Round Lake schools flooded with book donations
Nearly a month after historic floods destroyed libraries at two elementary schools, Round Lake Area School District 116 now has more books than ever thanks to a wide-reaching and overwhelming donation effort from the community and beyond.
For weeks, volunteers have lugged box after box of donated books into the school district's Early Education Center in Round Lake. Officials estimate they've received at least 100,000 books.
"It has just been overwhelming and outstanding," Superintendent Connie Collins said.
The books have come from organizations across the area, including school districts in Deerfield, St. Charles and as far away as Rockford. The local teachers union held a book drive, as did the Round Lake Chamber of Commerce and many other groups.
On Thursday afternoon, state Rep. Sam Yingling and members of his staff became the most recent to drop off donated materials. They collected more than 500 books and new school supplies.
"The flooding caused destruction to personal belongings, homes and schools, but no natural disaster will destroy our community's resolve to come together and rebuild," Yingling said.
A team of district staff members led by teacher's aide Jennifer Lichter took on the task of sorting the books by reading level. The operation took over four classrooms and the large common area at the early education center.
After sorting, the district ended up with 30,000 books that were in good condition but not at the right reading level. They were given to Bernie's Book Bank in Lake Bluff, a nonprofit that donates books to children in need.
"Bernie's was almost in tears when we gave them the books," said Lori Placek, who coordinated much of the book donation process for the district. "They said the 30,000 books we gave them can serve 2,500 children."
The books the district will keep will be used to stock new libraries at Murphy and Ellis elementary schools. Both schools lost their library collections during the July 12 floods.
Instead of reconstructing the libraries as they used to be, Collins said both will be upgraded into 21st-century learning spaces. Under the district's plan, walls that separated the traditional library and computer rooms will come down and the larger combined space will designed promote collaborative learning, Collins said.
Officials hope both facilities will be ready in October.
The Early Education Center will be getting its first library, too. Janie Metzger, the school's principal, said the only books at the school previously were bought by teachers for their classrooms. Now they've got hundreds of preschool books for their students.
"Who would have thought this tragic thing could be such a blessing for so many?" she said.