is that we want kids to really enjoy reading,” Suarez said.