Federal Way Mayor Skip Priest came to visit Valhalla Elementary School teacher-librarian Kim Meschter and see firsthand the Library Media Program in action. Mayor Priest was pleased to see students in Ms. Rusnov’s 5th-grade class learning how to create book trailers and search online resources, finding copy free images in the “free to use” drop down section of Google Advanced Search, and writing their book reviews in their own words. He also read with students in Ms. Draeger’s kindergarten class. He noticed how actively involved the students were with their large colorful picture books.

Mayor Priest is a member of the state Legislature’s Quality Education Council. While working on the council he became a big supporter of school libraries. The QEC Council drafted a report to the Legislature outlining a comprehensive plan for the state funding basic education in all public school districts in the state. The report recommended every school have a qualified teacher-librarian. Schools save precious education dollars by allowing every student and teacher to share books and technology all in one central location, the school library media center. And sharing resources saves precious taxpayer dollars.

Marie-Anne Harkness, Auburn