More Responsibility, More Books

Kids can’t learn to read unless they actually have something to read. And in Los Angeles Unified School District--which lags behind the nation in books per pupil--that’s not a safe bet. Yes, parents should expect district officials to close the gap. But programs like the $11-million effort spearheaded by Supt. Ruben Zacarias to get more textbooks for students go only so far. Still left largely empty are the shelves of school libraries--where children ought to turn for volumes of adventure and knowledge, but instead too often find just a few ragged, outdated books.

Districtwide, more than 10 million books are needed to fill 420 libraries enough to bring local schools up to the national average of 18 volumes per student. In LAUSD, it’s just five books per student. And at some local schools such as Lemay Street Elementary, that number drops to a dismal three books per student. Estimated cost to buy those 10 million books: $200 million. District officials plan to spend 10% of that amount over the next five years to bolster the number of books on library shelves.

It helps, but it’s nowhere near enough. That’s where parents, teachers and volunteers come in. At Lemay Street school in Van Nuys, for instance, ice cream sales raise money to help fill the library--built for 5,000 books but home to just 1,200. So far this year, the school has raised about $7,000. And at Garden Grove Elementary School in Reseda, aggressive pursuit of grants and donations has yielded boxes of books. Even so, the library remains half empty.

Daunting as the task may sound, people like Brandon Keefe demonstrate how realistic it is to accumulate books with a little effort. The 12-year-old managed to collect 10,000 children’s books over the past three years--donating them all to a Hollywood orphanage and a Canoga Park elementary school. Earlier this week, Brandon dropped off nearly 4,000 books at Limerick Street Elementary School and instantly tripled the size of the campus library. Principal Ronni Ephraim called Brandon “my hero.”

Indeed. If a 12-year-old middle school student can scrounge together 10,000 books in his spare time, imagine what organized volunteers and parents can do. Across the San Fernando Valley, the concept of neighborhood schools will never refer to anything more than location unless the parents and community groups that make up the neighborhoods take responsibility for their campuses.