Community Day School Students Celebrate Reading

April 29, 2022 – Sarasota

Hershorin Schiff Community Day School students gathered on Thursday, April 21, to celebrate reading at the 4th Annual Janis Kaplan Author’s Day. This year’s event featured recipients of the Sydney Taylor Book Awards, which are presented annually by the Association of Jewish Libraries to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience. Books included such titles as “More Than Enough: A Passover Story,” “The People’s Painter,” a book about the artist and Jewish rights activist, Ben Shahn, “Dear Mr. Dickens,” a book about a young girl who, disturbed by the celebrated writer’s depiction of Jewish people, wrote a letter to Dickens, and “A Queen To The Rescue: The Story Of Henrietta Szold, Founder Of Hadassah.”

Reading volunteers from the community included Beth Duda, one of the driving forces of the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading; local entrepreneur, author and philanthropist Mitchell Epstein, area philanthropist Eliza Culverhouse, Matt Kahn, philanthropic advisor at the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and Kirsten Russell, vice president of community impact at the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.

Janis Kaplan worked as an enthusiastic and committed elementary teacher in the Norfolk Virginia school system. She loved teaching and adored her students. Tragically, she passed away in 1990 after a 10-year battle with cancer. In her honor, her parents established a fund for an annual author’s day program at a Virginia school and, in 2018, at Community Day School. Jay Kaplan, the brother of Janis Kaplan, calls the annual event “a tribute to quality education and a small attempt to help in the endless challenges of giving children the best opportunity to learn and grow.”

Dan Ceaser, CDS’s head of school, said that he is grateful to the Kaplan Family for continuing to make the Janis Kaplan Author’s Day such a beloved tradition at Community Day School.

“It’s such a treat to see community members share their joy of reading with our students—and to see the students share that joy equally. Through hearing stories, children are exposed new words, new ideas—and new insights about the world.”

For more information about Community Day School, call 941-552-2770 or visit communityday.org.

Captions:

• Beth Duda reads to first-grade students at Community Day School’s 4th Annual Janis Kaplan Author’s Day.
• Eliza Culverhouse reads to pre-school students at Community Day School’s 4th Annual Janis Kaplan Author’s Day.
• Students at Community Day School listen to a community volunteer read from a book at the 4th Annual Janis Kaplan Author’s Day.
• Students at Community Day School read books at the 4th Annual Janis Kaplan Author’s Day.