Conway Bookmobile Hits the Road!

CONWAY - "Brake for Books - It Will Change Your Life."

That message is part of a painted emblem featuring a giant moose, and is a takeoff on the state highway signs, "Brake for Moose - It Could Save Your Life." It appears on a giant white van - a Bookmobile - that made the first of several trips planned this summer in Conway Village.

In an effort to help children maintain their current reading levels over the summer, staff members at Conway Elementary School, with the help of longtime local business Frechette Tire Company, took books on the road, bringing them to children. The response was extremely positive, according to Conway El.  Principal Brian Hastings, who made the maiden voyage along with several members of the school's staff.

"We had a great time," Hastings said by phone Wednesday morning. "We made six stops and had a lot of kids at each stop - I think it did everything we were hoping it would and now we've got to keep it going. I was really pleased with the number of kids who took the time to come out. The staff have been so supportive of this project. We had great numbers come out Tuesday, it went really, really well."

In May, Frechette Tire donated a van to Conway El., and staff members went to work creating the bookmobile with second-grade teachers Aimee Frechette and Jenn Nelson spearheading the charge.

"It went awesome," Frechette said by phone Wednesday afternoon. "It was exactly how we had pictured it - the van would pull into a     parking lot and then there were lots of little kids running up to the van excited. We handed out over 500 books on our first day. At Conway El., we'd been talking about a  roving bookmobile for the past four years," she said. "Our plan is to be able to deliver books over the summer months. We want to target reading regression which occurs over the summer."

"I'd also like to thank Frechette Tire for their incredible donation," Hastings said. "George Frechette was our driver on Tuesday, he was super. The whole idea is great - it's an example of teachers  stepping up and volunteering on their own time. To get books into the hands of kids over the      summertime is so critical. I love the idea of a bookmobile. I'm going to jump on board and do the first tour with them. This is just one more example of how we've done a lot great things for our school this year; it shows how much the staff here cares."

Frechette praised the local library, but pointed out not every child can get there to pick up books."If we can get six to 10 books in a child's hands over the  summer they will be able to maintain their reading standards. After two months out of the classroom we've found there is reading regression if the child isn't reading on a regular basis."
Frechette Tire purchased and then  donated a 1990 Grumman Van to Conway Elementary to be used by the district for educational  purposes. In a letter to the school board, Penny  Frechette, of Frechette Tire, stated, "The Conway School District will own the van, however, Frechette Tire will donate services such as ongoing maintenance, tires and winter storage."

Gasoline will be funded through the Conway PTO.

Regression over the summer months in the area of reading is a huge concern among all elementary school students," Conway Elmentary staff stated in its proposal to the school board. "It is our goal to decrease the amount of  regression by simply getting children to read over the summer.

 Our community offers a number of summer programs aimed at this cause; however, the reality is that many students will not take part in these programs due to lack of   transportation or family support. The roving bookmobile will bring reading to the students in an exciting and fun way. By reaching out to our community, we will continue to bridge the gap  between home and school and remind parents about the importance of  reading." 

Students at Conway Elementary will get an opportunity to name the van this coming school year in a school-wide naming contest. 

The van, according to Aimee Frechette, will house multiple books at various reading levels for children. The children will be able to keep the books.

"The first two distributions are going to be free books," Frechette explained. "We may do a take (a book), leave (a book) later on. We received a number of gently-used books this spring from a book drive at the school. Hopefully, down the road we may be able to offer books to high school students and parents as well."

Anyone wishing to drop off books for the bookmobile can do so with bins located at Frechette Tire off the West Side Road and in a bin in front of Conway Elementary School.