Bulloch County school leaders shared local literacy efforts with state legislators in Atlanta earlier this week.
According to a release from the school district, Bulloch County Superintendent of Schools Charles Wilson and Crystal Simpkins, the school district's director of early learning and literacy, addressed the state senate's Education and Higher Education committees' joint hearings on literacy.

Wilson and Simpkins spoke about the collaborative the school district formed, the Bulloch County Literacy Council, to help put books in the hands of children in an effort to reactivate their love of reading and learning.
Wilson and Simpkins shared with senators, including Sen. Billy Hickman (R-District 4), chairman of the Higher Education Committee, that through the collaborative's Bulloch READ initiative, the Literacy Council has prioritized literacy for children from birth to age 5.

According to the release, the Council has distributed more than 20,000 books to families through its book bus and book vending machines in nine elementary schools, community book drops and book donations to schools. They also shared how the Literacy Council has helped encourage adults and families to read to children through its home and business reading nooks campaign.
"Literacy is a community issue, so it requires a community solution," Wilson said during his remarks to the joint committees. He also encouraged other school systems to make whatever they do for literacy engaging and to allow for community ownership so the effort would be sustainable.
Bulloch County Schools was one of four groups invited to speak before the joint committees. Others included the Technical College System of Georgia, Barrow County Schools and Marietta City Schools.
The Literacy Council has two events this quarter – its 3rd Annual Kid's Reading Nook Photo Contest sponsored by Kid's World Learning Center that’s going on now and its Literacy Luau for the community on March 2, from 5-7 p.m., at Bulloch Solutions, which is Read Across America Day.