TORONTO — Thanks to a group of dedicated moms, students at the Joe Dwek Ohr HaEmet Sephardic School will benefit from a new library at the Thornhill-based Orthodox Sephardi school.
Rachel Keslassy, who has two children enrolled at Ohr HaEmet, is a volunteer with the school’s Mom’s Association library committee.
Through the Mom’s Association, women raise funds for the school to address the needs of staff and students.
Keslassy said she and a number of other concerned parents decided that a permanent library in the school was essential. She said that until now, students had been able to borrow books from a portable library, a cart filled with books that would go from classroom to classroom.
Now that the school is up to date technologically, having raised money over the years to acquire computers, laptops, Smart boards, iPads and other mobile devices, the volunteers felt it was time to develop a library.
“A lot of the time, children are so engaged in technology-based things, and they may be missing out on what it means to read independently and have an appreciation for something tangible besides an iPad or an iPhone,” Keslassy said.
“Having that space is also very important, because it creates a culture within the school where children understand how to behave in quiet space and get excited about reading,” Keslassy said.
Maytal Oziel, a library committee volunteer who has a daughter enrolled in the school, said that as an avid reader as a child, it bothered her that students weren’t coming home with books to read each week.
“They should be coming home with books at least once a week,” said Oziel, who, like Keslassy and Vanessa Benarroch, another volunteer, is a public school teacher.
“At public schools, you visit a library once a week, and you come home with a book. A mobile library can only offer so much. Having a place where the kids can sit on a carpet and have a book read to them, having the ability to come into a space and do research about a topic… being able to be independent and choose a book on their own… being responsible for the book can teach them a lot of things,” Oziel said.
“The vision for the library is to be a place where students can lounge, a carpeted area where teachers can sit and read aloud a book to their students… We want bookshelves that are easy to access… we want a teachers’ corner with books that are geared for the holidays of that month and are curriculum-based… We want a system so that students can search independently,” Keslassy said.
She said the library is currently being developed in the school’s computer lab, but the ultimate goal is to expand into a larger space, to build a portable on school grounds.
Of course, fulfilling this vision, which has been in the works since October, requires volunteers, and donations. Keslassy said she’s hoping they can raise $50,000, but they will utilize every dollar they manage to raise to its fullest potential.
Benarroch, who also has two children enrolled in the school, said she decided to volunteer on the committee because it bothered her that the school didn’t have a library.
“Being a teacher, I know how much my students love to go to the library.”
Benarroch added that her children were thrilled when her sister took her kids, aged four and six, to a public library recently.
“You have no idea how excited my son was. He wanted to go back. He was so excited to be able to pick whatever book he liked, whatever book he wanted to read,” she said.
“Often times, a teacher says, here, read this book, take this book home. But he wants to choose his own book, even if he doesn’t like it.”
She added that there is a lot of excitement in the school as the library continues to take shape and book donations continue to come in.
“We’re very excited because the school has been in existence for so long… they’re celebrating 40 years in May. So we’re very excited about this project.”