Story Archive

Reading Is Controversial

Tyler Weaver, 9, is the self-titled “king of the reading club” at the Hudson Halls, N.Y., Public Library. He’s won the annual “Dig Into Reading” event for the last five years. His reign was threatened, however, when the library’s director, Marie Gandron, declared Weaver “hogs” the contest every year and he should “step aside.” Gandron claims that “Other kids quit because they can’t keep up,” and announced plans to change the contest to choose a name at random from all the participants to select the winner. One library aide, Lita Casey, disagreed, and called the library’s board to complain. “My feeling is you work, you get it. That’s just the way it is in anything. My granddaughter started working on track in grade school and ended up being a national champ. Should she have backed off and said, ‘No, somebody else should win?’” Gandron and Casey were both fired soon after the incident, but Weaver will have to settle for four years of victory. “There was a flyer in the library congratulating everyone on the summer reading program,” the boy said. “It had all the readers listed, but it didn’t say who won.” (MS/Glens Falls Post-Star) ...And thus the push of our students toward mediocrity expands.