Golfview Elementary receives library grant

Golfview Elementary School has received a $5,000 grant from the Laura Bush Library Foundation that will be used to expand the library’s bilingual selections to give every student at the Carpentersville school an equal chance at enjoying books.

Debbie Kaczar, school librarian and media teacher of Golfview in Community Unit District 300, applied for the grant in December. She had only been teaching for a year, but noticed the school needed money to make improvements. “I was searching for grants because we did not have a budget,” she said.

First lady Laura Bush was a librarian and started her foundation 10 years ago to support struggling libraries. It gave a total of more than $1 million this year to 238 schools, according to the foundation’s website.

The grant will not only help current students, Kaczar said, but parents and families can learn with the books, too. They will be purchased before school starts and Kaczar plans to have a literacy day to excite the students about the new opportunities.

She said she wants to promote lifelong learning for all the students and families. The student body is more than 90 percent English language learners or students in English as a Second Language classes.

The grant will be used to buy books in many genres including nonfiction, classics, educational, children, pictures and adult books. The library is built with an adult section, also, to promote parents to read at home while their children are doing so, Kaczar said.

Kaczar believes this grant will increase the number of people in the community who will pick up a book for the simple joy of reading. “That’s why we, as a school, want to have the resources,” she said, “so students, parents and their families can learn together.”