24 March

Tomorrow I am reading to a third grade class and giving each child a book through the "Together We Can Read" program. It is exciting to me as a father because every child has unlimited possibilities, but those possibilities are severely limited if they cannot read. A love of reading is a great indicator of future success and I hope that this program can reach a lot of the 1,800 third graders who will receive a book tomorrow.

It is also exciting to me as Treasurer because we make an enormous investment in our schools here in Richland County - some would say too much and others would say too little. But that investment will always be difficult to translate into the kind of success we want without the involvement of parents and the community at large. "Together We Can Read" will send hundreds of volunteers to read in every Richland One elementary school, and hopefully it can be a spark that will increase the community involvement we need to make our schools top-notch for all of our children.

Hopefully, they will not ask me to teach grammar.