Wednesday, January 25, 2012

NEWS RELEASE -- Freese Elementary Gets $100,000 Grant from Target Corp.

NEWS RELEASE from the San Diego Unified School District, January 25, 2011

FREESE ELEMENTARY GETS $100,000 GRANT FROM TARGET CORPORATION

SAN DIEGO -- Freese Elementary Arts and Culture Magnet School in the
Skyline neighborhood has been awarded a $100,000 grant by Target
Corporation, nominated by viewers of TV's Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The grant will be used to support the school's Arts and Culture Magnet
Program and purchase new books.

"I'm just so excited at what this will mean for our school," said Alma
Hills, Freese Principal. "Due to budget cuts, our Arts and Culture
program, which provides every Freese student with rich experiences in
music, dance, theatre and visual arts, has been in danger of being
eliminated.

"Additionally, Freese library book collections have been severely worn,
due to our ambitious Scholastic Reading Counts independent reading
program, in which Freese students have read more than 100 million words
for multiple years. I want to especially thank Mary Pat Hutt, Freese¹s
Arts and Culture Resource teacher, who submitted the nomination."

As an Arts and Culture Magnet school, Freese students constantly expand
their cultural knowledge by exploring topics with local artists,
musicians, dancers and actors, both on and off campus. All students in
grades kindergarten through five participate in six- to eight-week arts
and culture rotations, which are often enhanced by field trips and
assemblies.

Superintendent Bill Kowba saluted not only the commitment to education by
Target and the Ellen DeGeneres Show, but the excellent program at Freese.

"The Freese community took the initiative to pursue this important
opportunity and deserves great credit for that," he said. "Not only is the
funding appreciated, but the national recognition again highlights the
quality education that students receive at Freese and all over the San
Diego Unified School District."

As the Feb. 15 deadline for school choice applications approaches, Freese
is holding open houses so prospective parents can tour the site and
explore the programs. Contact the school at (619) 479-2727 for a schedule.
In addition, Freese will have a display at this Saturday's All Schools
Fair, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Recital Hall in Balboa Park.
Find Freese online at www.sandi.net/freese

# # #


CONTACT:

Jack Brandais | Communications Department | San Diego Unified School
District | (619) 725-5570 (Desk) | (619) 607-0477 (Cell)

You are a subscriber to the news release mailing list for the San Diego Unified School District. To unsubscribe, send a message to "media@lists-sandi-net" with the word "unsubscribe" in the body of the message. For an archive of these releases, go to http://sdusd-news.blogspot.com/