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In this month's A+ News we bring you more great news for our schools. The Alliance and Comcast are launching TV spots that speak to parents about the importance of reading with young children. The Alliance, through the John Stanford Endowment Fund, is granting Seattle Public Schools $150,000 to support reading and writing.

These news items and this week s election are a reminder to me of what a remarkable time this is to join the Alliance for Education team. People from every corner of the city are putting their support behind Seattle Public Schools.

Since joining the Alliance as President and CEO in January of this year, Ive been focused on just thatgetting to know the people, businesses, and community organizations that are making a difference in our schools. Everyone I have met agrees that Seattle is a world-class city that deserves a world-class school system.

Before coming to the Alliance I served as CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of King and Pierce Counties. A strong community network that supports children was instrumental to the success of that organization. I know the same will be true at the Alliance, and I look forward to working with all of you.

Sincerely,

Patrick D'Amelio
President and CEO
Alliance for Education
patrickd@alliance4ed.org

Big Win for Schools

Seattle voters this week voiced strong support for Seattle Public Schools by voting YES on Props. 1 and 2, the capital bond and levy for schools. The bond and levy will provide schools much needed funds for school construction projects and basic classroom needs.

Read more about the ballot measures in the Seattle P-I and the Seattle Times.

"Read Aloud 20" TV Spot

Beginning this month, the Alliance and Comcast are communicating to families about how important it is to read aloud with children 20 minutes every day, starting at birth. To get out the message, we enlisted some real-life stars: Seattle Public Schools Literacy Coach Anita Morales, Alliance Community Relations Manager Stephan Blanford, and his 3-year old daughter. With their help, as well as support from the Comcast production team and the staff at Hawthorne Elementary (who let us film in their classrooms), we created the Read Aloud 20 TV spot. The spot will air on Comcast stations starting this month and continue to air throughout the year.

The TV spot is part of the broader Every Child a Reader campaign, a partnership of educational and civic organizations dedicated to promoting reading aloud with children every day. Reading aloud with children helps them get ready for kindergarten and helps them learn to read better and better as they progress through elementary school.

Watch the TV spot and learn more about the Every Child a Reader Partnership.

School Grants

I am most proud of myself for using new words I had never heard of, and zooming in on a moment. I learned to color my writing with thoughts and inner thinking, dialogue, description and action.

These powerful words were written by a student taking part in the Readers and Writers Workshop, a new approach to reading and writing instruction in Seattle middle schools. The workshop, which is taking place this year at seven schoolsHamilton, Madison, Meany, Mercer, and Whitman middle schools, as well as Madrona K-8 and Salmon Bay K-8will serve as a model for other classrooms and schools over time. The Alliance recently announced that it will support the workshop by granting Seattle Public Schools a $150,000 grant from the John Stanford Endowment Fund.

Read the press release about the Readers and Writers Workshop.

Olympia Update

Nearly a month into its 105-day session, the Washington State Legislature is considering two bills that have the potential to transform education in our state. Requested by Governor Gregoire and packaged as an omnibus bill, the two bills (SB 5501 and HB 1641) would implement many of the recommendations made by the Washington Learns committee last fall.

Read all of this month's Olympia Update.