School District encouraging engagement on Literacy issues with Provincial Government

With Family Literacy Day on January 27th but a few days away, School District 52's Board of Education is looking to increase the focus on literacy in the community.

Towards that theme, the School District Council provided a reminder to the community last week. Highlighting some of the steps that the community can engage in, to lend their support in seeking funding for a popular Literacy program from the provincial government.

Towards that goal the Board of Education has directed the Chair to write a letter in support of the funding for the literacy program that comes through Decoda Literacy Solutions.

The program has seen its funding restored for one year,  a reversal of affairs after cuts were previously announced to the Literacy initiative.

The current direction of renewed Funding would provide support for the local group North Coast Literacy Now, allowing for funding for a coordinator position for the local program.

Through the years School District 52 has partnered with North Coast Literacy Now, a local initiative which was first created in 2006 and was designed to promote literacy for all residents, particularly for pre school and school aged children.

North Coast residents can become involved in the campaign, by directing letters of support towards the program to North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice, as well as to Education Minister Peter Fassbender.

The key aspect of the letter writing campaign is to remind MLA's and Government officials that the select standing committee's recommendation is for the next budget year.

In the current fiscal year there is 1 Million dollars allocated to the program, however Literacy advocates state that they still require 1.5 million this year to meet the minimum requirement of 2.5 million.

Spreading the message on literacy in the community is also a goal of the information campaign, with the suggestion that letters of support also be forwarded to the local newspaper, to spur on the discussion and inform the public on the issue.

Some background on the funding issue and the steps required of individuals to support the literary program can be found from this information sheet, that information was provided as part of the School District 52 synopsis of their January14th meeting.