Pep Rally at Local School Honors Reading Program Success NR10140rf

June 11, 2010

Officers in Patrol Cars Make Grand Entrance

WHAT:
A year-end celebration at a local elementary school to acknowledge the success of a reading improvement program known as Family Fridays, in which officers visit the campus regularly to read with/to the children, offer assistance and set reading goals.

WHEN:
Friday, June 11, 2010
12:30 p.m.

WHERE:
99th Street Elementary School
9900 Wadsworth Avenue
Los Angeles 90002

WHO:
City of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck
LAPD Deputy Chief Pat Gannon
LAPD Southeast Area Commanding Officer Captain Phil Tingirides
School Principal Sherri Williams
LAPD officers participating in the program
Students from the school

WHY:
To allow officers from the LAPD’s Southeast Area and Metropolitan Division, along with students and faculty members to celebrate the success of the Family Fridays reading improvement program, now in its second year. The program has greatly contributed to improved test scores, as the number of proficient readers at the school has more than doubled over test score results from the year before the program was introduced.

Lively visuals will include:
– An event kick-off in which officers will drive onto the school’s athletic field in patrol cars with lights and sirens going;
– Captain Tingirides addressing students and presenting them with a framed map of the Southeast Area signed by the officers; and
– The students dying Captain Tingirides’ hair pink and shaving him.

CONTACT:
For additional information, please contact Sergeant Linder of the Southeast Area Community Relations Office at 213-972-7962 or LAPD Media Relations at 213-486-5910.