Cumberland Clippers Score With Readers

Seventeen pairs of ears listen intently to the young man in the blue-and-white football jersey at the front of the room. Holding a book at arm’s length so each of the Norton School third-graders can see the pictures, Cumberland (R.I.) High School junior Jeff Dos Santos reads from Alby, The Lifeguard.

No fidgeting, no whispering, no wandering eyes—not one of these students is willing to miss anything Dos Santos, a linebacker for the high school football team, the Cumberland Clippers, has to say.

Across the hall, Clippers wingback Jason Peterson has finished reading to another class of third-graders and fields questions. Predictably, the inquiries have less to do with the material just read than they do about life as a football player. Has he ever made a touchdown? (“Yeah, in the Thanksgiving Day game.”) What’s his favorite science project? (“Building rockets.”) Did he ever get detention? (“Yeah, a couple of times.” But, he adds quickly, “You have to stay out of trouble and keep your grades up to be on the team.”)

They may not be famous, but the football players of Cumberland High School are all heroes to these elementary students, thanks to the Reading Buddies program—the brainchild of husband and wife teachers, Frank and Linda Lannetta. Linda, a third-grade teacher of English as a Second Language, was troubled that her school’s staff is largely female—there were few males to serve as role models.

Inspired by a similar reading program she’d read about in an Ohio school, Linda asked her football coach husband, who is also science department head, if his players would consider reading to her students.

“They had to be conned into it at first,” Frank recalls. “And out of 50 players, only about six or seven said they’d do it. But they came back from that first visit really enthusiastic. The kids even asked for their autographs. It just grew and grew from there. Now we’ve got more than 30 classes and 36 players involved.”

Norton School principal Kathryn DesJardins quickly recognized a “win-win” proposition.

“There are as many benefits for the tutors as there are for the tutees,” DesJardins says. “To the little kids, these football players might as well be the New England Patriots. And some of the big kids are struggling, so I think it gives them a deeper appreciation for the benefits of reading.”

To coach Lannetta, the results show up on the football field. “I’m looking at it as a self-esteem thing,” he says. “Players can get nervous before a game, but if they have the courage to stand up in front of a class, that has to translate to the football field.”

This year is the pilot program’s third year, and the Lannettas hope to expand Reading Buddies from the Norton and Garvin schools to all five of Cumberland’s (pop. 7,738) elementary schools.

The effects of their monthly reading expeditions are definitely not lost on the Clippers, who are tickled that they are seen as heroes by these 8-year-olds. But they are well aware their role model status goes beyond the classroom and into the community, where they run into their young admirers on the street or in the supermarket. It’s made them reflect on how their actions outside the elementary school classroom influence their young admirers.

“I know these little kids look up to us,” says linebacker Paul Valencia. “It’s cool, but it’s also a responsibility.”

Back in Linda Lannetta’s classroom, Peterson, Dos Santos, quarterback Matt Burns, and departing captain Will Davis team up for a reading. The presence of not just one, but four of their adored visitors, has the kids in a state of hyperexcitement.

“If I had eagle eyes, I could spot a running rabbit from the clouds,” Peterson reads.

“To hop like a frog, I could jump from home plate to first base in one leap,” Davis continues.

Burns ad-libs a line about a frog’s athletic ability, and the students, until now barely restrained, erupt into squeals and giggles. The Clippers exchange grins. They’ve scored yet another touchdown.

Gayle Goddard-Taylor is a frequent contributor to American Profile.

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