Albright
Maynard
CHARLESTON -- Two West Virginia Supreme Court Justices will read to West Virginia elementary school students on Constitution Day on Monday, Sept. 17.
Justice Joseph P. Albright will read at 10 a.m. to third- and fourth-grade students at Belmont Elementary School, 512 Riverview Drive in Belmont in Pleasants County. Albright was invited by Principal Rebecca Griffith, who worked last year at Ellenboro Elementary in Ritchie County. Albright read to second and third graders in Ellenboro last year.
Albright will read two books chosen for the grade level of the students to whom he will read. The first book is "Martin's Big Words," about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is written by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Bryan Collier. The second book is Lane Smith's "John, Paul, George and Ben," a fictional account of leading patriots involved in writing the Declaration of Independence and fighting the Revolutionary War.
Justice Spike Maynard and Fourteenth Circuit Chief Judge Jack Alsop will read at 10:30 a.m. to kindergarten students at Clay Elementary School, 168 Church Street in Clay in Clay County.
Maynard and Alsop still are choosing the books they will read.
The appearances by Albright, Maynard and Alsop are part of the West Virginia Supreme Court's Robes to Schools program.
U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia added an amendment to a 2005 federal appropriations bill requiring all schools that receive federal funds to teach students about the U.S. Constitution every Sept. 17. The U.S. Constitution was signed on Sept. 17, 1787. Byrd is known as a scholar of the Constitution and carries a copy with him.