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Child Literacy and Book Deserts
Child Literacy and Book Deserts

Book Deserts....and rural America

Gervias, a rural town in Western Oregon, almost fits the description of a book desert, a place where a community lacks access to books. But the residents are fighting hard to make their city something better. The town’s resilience in the face of adversity is a story worth telling. With the medium income being around 30,000, and with anti-tax sentiment strong, the residents resisted the bond measure that would repair their schools. The elementary school stood in such disrepair that children sat in 50 degree weather whenever the boiler broke down, which was often. The rest of the year they dealt with hot temperatures and no air conditioning. The middle school sat in two old prefabricated modular buildings with no common areas. The high school built wood frames around old Victorian style heaters to keep students from getting burned. And security for all three schools was nonexistent. The intercom worked intermittently and did not reach all buildings. For nine years the school district tried to pass a bond to cover repairs, and each time it was defeated. One resident said, “It’s like trying to buy a house when you don’t have food and medicine.” Finally, the school determined that they could not go on. They would disband and close all the schools. Buildings weren’t safe for students anymore. They had tried to get funds through the legislature for a new roof and were defeated twice. Water buckets stood everywhere during Oregon’s rainy season. If the schools closed, students would be bused to several other districts. They would travel an hour to reach school in the morning. The only access to books in the community would die out, since there are no libraries or book stores in Gervais beyond those the schools provides. The school district is the biggest employer in town. Most jobs would be lost. Facing all this, the residents still resisted any bond measure to repair the schools. More than half of the students identify as Hispanic or Latino, and 8o % quality for free or reduced price lunches. Many others are “Old Believers”, descendants of Medieval Russian immigrants who still dress traditionally and resist social change. Still, students in Gervais perform well above average in both attendance and graduation. Cleary, beyond the money issue, parents are dedicated to learning. So the solution had to be there. But 9 attempts at getting the residents to pay extra property tax had already failed. The last bond measure passed 33 years ago in 1991. The pace of time moves extremely slow in a small town. Animals who are born and die in one life cycled mark the passage of time an all else stays the same.

In French, Gervais means spearman, and Gervais, like other districts in western Oregon, is named after a French Canadian. Oregon makes much of its grit as a place settled by hard strapping pioneers. When the town faced this adversity, they surpassed the survivor mentality and looked into the future for new solutions. The school district lowered the bond to make it more appealing to property owners. A grant from the state would add another 4 million. Next the school district created a community oversight committee. And the city offered a “bond tax grant” to low income residents who owned property. Open forums listened to the residents’ concerns. And educating the community became paramount. Residents did not seem to know that they would pay more tax if students were sent to other districts, or that they would pay money to districts other than their own.

There were visible signs that this community would triumph. Gervais Elementary School won a grant to place free little libraries in corrugated steel outside of their school entrance. The librarian keeps the books in good shape for elementary, middle grade, and YA readers. There’s even a category for high middle grade. It was a positive symbol of the towns’ commitment to education. Then a venue for more income materialize when the town considered renting space and buildings to visiting circuses and canine training events.

The bond passed in 2023. A property assessed at $145,000 would amount to about $22 a month in taxes. That’s still a lot of money for people don’t have lunch money for their kids, or live several families to a house. But that’s when the grant to low income families will come into play.

The newly renovated schools will be the pride of a community already dedicated to the importance and the promise of education. Perhaps not all communities will be this lucky and book deserts will continue to exist. But a tenacious school district understood the financial burden of its community and found creative solutions to keep their children educated. The solution in Gervais was a much less complicated configuration than planning how to avert a book desert in a metropolis. But the people of Gervais tell us that if they can do it, so can anyone.

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