History
Started in 2004 at the request of the Coachella Valley Unified School District Superintendent of Schools, Roberta and Clay Klein started a fund at the Desert Community Foundation and asked the pastor of their church for his assistance in recruiting volunteers. Father Howard Lincoln of Sacred Heart Church readily agreed. The District had been using English speaking volunteers to the extent, they could get them to go into the schools in the district that had no English speaking people in the community. Roberta asked the Superintendent if he would provide buses if they could recruit volunteers who were fluent in English through churches and other organizations.
Read With Me was born and now brings volunteers from seven churches to five different schools. The schools are all in areas of high poverty with a majority of the parents untrained in academic English. They love their children but cannot help them with English.
In 2013, Read With Me received a Golden Bell Award for English Acquisition from the California School Board Association. We believe the program is totally replicable in other areas that face similar challenges in providing tutoring and mentoring for disadvantaged children in a classroom setting.
What we do
In the classroom, the teacher assigns individual volunteers to selected students to listen to them read, assisting them with pronunciation and comprehension. The mentor/tutors are typically retired part-time Coachella Valley residents, some with special skills who help specific students go beyond the basic.
Read With Me
Honored with the Golden Bell award for English Acquisition by the California School Board Association and the 2022 GuideStar Silver Seal of Transparency
Volunteer Programs
Roberta Klein, President
I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Sean Webb, a man with extensive experience in education, non-profit/community engagement, and fundraising, as Read With Me Volunteer’s new executive director.
Sean assumed the position on May 15. Most recently he was director of the Desert Sands School District’s Community Engagement and Educational Foundation (DSEF).
In choosing Sean, I felt, and the board agreed, that his 20 years of experience as a teacher, assistant principal, and high school football coach demonstrated his commitment to children and their education.
Just as important, in our judgment, is that he can lead and grow the Read With Me Volunteers. Sean helped direct the community engagement at Desert Sands while increasing the funding raised for the foundation and establishing new programs.
During his four-year tenure, Sean raised more than $500,000, partnered with local businesses, and secured more than $50,000 in grants to create enhanced learning opportunities for students. He developed marquee events for DSEF including a yearly gala and progressive parties as well as continued the success of the foundation’s golf tournament. He was also instrumental in the creation of the Hunter Lopez Memorial Scholarship, securing more than $64,000 in funding.
In his spare time, Sean is, or has been, an active member and vice chair of the Old Town Artisan Studio, past president of Leadership Coachella Valley, and a member of the American Cancer Society Desert Spirit Planning Committee.
Sean grew up in Western New York and graduated from the University of Buffalo, later earning his master’s degrees from D’Youville College and CSU San Bernardino.
Sean lives in LaQuinta with his wife, Tara, and daughter, Brooklyn.
Sean’s appointment is part of a larger transition in leadership and management for the Read With Me Volunteer program. Beginning this year, we have created a partnership with the Riverside County Office of Education to set the stage for expanding our program. As part of that partnership, Sean becomes an employee of the RCOE, dedicated to the Read With Me program.
In the coming weeks Sean will be meeting with our coordinators. He also will be meeting with the principals of each of our schools. As I begin my final year as president, I am very confident that Sean and our outstanding board members will assure that Read With Me Volunteers will remain that leader in helping kids learn to read for years to come.