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Title
To proclaim the day of July 12, 2007 as SUMMER LEARNING DAY in the City of Columbus.
Body
WHEREAS, a wide array of public agencies, non-profit organizations, schools, universities, museums, libraries, and summer camps across the country will celebrate the annual Summer Learning Day on July 12, 2007; and
WHEREAS, this will be a day to reflect on the importance of high-quality summer learning opportunities in the lives of young people and their families; and
WHEREAS, recent studies show that all children lose over two months of mathematical computation skills over the summer months; and
WHEREAS, furthermore, low-income children experience much greater summer learning losses in reading than their higher income peers, contributing to the growth of the achievement gap; and
WHEREAS, by the end of fifth grade, low-income children fall more than two years behind their middle-income peers in verbal achievement as a direct result of summer learning differences; and
WHEREAS, in addition to having an adverse impact on learning, summer vacation also has negative effects on the health and nutrition of many young people;
WHEREAS, on average, only one in five children across the country who receive free and low-cost school lunches participate in federal nutrition programs during the summer; and
WHEREAS, the design of Summer Learning Day is to highlight the need for more young people to be engaged in learning activities over the summer and to support local summer programs that benefit children, families, and communities; and
WHEREAS, events will showcase summer programs and raise awareness about how they send young people back to school ready to learn, support working families, keep children safe and healthy; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
That we do hereby designate the day of July 12th, 2007 as SUMMER LEARNING DAY in the City of Columbus and urge the citizens of Columbus to recognize the full value of learning activities over the summer and to support local summer programs that benefit children, families, and communities.