This time last year, Annie R. Morgan Elementary teacher Keesa Addison was teaching at Sunrise Elementary, a high income public school in Orange County, Florida. When Addison moved to Jacksonville and began teaching at Annie R. Morgan Elementary, she soon realized that most of her second-grade students did not have books at home to read because they could not afford them. About 90 percent of the school's students participate in the free or reduced lunch program, so purchasing books is not always a priority in many students' homes.
Addison contacted her former school and was discussing her students' situation with Dr. Deloris Inniss, the principal at Sunrise. Inniss, who began her administrative career in an inner-city urban school in New York, understood the challenges that low-income schools encounter and decided to start a book drive at Sunrise to benefit the students at Annie R. Morgan.
Dr. Inniss advertised the book drive to her school's parents, business partners and School Advisory Council, and posted information about the book drive on the Orange County Public Schools' intranet Web site. Many expected a few hundred books to be donated, but within a few weeks, the total amount of books collected was 4,400!
Two parents and one of Addison's former students from Sunrise Elementary delivered the new and gently used books to the Duval County school in two cars and a trailer. When the books arrived, many of the teachers and faculty members at Annie R. Morgan were in tears.
"It's wonderful that people from outside our system are taking our school to heart and are helping our students move forward," said Donna Frank, principal of Annie R. Morgan. "We truly appreciate the outreach and thank Sunrise for collecting so many treasured books for our students."
The principals from both schools have struck up a long distance professional friendship, and plan to stay in touch to continue professional growth.
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