Any way you spell it, the Kiwanis Club of Glendora loves to help children.
Already involved with Stanton Elementary School, delivering the Barton Reading Program to aid children in need of reading skills improvement, the Kiwanis Club made a donation of an additional $1,000 to the school last week for furthering literacy efforts.
"We've done a great deal of interaction with students. I think last year our volunteers did between 400 to 500 hours of service," said Terry Damron, member of the Glendora Kiwanis Club. "I think we got more out of it than the children did, but they showed great growth."
The Kiwanis were dedicated to continuing support for Stanton, but citing the effects of the state budget on education, they decided to increase their level of support, Damron said.
"We would like to, not only enhance our Barton Program, but also give about $1,000 to the school to use in some aspect of literacy, whether it's buying books for the library, or having some special program," Damron said.
Kiwanis members have been able to serve over 25 students at Stanton and have increased the number of volunteers to 16 in 2011.
A few years ago, the Barton Reading and Spelling Program began at Williams School and developed over time. Eventually the program was utilized for children who might suffer from dyslexia, or may be prone to it, Damron said.
In its third year at Stanton, the Barton Reading Program is said to have helped turn around low API scores school wide and for subgroups.
The school's API went up by 37 points in 2009-2010. API for the Hispanic subgroup jumped 63 points, while socioeconomically disadvantaged students gained 49 points.
Although both subgroups saw drops in 2011 by 11 and seven points respectively, they are above the 800 benchmark required by California. The school is currently at an 852-point API.
"The impact that the volunteers have made is impressive," said Stanton Principal Sara Najarro. "Having the volunteers present on our campus each day increases our positive collaboration with the community."
