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St. Francis Receives $122,680 KRR Grant

by Kent Kechter

Back row, left to right: Tabitha Brotherton, KRR Senior Program Manager, Darla Raile, St. Francis Elementary Principal, Sen. Rick Billinger, Andrew Hysell, KRR Director, Rob Schiltz, St. Francis Superintendent, Kattie Aldaco, KRR Program Coordinator, Dave Morrow, St. Francis High School Principal. Front row, left to right: Aurora Meyer, Ryder Zimmerman, AJ Arensdorf, Zarik Enfield, students at St. Francis Elementary School.

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Back row, left to right: Tabitha Brotherton, KRR Senior Program Manager, Darla Raile, St. Francis Elementary Principal, Sen. Rick Billinger, Andrew Hysell, KRR Director, Rob Schiltz, St. Francis Superintendent, Kattie Aldaco, KRR Program Coordinator, Dave Morrow, St. Francis High School Principal. Front row, left to right: Aurora Meyer, Ryder Zimmerman, AJ Arensdorf, Zarik Enfield, students at St. Francis Elementary School.

The Kansas Reading Roadmap Program is coming to St. Francis! Kansas Reading Roadmap (KRR) is a program designed to help students improve their reading level and thereby make improvements in their educational success and life prospect.

The KRR program has already been initiated in 63 communities across Kansas. St. Francis will be beginning the KRR program in January of 2019. The KRR program works with public schools to assure that all children are reading at grade level by the second semester of their third grade year of education. Reading research has shown that children reading at grade level by the fourth grade are four times more likely to graduate high school on time and over the course of their lifetime these students make $400,000 more in earnings. Reading truly is a key component of success.

St. Francis Elementary School will launch the KRR program in January. The program will target kindergarten through third grade students to raise their reading skills. The program is targeted, but not limited to, striving readers. The after-school program will be aligned with the curriculum taught during the school day and will reinforce skills that should be mastered for reading proficiency.

Kattie Aldaco has been hired to be the KRR coordinator for the St. Francis Schools. Kattie had been working as a paraprofessional at the high school, but will now assume the position of KRR coordinator. Kattie is a 2008 graduate of St. Francis High School.

The St. Francis program will have students meeting with Mrs. Aldaco for additional reading help after school on Monday through Thursday. The students will work to improve their reading skills through songs, stories, poems, and other reading activities that are fun and aligned with the regular curriculum. The students will also receive a healthy snack during the reading session.

The program also brings parents and siblings of the students to the school to support the student's reading progress. A series of eight sessions of Literacy-Integrated Family Engagement activities will involve the family members. The program will also include summer reading instruction.

The Kansas Reading Roadmap is a partnership between the Kansas Technical Assistance System Network, the Kansas Department for Children and Families, and the local school.

A grant award ceremony was held at the St. Francis Grade School on Thursday, December 13. In attendance were Andrew Hysell, Kansas Reading Roadmap director; Rick Billinger, State Senator; Rob Schiltz, superintendent of schools; David Morrow, high school principal; Darla Raile, grade school principal,; Kattie Aldaco, St. Francis KRR coordinator; and Tabitha Brotherton, KRR Senior Program Manager; as well and many other faculty and students.

Click this link to view a video of the KRR grant award ceremony held at the St. Francis Grade School.

Click this link to learn more about the KRR Grant. (Hays Post article)

Click this link to access the Kansas Reading Roadmap website.

Click this link to view the KRR Facebook page.