A Beautiful READesign for West Manor Elementary School

I was excited to be on hand this week as we helped Target and The Heart of America Foundation unveil West Manor Elementary’s newly renovated school library!

The renovated space features 2,000 new books, furniture, carpet, shelves, 25 iPads, a flat screen television; and a school broadcast video system complete with a mixer, laptop, teleprompter and green screen for closed-caption televised morning announcements inside the classrooms.  Following the ribbon cutting, each West Manor student received a Target backpack with seven books to take home.

So many Target employee volunteers from all across metro Atlanta, as well as volunteers from The Heart of America Foundation decorated the library and put books on shelves.  This was a big job and they did it with a smile.

Congratulations to Principal Dr. Reginald Lawrence on this new fantastic space for our students and a big thank you to Tom Knowles, community captain for Target Atlanta, John Flynn, vice president of READesign for The Heart of America Foundation, our friends from The United Way, Horizons and community volunteers for their support of West Manor and so many of our other APS schools.  I’ve been a part of these library make-overs in my past districts as well, but this is my first full library makeover in Atlanta.  I can truly say that they make a huge impact on the passion students have for reading.  Books have the power to change a child’s life and we really appreciate all of our corporate sponsors and volunteers!

Leaders love to have fun! Thank you Danielle Battle, Associate Superintendent, for joining me for this great event.

Big things are happening at West Manor Elementary. Last week this school made the 2013 and 2014 lists of Georgia Department of Education reward schools! Rewards schools are among the top schools in the state for having the highest performance or highest gains by students over a three-year period.  I am really excited about the great things going on at this school.

Congratulations, West Manor! And, again, thank you to everyone for supporting this school.