Students staying home due to the coronavirus pandemic had halted the Garland County Sheriff's Department's practice of deputies reading to children at school, but now they have turned to Facebook to revive the popular tradition.
"Our deputies have been missing interaction with students and wanted the opportunity to share some of their favorite books," Deputy Courtney Kizer, the department's public information officer, said.
The department kicked off its new "Operation Story Time with a Deputy" with the first one broadcast on the department's Facebook page Wednesday night, featuring Deputy Andrew Goodman reading, "How Does a Dinosaur Clean Their Room."
"We have created events on our Facebook so parents can tune in at a specific time and watch a video of our deputies reading a bedtime story," Kizer said, noting subsequent readings will be held at 7 p.m. every Wednesday.
The deputies "frequently get asked to come out to schools and interact with students, some of which is reading to the classrooms," she said. "All schools in Hot Springs and in Garland County have been fantastic with really having an open-door policy for local law enforcement to come and fellowship with their staff and students."
She said the program has always been voluntary, noting, "We usually get 10 to 15 volunteers."
Asked about who provides the reading material, Kizer said, "If we have attended schools to read we typically used their books, but we are fortunate that we have great volunteers at the (Garland County Detention Center) that have collected books for a program out there called 'Bedtime Stories.'"
She said that program, which is "pretty awesome," allows inmates who have a child (in their custody) and who are interested in reading a book to them to record themselves reading it on a CD which is then sent to their child.
Kizer said Wednesday's inaugural reading with Goodman "went great," noting that "using Facebook makes reaching people very easy and they can participate in the event from the safety of their own homes."
She said they have already received "a lot of great feedback" from community members and while "it does not replace face to face interaction our deputies had a lot of fun making the videos."
Goodman said Friday since the videos are prerecorded and uploaded at a later time "I was unable to see any comments" in real time, but "being able to see the comments on the event page and receiving messages through Facebook from parents who loved watching it made it a really fulfilling experience."
While he would rather have read it to them "in a classroom full of kids in person," Goodman said, "I understand that with everything going on technology is needed to stay connected. The more positive feedback we receive on things like this makes us feel we are really making a difference."
Asked how he came to select "How Does a Dinosaur Clean Their Room," Goodman said, "My kids gave me a stack of books to choose from and I figured everybody loves dinosaurs and surely everyone is dealing with a dirty room right now being stuck at home."
Next week's session will feature Lt. David Martineau, who not only will read a book for the students but will welcome a special guest, "Lennie the Lamb," to join him, Kizer said.
Local on 04/26/2020