NW Presents 100% Of Teachers At Henry F. Kite With JPL Educator Cards

NW Librarian Andy Gallegos reports, "Henry F. Kite Elementary teachers--100% of them--received a JPL educator card, September 11, 2017! Regional Manager Marshelle Berry told me that, to her knowledge, up to this point there had not been a DCPS school that had achieved 100% of teachers with educator cards. I brought the idea to Principal Hill of Henry F. Kite and she thought it was fantastic to have all of her teachers with an educator card."

                            SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT:

Andy Gallegos (front, center) with 100% of the Henry F. Kite Elementary teachers holding their shiny, new JPL Educator cards.

Back to School Kickoff For More Student Cards & 170 Backpacks For Kids

August 12, 2016 was a huge success both for DCPS and JPL.  Brentwood Branch Library kicked off the second year of its partnership to increase the number of students with JPL cards from grades K-5th to K-12th.  Phenessa Gray, then NS Branch Manager, said, "We witnessed riveting speeches that motivated our community to support JPL and DCPS from Director Barbara Gubbin, Dr. Charles Moreland, Director, Community Affairs; Councilman Reggie Gaffney, and Dr. Larry Roziers, Assistant Superintendent, Family and Community Engagement.

Additionally, the Back to School Bash served 170 children receiving backpacks filled with school supplies (above). Youth Services helped majorly with activities, such as face painting, hula hooping, math plinko, jewelry making, and Frisbee making.  Our students are off to a good start and have access to much needed resources and services to help them succeed this school year."

Above are pictured Councilman Reggie Gaffney speaking, and far left is Dr. Larry Roziers, DCPS Assistant Superintendent, Family and Community Engagement, Director Barbara Gubbin, and the lady on the far right is Ms. Sharon Coon, founder and organizer of the Brentwood Friends of the Library. 

Press Conference For Student & Educator JPL Cards A Great Success

The September 24 press conference to announce the partnership of JPL and the Duval County Public Schools to put library cards in the hands of 60,000 students, K-5th grade, was a resounding success. Library Director Barbara Gubbin and Dr. Nikolai P. Vitti (above) both spoke of the educational success this partnership will foster.  

Director Gubbin had this to say after the press conference today, "Putting books into the hands of young children seems a simple enough task but as we listened to Dr. Vitti, who articulated so well the barriers to making this happen, we were reminded again of how difficult this actually can be.  Instilling a love of reading because reading is easy and fun for a young child is one of the most important things that we can do as people who work in our library.  What you did today and the work Amber and the team of all our children’s librarians and their support teams at every library – circulation staff, reference librarians, custodians, security guards - everyone – are doing for 60,000 DCPS students and their teachers will have  positive outcomes for those children for many years to come.  Great job and thank you again!"

Mayor Lenny Curry addressed the conference and sang the praises of this partnership. Several of his staff also attended, along with DCPS Executive Director Larry Roziers, DCPS staff member Tia Ford, some Council Members, Library Board members Sybil Ansbacher, Gerald Reid, Mario Payne, Ronnie King, and former Board Chair and JPL liaison to the JPL Foundation Dr. Brenda Simmons-Hutchins, and some JPL staffs. Additionally, students of Garden City Elementary School enjoyed the Children's Department, engaged in story time, and checked out books using the new virtual Student Cards.

  

54 JPL Educator Cards Given At TEACH Conference

On Saturday, September 12, 2015, several JPL staff attended the TEACH Conference (teachers met to inspire each other and share their ideas and concerns) sponsored by WJCT at the Hyatt Regency Downtown Jacksonville. JPL staff took this opportunity to make 54 educator cards for private, public, and charter school teachers in Duval County.

Those who took their Saturday to promote this wonderful project were Amber Holley (Youth Services Manager-Main), Susan Mankowski (Early Childhood Specialist-Main), Rebekah Mitchell (Youth Services Librarian III-Main), Lynn Jacobson (Bibliographic Systems and Access Manager, SST), Charlene Ovshak (Library Circulation Supervisor-Main), Stephanie Harley (Clerical Services Supervisor-CW), Beverly Brown (Clerical Services Supervisor- PCR), Corey Z. Scott (Library Assistant, Circ, Main), Milicia Thomas (Library Assistant, Popular-Main), and Donna Crowther (Library Assistant- Main).  Thanks to Milicia for the input.