All quiet during the Read-a-Thon

Monroe — School may have been cancelled due to a snow storm on Friday, Dec. 9, and it may have been delayed for two hours due to icy roads on the morning of Friday, Dec. 16, but when school began, the classrooms of Pine Tree School were so quiet that it seemed that the children had forgot to come. All of the 900 plus students were reading. It was the school’s annual Read-A-Thon, at which all the students in grade 2 through grade 5 spent the day reading. For weeks before the event, they asked friends and family members to sponsor them for the event. The sponsors would make a donation for the amount of books the student read, to be handed in afterwards. The money raised would be given to The People for People fund, which helps community members who are in financial need. Members of the community get involved, also. Members of the Monroe Woodbury School Board, district administrators, retired teachers, and even town officials come to read to classes. At one point in the day, Pine Tree had the past Superintendent Terry Olivo, the present acting Superintendent John Canzoneri, and the new Superintendent Joseph DiLorenzo reading to different classes in the school all at the same time. Last year, the children raised over $6,000. Total amounts have not been calculated as of yet for this year.