Senator Ron Wyden and Deputy Superintendent Rob Saxton serving summer lunch at Grant Community School in Salem.

The same day,

the Senator traveled to Salem where he and Oregon Department of Education Deputy Superintendent Rob Saxton donned aprons and gloves and served lunch to the children at Grant Community School before meeting with state and local partners to hear more about the SL3 Project.

SL3: Summer Libraries, Summer Learning, Summer Lunch, is a community collaboration coordinated by Oregon Afterschool for Kids in partnership with the National Summer Learning Association, the Oregon State Library and the Office of Learning - Child Nutrition Program. Joining NSLA founder Matt Boulay; Oregon State Librarian MaryKay Dahlgreen; Office of Learning - Child Nutrition Director Joyce Dougherty; and, Program Manager Lynne Reinoso; Salem Keizer Education Foundation Director Krina Lee; Salem Keizer School Board Member Chuck Lee, and local partners gathered at Grant to share with the Senator the impact that summer learning programs, such as the SL3 project, can have on "summer slide."

Deputy Superintendent Rob Saxton's take on the opportunity of summer, "Summer is a wonderful time for children to play and explore the world around them.  However, it is also important for students to continue to practice their reading, writing, and math skills while school is out.  Developing these skills is like strengthening a muscle, and the muscle only stays strong if we keep exercising it.  Summer learning loss is a huge issue, particularly for our students in poverty. Summer programs can help to meet both our students' learning needs, so that they can return to school ready for their next steps, as well as providing important access to nutritious food that may not be available at home.  For our students in poverty, both the summer meals and academic enrichment programs provide a vital stop-gap during the summer months so that they can return to school in the fall happy, healthy, and ready to learn."

This year, 22 schools are keeping their school libraries open to students one or two days per week. Working in conjunction with the USDA Summer food schedule, this simple model focuses on the access and equity gap for children in Oregon around food and books. Studies show that low-income children lose two to three months in reading each summer, while their middle and upper-income peers make slight gains. By the end of fifth grade, lower-income children can be nearly three years behind their higher-income peers in reading and the gap continues to widen beyond that point. Additionally, many of Oregon's children are hungry during the summer months. Access to expanded learning opportunities over the summer has been shown to not only stop the "slide" but children participating in these programs have access to healthy food and demonstrate gains when returning to school in the fall.