Students at Alafia Elementary School wrapped up 2024 with an expanded library. Alafia received a gift of 1,867 books for its media center in early November 2024.
Alafia’s media specialist, Laura James, said books were unboxed and on the shelves for checkout within a week.
“Students have been so excited to get their hands on the new books. It has been such a joy to see their faces light up when they find their next great book,” James said.
The inventory was purchased using money received from the 2023-24 Supplemental School Improvement Grant received from the Florida Department of Education. Alafia’s media center was one of 152 schools in the district to receive close to $30,000 in funds.
In a normal year, each school in the district has a yearly budget based on student enrollment from county funds and from state funds for purchasing books.
“For a smaller school like Alafia, this additional grant was a windfall because it meant I could purchase new books to replace woefully out-of-date materials on a large scale that would have taken me years to chip away at with just my yearly county and state money,” James said.
The upgrades James made included updating a large portion of the school’s nonfiction section, replacing worn-out animal facts and sports books. She expanded the graphic novel section and updated the biography section to reflect current athletes, artists and books with fresh perspectives on historical figures. She refreshed the entire area used by preschoolers, kindergarteners and first graders. She was able to buy Playaway books, which are books with a built-in MP3 player that allow students to listen to the book as they read along.
James praised Hillsborough County Library Media Services supervisors John Milburn and Kimberly DeFusco for their work providing the books to the schools.
“They are the real heroes of this story — they work tirelessly to support all of us media specialists and help us create the best programs for our individual schools,” James said.
DeFusco lauded the district’s librarians as heroes for their students. She commended them for being highly skilled, on top of curriculum and Florida standards and aware of the community they serve. Each librarian that received grant money curated their orders to fit the needs of their school.
The grant was applied for in December 2023. DeFusco gave credit to Deborah Pepe, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, for taking the initiative to apply for the grant and use a significant portion of it for media services.
“We are very, very fortunate and grateful to her and her leadership. Literacy is a huge priority in our district. An investment in literacy in our district looks like an investment in our libraries,” DeFusco said.
