Jail inmates, Schenectady preschool kids to get reading boost

Preschoolers may soon be making visits to the Schenectady County Jail, favorite book in hand.

It’s a new part of the Reading Is Fun program, a grass-roots project intended to prepare children for kindergarten.

Volunteers will meet with jail inmates who have 4- and 5-year-old children, and will teach the inmate and the child together.

Other than the armed guards, the program will be identical to the one running after school and on weekends throughout the city. Volunteers will play reading games with each child, hoping to improve comprehension and teach basic reading readiness: letters, sounds, and other reading concepts. Parents are encouraged to come to each session so they can learn how to teach their children.

At the jail, reading volunteers will meet with the child and the inmate in the large visiting room. Guards will be on watch, as always.

Program founder Al Magid toured the jail and then sent out an email Wednesday asking for volunteers to teach there. He’s already volunteered to work with three inmates and their children, and he’s assuring volunteers that they will be safe.

“We’re not doing it in the cells, we’re not doing it where the violent predators are,” he said. “Do you think I would go into the jail to tutor these people if I didn’t feel secure?”

He asked Sheriff Dominic Dagostino to consider letting Reading Is Fun into the jail. Of all the people who need help with reading readiness, inmates’ families might need it the most, he said.

Dagostino agreed wholeheartedly.

“I think we would be remiss not to do it,” he said. “We’re certainly very excited about it.”

He thinks the weekly trainings might help both the child and the inmate.

“That puts the inmate in a better situation with his family when he leaves,” Dagostino said.

And, he added, it might help inmates brush up on their reading skills, which he hopes would help them get a job.

“Reading is a fundamental skill,” he said.

Not every inmate will be allowed to sign up. Deputies will screen the inmates, and those with short sentences will be more likely to get into the program. Violent offenders on their way to state prison will not be eligible, Magid said.