- Week of October 23, 2006 -

Red Ribbon Week Celebrations
Several Richland One schools will be celebrating Red Ribbon Week, the annual observance where children and adults across the country commit to living drug-free lives. Webber Elementary is planning a week of fun activities that include tying red ribbons around the school, and wearing sunshades, caps and athletic shoes to symbolize anti-drug messages. And at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, October 24, Olympia Learning Center kicks off Red Ribbon Week with guest speaker Vince Ford, a member of the Richland One school board. The public is invited to attend. (Webber is located at 140 Webber School Road in Eastover and Olympia’s address is 621 Bluff Road.)

Board of School Commissioners to Meet
Richland One’s Board of School Commissioners will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, October 24 at 7:00 p.m. at Logan Elementary School, 815 Elmwood Avenue. Board meeting agendas are posted online at www.richlandone.org ; click on the School Board link.

Hand Middle School Brings Book to Life
Can the lessons of tolerance and diversity which are interwoven into the plot of a popular novel be brought to life and lived out in a school or community? Hand Middle School is taking on that challenge. Since the beginning of the school year, all of the students, faculty and staff have been simultaneously reading the same book, Seedfolks by novelist Paul Fleischman. On Tuesday, October 24 from 5:30 - 7 p.m. Hand will celebrate the ideals of the book during Family Reading Night with a neighborhood picnic under the stars. While a band plays in the background, students, parents and neighbors of different backgrounds will enjoy a meal together. During the evening, monologues of characters in the book will be performed. Activities celebrating diversity and overcoming barriers will continue beyond this night. School officials will use the book to open dialogues promoting tolerance, acceptance, and no bullying. Researchers from the University of South Carolina will be on hand Tuesday to videotape the event and share the results of the reading project at an upcoming conference.
(Note: the picnic will be held in the school’s courtyard.)

Media with inquiries about Tip Sheet items are asked to call Edith Caudle in the Office of Communications at 231-7504.