First lady Chrissy Haslam visits West Tennessee students

HENDERSON, Tenn. — First lady Chrissy Haslam was in West Tennessee on Tuesday visiting schools with a mission — to encourage students to read more in and out of the classroom.

“I feel like they got to see someone in government’s office that cares about them,” West Chester Elementary School Principal Amy Wooley said.

First lady Chrissy Haslam talked with and read to elementary students Tuesday. West Chester Elementary was selected by the state Education Department to host the first lady’s visit.

“Just to be one of the 95 schools that got chosen, it’s a very special honor. We were real excited about having her here today,” Wooley said.

“I certainly had a warm welcome today. Wonderful assembly, the kids read a book to me, which was really fun — a book they had written about the governor and about Tennessee Promise,” Haslam said.

This is in an effort to increase reading proficiency of Tennessee third graders by the year 2025 and encourage students to continue to read when they’re not in school.

“They’re doing a great job here and actually their reading proficiency is above the state average, but we have a new goal in sight,” Haslam said. “Right now, 43 percent of our kids are reading proficient, and we want 75 percent by the year 2025.”

Educators say the Read 20 campaign is an effort they have wanted for a while.

“If everybody would just read every night to your kids, make that a part of your daily practice, and to have somebody like her come and share that with us — I hope it make a huge impact on the kids,” Wooley said.

Haslam plans to visit one school in each of the state’s 95 counties by the end of the year, all to push the importance of reading.

“Now we have a connection with somebody past Chester County. We can think outside of just what we know,” Wooley said.

Haslam also said Dollar General donated $1 million to the state to help promote summer reading.