Public School 41 Principal Erika Tobia and students (l. to r.) Angelique Townsend, Jade Mcclary-Mallise, David Graulau, Juwan Matthews and Felipe Morales are thrilled about new library.
Mission accomplished.
After a year-long letter-writing campaign - and a publicity boost from The News - students at a Bronx public school have gotten a reward for civic activism: a brand-new, $200,000 learning center and library funded by elected officials.
"No school should be without a library, and the school community at PS 41 has worked incredibly hard to get theirs back," Chancellor Joel Klein said last week in ceremonies at the Olinville school.
But it was a hard-won victory, and the school thanked The News for grabbing the attention of elected officials and the city.
"The Daily News really helped us a tremendous amount," said Principal Erika Tobia, who came up with the idea of flooding politicians with letters and drawings from students in kindgergarten through fifth grade. "You were there all along," Tobia said.
The campaign started out as a civic lesson; students targeted local officials, asking for help funding a new library after a 2003 population surge turned the old library into a classroom in the school at 3352 Olinville Ave.
The students wrote to public officials, like Klein and Sen. Hillary Clinton, and also asked superstars like Oprah Winfrey and rapper Sean (Diddy) Combs to help out.
After the story of their tireless campaign first appeared in November, they started to hear back from some of the more famous movers and shakers, like Clinton, who contacted them in January.
"It really helps, because it makes it seem more important when it's in the newspaper," said Tobia, who hosted City Councilman Larry Seabrook (D-Northeast Bronx) early last fall and finally received funding from the capital budget through his efforts last week.
"We got all the money we need now," Tobia said. Contributing to the project were Borough President Adolfo Carrión, Seabrook, Assemblyman Carl Heastie (D-Northeast Bronx), the Department of Education and the nonprofit organization Children for Children.
Typically, the Department of Education contributes $11,000 annually toward school libraries.
Now the students can't wait for the library to open.
"They're thrilled," said Tobia, who noted that the exercise, which began as a way of teaching civic responsibility, ended up as a lesson in the school's motto, "Believe and Achieve."
"They learned if you really want something and you really work at it, you can get it," she said.
The big payoff was Klein's visit, which came 10 months after their first letters to his office.
"It was really exciting to have the chancellor here," she said. "It was a very proud day for PS 41."
