Editorial

o7 “Affect not as some do that bookish ambition to be stored with

books and have well-furnished libraries, yet keep their heads empty of

knowledge; to desire to have many books, and never to use them, is like a

child that will have a candle burning by him all the while he is

sleeping.”

-- Henry Peacham, “The Compleat Gentleman”

f7

Ah, books. What would we do without them?

Hopefully, we’ll never know.

But one thing we do know is many of the young children who attend the

Westside Costa Mesa elementary schools Pomona, Wilson and Whittier

unfortunately don’t know how or have a hard time reading them.

Reading has long been a struggle on the Westside, where a large

majority of the children there come from Latino backgrounds where Spanish

is the spoken word at home.

That and other factors have led to great disparity in the test scores

in Costa Mesa schools compared with those in the Newport Beach schools

that populate the other half of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

As district officials pointed to the reasons behind the lagging test

scores, we have urged school leaders to instead come up solutions. We

have urged the community to redirect that same energy that was put into

passing the school bond measure to finding a way to address the literacy

levels in those schools.

Thankfully, there is help on the way. And we’re behind the effort

100%.

The Rotary clubs of Newport-Balboa, Newport-Irvine and Newport-Sunrise

are undertaking an effort to raise money to buy recreational reading

books for kindergarten through third-grade classes in those schools.

“This is what we have to do for the low-scoring schools,” said Jim de

Boom, a former Newport-Mesa school board member and current

Newport-Balboa Rotary leader.

So far the Rotary clubs have pledged $7,800 to the effort. And if the

groups are able to raise that cash, the money will be matched through the

Los Angeles Times Reading by Nine initiative.

We urge our readers to give serious consideration to this effort. We

think they will find, like we did, how a little bit of effort can go so

far.

For example, a $10 donation to the program, with the Reading by Nine

match, can buy 12 books. A $20 donation combined with the matching money

can put 30 books on the shelf.

But money isn’t the the only way to help. The Rotary clubs are also

looking for people willing to volunteer their time, just one hour a week,

to read to children in the schools.

To get involved in the program will be easy. In the coming weeks, look

for ads in the Daily Pilot that will provide instructions on how to help.

The deadline to come with the $7,800 is Dec. 31, so we need to get busy.

It’s time for us all to use the power of the written word to help

start a new chapter for Westside Costa Mesa schools.