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The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is hosting an event with Dolly Parton and her Imagination Library team at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27, in Kansas City. The event will celebrate the success so far of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Missouri and encourage more Missouri families to enroll.
Imagination Library of Missouri partners, early childhood education stakeholders, and other special guests were invited to attend the event in-person. DESE has partnered with Kansas City PBS to livestream the event statewide so all of Missouri can share in the celebration. Families, parent groups, classrooms, and school and community partners can watch the livestream at kansascitypbs.org/dolly.
“As the former Senator who carried the Imagination Library of Missouri legislation, to now being in the role of commissioner, this is a full-circle moment,” said Commissioner of Education Karla Eslinger. “Since the program launched in November 2023, we have enrolled more than 137,000 Missouri children in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. We hope Dolly’s visit to Missouri will help us promote the program even further, reaching the families of the remaining 262,000 Missouri children who are eligible.”
Missouri is the 14th state to commit to a statewide Imagination Library program, but no other state has been fully funded, with all children under age five eligible, on the day the statewide program launched.
All Missouri children under five years old are eligible to register for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. There is no deadline to register. The Imagination Library is dedicated to inspiring a love of reading by providing age-appropriate books each month to children free of charge. To receive books, a parent or guardian must register their child on the Imagination Library national website. Books will be mailed directly to the homes of registered children every month, until their fifth birthday.
Learn more about Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Missouri here.
Webb City’s 12u Little League All Stars came really close to competing in the Little League World Series this week.
The Missouri state champs steamed through the winners’ side of the Midwest Region Tournament bracket near Indianapolis last week – all the way to the championship game.
They defeated Nebraska 14-3, Iowa 3-2 and South Dakota 6-4.
South Dakota, however, came back through the losers’ bracket and defeated Webb City 6-1 in the final. Considered a modified double-elimination tournament, Webb City didn’t have the opportunity to play South Dakota again.
The Joplin Health Department will host a free First Impact teen driver program on Thursday, Aug. 29. This is a program for parents/guardians and teenage drivers, both recent, new or soon-to-be drivers, to learn more about safe driving. The event will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Joplin Mineral and History Museum at 504 S Schifferdecker Avenue. The class is free, but registration is required.
According to the First Impact webpage, “Teens aged 15-19 have the highest crash risk of any age group on the road. Teens are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash and the risk is highest during the first 30-90 days of independent driving. This program introduces parents to the risks their new teen drivers face and will provide parents with the tools to monitor, coach, and support their teen driver to reduce the risk of fatalities and injuries of teen drivers by 20-40%.”
For more information call (417) 623-6122, ext. 1286.
The Webb City Sentinel isn’t a newspaper – but it used to be, serving Webb City, Missouri, in print from 1879-2020. This “newspaper” seeks to carry on that tradition as a nonprofit corporation.
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