Tyler ISD is taking literacy fun on the road with its new Tyler ISD Literacy Bus project.
The Literacy Bus is an interactive bus that will travel to neighborhoods throughout the Tyler ISD community to provide high-quality literacy resources to encourage family reading. The Literacy Bus will help the District expand access to literacy activities among low-income families to help ensure that every child has access to books and resources during the summer months and year-round.
“Tyler ISD is excited to make literacy accessible to students throughout the community,” Tyler ISD Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Christy Hanson said. “Early literacy is so important in helping students reach their goals and the Literacy Bus will help us build these crucial literacy skills.”
The Tyler ISD Foundation joined with other community partners to help fund the project by awarding a $5,000 grant through its Grants for Great Ideas program. The grant will provide funding for the generator needed to power the Literacy Bus while at locations throughout the city.
“The project is truly a collaboration of several District departments including Curriculum and Instruction, Communications, Maintenance, Technology, and Transportation along with community partners like the Junior League of Tyler,” Tyler ISD Executive Director of Communications Jennifer Hines said. “The Junior League not only helped underwrite the grant, they also plan to support the Literacy Bus through a book drive this spring to help stock the bus with fun books and engaging learning resources, as well as offering volunteer support.”
Additionally, the project will include the expertise of students from the District’s Career and Technology Center (CTC) who will help with the design and layout of the bus.
“Our CTC students and teachers in the areas of architecture, audio-visual, construction, and digital graphics are excited to be involved in such a meaningful and authentic work-based learning experience as the Literacy Bus project,” Gary Brown, executive director of Career and Technology Center said.
The District hopes to have the Literacy Bus ready to get on the road by the beginning of summer.