Reading Incentive Program Kicks Off Next Week at Montauk School

"PARP-ners," get ready.

Parents as Reading Partners – a collaborative effort between teachers, parents, students, and others to put reading at the top of kids' priority lists – kicks off at the end of the month at the Montauk School.

The semi-annual event, held in the fall and spring, will kick off next Tuesday with an assembly at the school, followed by 20 members of the East Hampton community – including police officers, local shop owners, and East Hampton Patch's own Taylor Vecsey – heading to classrooms at the school to read a book of their choice to students.

PARP is a program that challenges students and parents to read 75 minutes each week, or 15 minutes per day, with each other. The books can be of their choice, said Rachel Kleinberg, Library Media Specialist at the Montauk School.

"What's important is that they are reading," Kleinberg said, adding that the program has been in place – though it has changed over the years – since before she started with the school 16 years ago.

Students who complete the challenge three weeks in a row earn a $5 coupon to the Montauk Bookshop.