[LM_NET] Gen: Washington petition to save school library positions needs signatures by Friday

[Sara Kelly Johns <sarakellyjohns@YAHOO.COM>]

Know any one in Washington state? Below is a link to an ALA news story about the 
efforts to rescue school library positions in Washington, an effort led by the 
"Spokane Moms." They are looking for 6380 (the number of the Senate bill) 
signatures by Friday from Washington state residents.

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2008/january2008/washingtonskills.cfm

I found out about this effort through a Google news feed and then quickly received 
a nudge from Doug Johnson. After I sent the news story to ALA Director Keith Fiels 
who had  promised to get ALA's support of school library position cuts when there 
was a community group to work with, ALA and AASL ramped up the Advocacy Office and 
the Public Information Office (PIO). AASL Executive Director has been talking to 
and e-mailing with the Spokane Moms almost every day!

Julie, ALA President Loriene Roy, staffers from the PIO and Advocacy Office and I 
will all be on the scene on Friday at a rally at the state capital in Olympia. You 
can help by contacting anyone you know in Washington who could sign the 
petition--some may ask others to join the effort. 

Here is the link to the Fund our Future Washington web site and the petition:
<http://www.fundourfuturewashington.org/index.html> If you click on the "Rally" 
link, you will see what we all will be doing on Friday, grassroots action. 

AASL has long put together resources and training for advocacy, marketing and 
promotion of strong school libraries and each of us needs to included those as part 
of our work, but passionate parents and students are the most powerful advocates we 
can have. We see this action as the basis for a national model and encourage other 
states to seize and create opportunities for rescuing and strenghtening school 
library programs--for the sake of the students we teach. 

So...know anyone in Washinton?

Thanks so much, Sara Kelly Johns


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sara Kelly Johns
AASL 2007-08 President
Associate Editor for AASL Community, Knowledge Quest
Lake Placid Middle/High School LMC
34 School Street
Lake Placid, NY 12946
518-523-2474, ext. 4132
FAX: 518-523-4861
johns@northnet.org
SaraKJohns@aol.com
<http://fromtheinsideout.blogspace.com>

"Information is the currency of democracy." -- Thomas Jefferson

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