A Tall Order

For those who haven’t heard about Mayo Elementary School, just ask Gov. Gray Davis.

He singled out the Compton campus during his State of the State speech Jan. 5 because its students have pledged to read a staggering 60,000 books in six months--enough to build a stack as high as the Empire State Building.

Davis even noted that Principal Faye Sarfan-Styvaert promised to dye her blondish-brown hair green if her students accomplish the feat.

“I think that kind of leadership deserves a round of applause,” said Davis, prompting cabinet members and lawmakers to give Sarfan-Styvaert and three of her students a standing ovation.

Davis devoted only a few seconds to Mayo Elementary--a political throwaway line, really--but the mention allowed the governor to pump his reading awards program, which will dole out $5,000 grants to 400 elementary and middle schools whose students read the greatest number of pages over six months. State officials take the tallies at face value, relying on students and their teachers to keep an accurate count of what is read in class and at home.

Mayo’s 650 students--all under 10--already have read more than 30,000 books. Or to be more precise, 313,543 pages, more than halfway toward their goal.

The books, of course, are mostly simple because Mayo only serves students in kindergarten through third grade.

They have read--and reread--titles such as “Sleeping Beauty,” “Berenstain Bears” and “The Frog and the Toad.” Second- and third-graders are reading books with chapters, including several from the chiller-thriller “Goosebumps” series.

“We are all about reading,” Sarfan-Styvaert said.

For years, schools have used a number of gimmicks to entice their students to read. Principals have eaten worms, spent the day on school roofs and submitted themselves to other mild humiliations.

But it was Sarfan-Styvaert’s pluck--and good timing--that brought Mayo Elementary to the attention of the governor.

Last year, reading awards coordinators sent information to elementary and middle schools about the program, and asked for interesting details in return.

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Sarfan-Styvaert willingly complied. She sent an e-mail to Sacramento, telling how Mayo’s computer lab coordinator, Gary Moskovitz, had challenged the students the year before to read 40,000 books, and then shaved his head--as promised--when the goal had been surpassed.

The principal also told how the school had upped the ante for the governor’s reading competition. She pledged to dye her hair green if the students read 60,000 books by the April deadline; Moskovitz would shave his head again, this time if the children finished 75,000 books.

Mayo’s reading campaign impressed staffers working for state Education Secretary Gary K. Hart.

“It was the most exciting and the most compelling of the examples of reading activities sent in by schools,” said Julie Song, who is coordinating the awards program. “We thought, ‘They are doing their part in reading.’ ”

As it happened, the governor’s office was looking for a school to tout in the State of the State speech. Mayo’s reading initiative fit the bill.

Sarfan-Styvaert received a call at home over Christmas break from one of Davis’ staffers.

“[The woman] said the governor was inviting me to come up for the State of the State address and could I bring three students,” Sarfan-Styvaert recalled.

She selected three students who were the most voracious readers, then took them and a parent to Sacramento for their 15 seconds of political fame.

Hailed by the governor, Sarfan-Styvaert said her cameo appearance in the Assembly was one of her more stirring moments in a 30-year career with Compton Unified, a district better known for dismal student performance and decaying schools.

“It was definitely a memorable day. The district doesn’t receive a great deal of positive recognition,” she said. “It’s difficult to put into words.”

Second-grader Alexandra Murray can think of six choice words to describe the Sacramento adventure: “It was, like, kind of fun.”

Alexandra’s second-grade class is leading the charge. The students have logged 46,736 pages in just three months, more than any other class.

Alexandra’s teacher, Gila Cyrulnik, requires her students to read at least 20 minutes a night with a parent. Twice a week, the teacher helps her students pick out library books after school. And Cyrulnik keeps a bag of colorful stickers on her desk and hands them out as rewards for hard work.

“I try to tell the children that the way to the world is through books,” Cyrulnik said. “I happen to be very lucky that I have a class that loves to read.”

The message has had an impact not only on Alexandra but also on Guadalupe Sandoval, the top reader in the school. The second-grader has finished 200 books--4,495 pages in all, reading three books a day when she gets home from school. Her favorites are “The Magic School Bus” and “Sleeping Beauty.”

“It’s fun when you get to know what happens with the characters,” she said.

But what about Mayo’s other 649 students? Not everyone is so motivated.

How does this school get its students to devour books the way other kids gobble candy?

Incentives.

Students can win a virtual treasure chest of goodies just for reading. The rewards include tickets to UCLA soccer games and gift certificates to the Hard Rock Cafe and a local Subway sandwich shop. The school’s top readers also get to see the Harlem Globetrotters.

Sarfan-Styvaert hopes that, taken together, the measures will propel her students to reach the ambitious goal of 60,000 books. With each book averaging a quarter-inch in thickness, they would climb 1,250 feet if stacked on top of each other. That’s taller than the Statue of Liberty or the Eiffel Tower.

But for Mayo’s students, the most awesome outcome will be closer to the ground. There’s the prospect of Moskovitz shaving his head, just one month before he gets married. And then there’s Sarfan-Styvaert dyeing her hair green.

In the campus library, teachers keep track of what has come to be known as “Mrs. Sarfan-Styvaert’s Green Hair Challenge.”

One wall features a life-size drawing of Sarfan-Styvaert on yellow butcher paper, a sort of human barometer with page totals to chart the school’s progress.

The picture is slowly filling up with green from her toes to her head. The green has reached just past her stomach.

Sarfan-Styvaert says she is prepared for the impending dye job. After all, green is her favorite color.

“I want something very bright, very vivid,” she said.

And how long will she stay green?

“I’m not going to make any commitment at this point,” she said, adding, “My husband is very supportive.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Tall Order

South Petronas Twin Tower: 1,483’

60,000 Books: 1,250’

Empire State Building: 1,250’

Eiffel Tower: 984’

Statue of Liberty: 302’

Student: 4’1”