Fauquier’s community effort to encourage year-round reading and learning among young children serves a great example, Virginia’s First Lady Pam Northam said.
“I am so hopeful,” Mrs. Northam said after an event Wednesday in Warrenton. “This community has come together and done such a fantastic job of helping children.”
She came — along with several hundred children, parents, educators, volunteers and community leaders — to help dedicate BOB’s Place at James G. Brumfield Elementary School.
Since July 2018, BOB (Books on the Bus) has helped get and keep preschool and elementary students in Fauquier excited about reading and learning. The small, refurbished bus visits communities around the county to share books, games, healthy snacks and connections to services.
The county’s public school system and library partnered to start Books on the Bus, which quickly gained support from a variety of partners.
BOB’s Place, with picnic tables and space for activities on the Brumfield campus, provides permanent spot for the effort, supplementing the mobile offerings.
The PATH Foundation’s 16 summer interns helped develop BOB’s Place and collected stories about the program, published as a small book.
Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni joined Mrs. Northam for Wednesday’s event, which included a ribbon cutting and tour of the “Storywalk,” of BOB partner exhibits around the school.
Read the original article from Fauquier Now here. All photos by Lawrence Emerson from Fauquier Now.