Children’s group provides staff at Heston Elementary

Being the only K–8 public school in the entire neighborhood, there’s an expectation that it should have a fully staffed library.

Now, thanks to the volunteer work of West Philadelphia Alliance for Children, the Edward Heston Academics Plus School, will have a grand reopening of its library on Feb. 29.

“WePAC is a godsend; we certainly welcome them and embrace their program,” said Heston Principal Icilyn Wilson-Greene, who has helmed Heston for 12 years. “They also take children in kindergarten, first and second grade and work with them in small groups, increasing their literacy.”

Wilson-Greene said Heston’s library was renovated under former school superintendent Paul Vallas, but with the cuts in staffing imposed by the school district, the library really couldn’t meet the needs of its students — even with other support staff helping out. Now, those children will be able to sign out books and receive assistance on Wednesdays and Fridays — the days WePAC will staff Heston’s library.

“In this day of cutbacks, schools having no money and schools being so needy, especially in the inner-city community, I think this can revitalize the students’ love of books,” Wilson-Greene said. “This also gives the students a chance to expand their own literacy, by participating in read-alouds and understanding books and how we treat books.”

Heston represents the 12th school that WePAC has either opened or staffed since 2009, and the non-profit now has a waiting list of other schools that have requested WePAC assistance. That reality is brought into perspective considering that 80 percent of public schools in the district do not have a librarian on staff. Of even more importance, the dropout rate in Philadelphia has hovered around 50 percent, but those numbers skyrocket in the African-American and minority communities.

“Literacy skills are a vital part of empowered communities. Opening the Heston library to classes weekly means that students will have greater access to the newly-updated book collection,” said WePAC library programs coordinator Mica Navarro Lopez. “We are giving kids opportunities to become readers and to learn about the world, but we are also advocating for the rights of our youngest community members to have strong futures.”

Seems the community is also helping Heston. While WePAC has donated more than 33,000 books to the 12 schools on its roster, students at another WePAC-sponsored school — Lewis Cassidy — donated 1,500 books to Heston to help with its restocking. WePAC opened Cassidy’s library in 2009.

WePAC’s involvement isn’t just good for the students; it has also reinvigorated the staff and made them that much more excited to teach the children.

“We’re supposed to have reading, writing and connected skills for 120 minutes,” Wilson-Green said. “The staff members needed help with the literacy programming, and with WePAC, they’ll be able to expand their own programs.”

Contact staff writer Damon C. Williams at (215) 893-5745 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .