Mayor Pennington Shares Local Literacy Commitment Nationally

Dalton Mayor David Pennington’s keynote address at the national "Literacy for All" conference shined a spotlight on community-wide efforts to promote literacy in Dalton and Whitfield County.

The Readers to Leaders community literacy initiative was one of the highlights at the national conference in Providence, R.I. Mayor Pennington was joined by representatives from Dalton Public Schools, Whitfield County Schools, and the University of Georgia’s Archway Partnership. They shared the community's story about the public commitment of the four local governing authorities--Dalton City, Whitfield County Government, Dalton Public Schools, and Whitfield County Schools--along with the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce and the Archway Partnership.

 

Dalton Mayor David Pennington presents at the "Literacy for All" conference.

Their unified mission to make literacy a community priority has the goal of catching struggling readers early to ensure every child in our schools is reading on grade level in the early grades. Mayor Pennington was invited to welcome more than 1400 attendees, including literacy leaders and teachers, reading recovery teachers, school district officials, and university professors from across the United States as well as England, Australia and Bermuda. His invitation was due to his leadership, passion, and commitment to literacy.

The local representatives prepared a presentation for the exhibit hall describing the success of the Readers to Leaders initiative, sharing the community's story, and inspiring other communities that are interested in a similar initiative.

 

Mayor Pennington discusses the Readers to Leaders literacy initiative in Dalton-Whitfield.

Officials from Lesley University also heard Mayor Pennington speak during a roundtable discussion as part of the literacy training for district literacy trainers visiting from all parts of the country. Panel members shared how the literacy program that began in Dalton Public Schools nine years ago spurred local interest in education and literacy to develop into a community-wide endeavor. Mayor Pennington spoke passionately about his desire to unite the community to raise the level of literacy in the community and focus on helping all children read on grade level by grade three. Representatives from Lesley University said his enthusiasm made him the natural choice to welcome guests to their national conference.

Cindy Downend, primary literacy collaborative trainer at Lesley University in Boston, introduced the Mayor saying he is a visionary who has worked hard to build relationships between the schools and community. She said those partnerships are critical to sustain an innovative initiative of this magnitude.

The conference was hosted by Lesley University in collaboration with the University of Connecticut, New York University, and the University of Maine.