Brookfield teachers, from left, Chris Fahndrich, school nurse Rhonda Zebroski, Jay Bodnar and Mary Arp organize books for an April 30 drive-through book fair at the school. NEWS On the Green photo.

Brookfield teachers, from left, Chris Fahndrich, school nurse Rhonda Zebroski, Jay Bodnar and Mary Arp organize books for an April 30 drive-through book fair at the school. NEWS On the Green photo

UPDATE: The date has been moved to MAY 1 because of the expectation of rain on April 30.

Brookfield Federation of Teachers, the teachers’ union, will hold a drive-through book fair from 10 a.m. to noon and 2 to 4 p.m. April 30 at the school.
If it rains, the fair will be held May 1.
Families are to drive to the front entrances of their schools and teachers will be outside to meet them and hand out books.
“There may be game-day changes, because we’ve never had anything like this,” said union President Mary Arp.
The union acquired about 1,650 books published by Disney-affiliated companies through First Book, a nonprofit corporation. The American Federation of Teachers, with which the BFT is affiliated, has a partnership with First Book.
The BFT only had to pay shipping costs to acquire the books, Arp said.
“We wanted them (students) to know we’re thinking about them,” she said of why the union is undertaking the fair.
The books arrived in a huge box on a pallet, and were not organized. The titles range from first readers to high school-appropriate tomes, including fiction and nonfiction titles, cookbooks and coloring books. Fans of Star Wars and superheroes should leave happy, and classics by authors such as E.L. Konigsberg, a Farrell native, are available.
promo“I think there should be something for everybody,” Arp said.
Teachers took time April 14 and 15 to unload the books and separate them into grade levels.
Kim Luther, field services coordinator for the Ohio Federation of Teachers, came to Brookfield for the April 15 work day. The union goes beyond supporting teachers to supporting students and education in general, she said. The First Book program is an attempt to “get the kids what they need,” Luther said.
The teachers are looking forward to the giveaway, Arp said.
“I think everybody wants to see their students, because it’s been so long,” she said.

Contributed photo

Contributed photo