On June 18th, 19th and 20th, the Reading School District’s Reading Is Fundamental – RIF program will be recognized during the RIF Program Excellence Honors 2007 event in Washington, D.C. The RIF Excellence Honors Program recognizes 25 programs from across the country. The Reading School District’s program was selected as one of the 25 honorees.
Reading School District Director of Elementary Education, Deb Kopetsky and Fire Marshal Todd M. Iaeger will be attending this event and seminar to represent the local RIF program. As part of this important recognition, Ms. Kopetsky and FM Iaeger are scheduled to meet with members of the Pennsylvania Congressional and Senatorial delegation. They will be meeting with Congressman Pitts, Senators Casey and Specter and their staffs. These meetings will essentially entail the aspects of educational funding for various school-based programs such as RIF, and fire and life safety integration into schools and classrooms.
The Reading School District’s RIF program is a partnership between the school district and the Reading Fire and Police Departments. The concept for the program was introduced by Ms. Kopetsky in early summer 2006 and presented to FM Iaeger for RFD development. Upon learning more about the plan, the FM saw the potential for fire prevention education, community partnership, and positive role modeling by the RFD for school district students. Ms. Kopetsky and the FM further developed the concept of the RIF program, and the final version was presented to Fire Chief Rehr for approval. As usual, Chief Rehr endorsed this proactive and exciting new approach to fire prevention and a partnership was formed. After garnering the support of the Reading Fire Department, Ms. Kopetsky then successfully recruited the Reading Police Department to provide a parallel agency for community partnership.
The RIF program is delivered by the RFD staff officers who read a pre-selected book, which has a fire theme to second grade students, and then summarizes the story with the children. The officers then discuss the importance of fire safety and fire prevention techniques, the need to do well in school, and emphasize the fun and importance that reading provides. The officers provide a level of animation, cleverness, and excitement, which demonstrates the underlying theme of the RIF program.
The RIF program will hopefully be expanded in the near future to better utilize all members of the RFD. The FM has filed for a FEMA Fire Prevention Grant (December 2006) for the upcoming school year to accomplish a goal of RFD inclusion and fire prevention within the school district and all elementary schools in the City of Reading. Additionally, the RIF program provides the connection for fire prevention and life safety education as it relates to the Hazard House program, which already is implemented in the elementary schools.
In closing, RIF is not just a community partnership in terms of inter-city agencies helping each other, it creates an expansive canvas for the development of individuals. This community partnership has generated excitement from teachers and students, as the staff officers have found this experience of promoting literacy and safety to be very rewarding.
The RIF program is delivered by the RFD staff officers who read a pre-selected book, which has a fire theme to second grade students, and then summarizes the story with the children. The officers then discuss the importance of fire safety and fire prevention techniques, the need to do well in school, and emphasize the fun and importance that reading provides. The officers provide a level of animation, cleverness, and excitement, which demonstrates the underlying theme of the RIF program.