Varnett Superintendent Dr. Margaret Stroud read a book entitled "Our Special Sweet Potato Pie" to a group of first-graders who sat attentively in front of the administration building Monday.
But the Southwest students were not present simply to be entertained. Dr. Stroud quizzed them along the way to test their comprehension skills.
The book by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Cathy Johnson focuses on a family that decides to make a sweet potato pie for Daddy's birthday. But when the potatoes start to roll across the ground, can anybody catch them?
The reading exercise illustrates the importance Dr. Stroud places on reading. Later in the day, she told a group of parents at the Southeast campus to encourage their children to read at least 20 minutes a day. Many of the parents, who gathered for an Open House, nodded in agreement.
She carried that message again today to a meeting with the district's leadership team.
"Reading will be the focus of the next school year," she said. "Every teacher will be a reading teacher."