Navigator’s reading program a quick success in Lynn

LYNN – Less than a month after the program was initially introduced at a Lynn Public Schools principals meeting, the North Shore Navigators’ Comcast Skipper’s Reading Program has already become a huge success.To date, 13 of the city’s 19 public elementary schools, along with the North Shore Christian School, have signed on as participants in the rewards-based reading program, which will result in two free tickets and an on-field appearance for every student who completes the program.So many schools have shown interest in the program that the team has translated the take-home brochure in to three additional languages, Haitian French, Spanish and Khamir.”We are pleasantly surprised after initial meetings with the city that we have 14 schools who have responded positively to the program,” said Navigators’ owner Phillip Rosenfield.The reading program combines baseball with education, as students are given a two-week time frame to reach each “base” by reading a certain number of books as decided by their teacher.If a student reaches a base in time, they are given a prize, and if they reach home base or “hit a home run” before the final deadline, they are rewarded with two free tickets to the Navigators’ June 13 home game against the Lowell All-Americans at Fraser Field. Along with an opportunity to enjoy the game for free, readers will also be honored on the field prior to the game’s first pitch.Program coordinator Kathy Hashin says they key to making the program a success is following up with schools after the initial meeting, and placing phone calls to principals personally to discuss any questions of concerns they may have.”I took the program to the Superintendent and the administrators to discuss it with them personally, rather than just mailing them a flier and hoping somebody would be interested,” she said. “I am glad to see so many schools involved, because why wouldn’t you want to be involved with something that helps kids who are having trouble reading?”Hashin said another key to the program’s success is remaining flexible with each individual student. While the best-case scenario is students and parents working together to make the quota and sign off on the reading sheets, but she understands that is not always going to happen.She has encouraged teachers to work with children who may not have that support system, and encourage the students that have the hardest time reading to stick with it and finish the program, even if they don’t get to the first few prizes.”We have to be adaptable, especially to get the students that are struggling to read,” she said. “I tried to give them some ideas to help those kids, like bringing in a book on tape or getting the ESL teachers involved if there is a language barrier.”Rosenfield said a major goal of the team is to keep its sponsorships and community programs on the grass-roots level.”A major goal of Comcast as a communication company is to sponsor programs such as this that help the communities that they are in,” he said. “They are stepping up with complete sponsorship and ownership of the program.”Hashin added that the organization is glad to see such a positive response from Lynn Public Schools, because it gives them the opportunity to keep the program in the city without having to expand to other communities.”We are doing it in the elementary schools only. We thought about expanding it to the middle schools or even to other communities if this didn’t go well (in Lynn),” she said. “Luckily we have had a success so we can keep this program in Lynn because the Navigators are a Lynn team and the program should be for Lynn kids.”