Students at Burchett Elementary School in Spring ISD are the first in the district to borrow reading material from a Little Free Library. The birdhouse-style structure is placed outside the school and allows students to choose from a variety of books. Superintendent Rodney Watson said the initiative is part of the district’s Every Child 2020 program, a five-year strategic plan to heighten support for students on an individual basis. The libraries address the “love of reading” component of the plan, he said at the April Board of Trustees meeting. “It’s a way for families to see literacy,” District Communications Specialist Sheleah Reed said. “It puts reading at the top of their minds and makes it come to life.” Anyone can borrow or donate a book to the collection. “It [extends] literacy out of the classroom and makes it available to the community,” she said. The district purchased libraries for each of its 26 elementary schools from the Wisconsin-based nonprofit Little Free Library organization founded in 2012. The district plans to install the libraries at the schools before the school year ends.. Respective schools are responsible for keeping the libraries stocked, maintained, clean and dry and for placing them in a location accessible to students and the surrounding community. The little libraries are funded through donations made to the Spring ISD Education Foundation’s “gift of reading” campaign last fall as well as by Honda of Spring and individual donations, according to a district press release.