School Celebrates Opening of Library

With patriotic fervor, students, teachers and administrators at Kester Avenue Elementary School marked the opening of a new library Friday.

The $40,000 library, built in two rooms formerly occupied by a workroom and the school’s old library, was partly funded by the Wonder of Reading.

The Los Angeles nonprofit organization was founded three years ago to help city schools bolster library resources. L.A. Unified School District has a ratio of about six books per student, compared with a national average of 18 to 1, according to Wonder of Reading Director Dori Hairrell.

In addition to Kester Avenue, the group worked on two schools in South-Central and one in Hollywood this academic year. It gave Kester Avenue $20,000 and school officials raised the remaining $20,000.

At Friday’s ceremony, kindergarten students sang patriotic songs such as “God Bless America” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” and older children gave newcomers tours of the new facility.

Principal Petra Montante said no classroom space at the 900-student school was given up for the library. Hairrell said the organization looks for schools willing to maximize their space to provide reading and learning space for students.

“Kester is overcrowded like any other school, but they wanted to commit to having a library,” Hairrell said.

She added that some of Kester Avenue’s reference volumes dated to the 1940s.

Montante described the new library as “the kind of place where you want to pick up a book, plop yourself down and enjoy.”