Walt Disney Elementary Looking For Support in Final Week of Contest

With state and district budgets growing tighter and tighter, San Ramon’s has gotten creative with its fundraising efforts. And the school could use your help!

Disney Elementary is currently in sixth place in a nationwide voting competition, and needs to finish in the top 5 to win $13,500 in cash, gift cards and school supplies. To generate awareness of their need for votes – the contest ends Friday night – parents, students and teachers are getting their boogie shoes on and holding a flash mob on campus at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Walt Disney Elementary is currently beating out more than 9,000 schools in the nationwide contest, faring better than any other California school. Anyone with an email address can vote for Walt Disney Elementary once per day through Friday.

For more than four months, the Walt Disney community has been getting out the vote, enlisting the help of school board members, local city council members and San Ramon Mayor Bill Clarkson, who will be attending the flash mob. California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has even tweeted on the school's behalf. Local business owners, including Mexxi’s restaurant, have also supported the cause.

Schools have had to be creative to fill the gaps where budgets leave off. Although Walt Disney Elementary is a public school, parent donations primarily fund the school's librarian, computer instructor, classroom aides and much of the school's technology. Schools such as Disney rely on parents to provide Kleenex and other basic materials for classrooms.
 
Walt Disney Elementary has an estimated 475 students, and has been competing against schools that are three times its size. Parents have utilized Facebook and Twitter - as well as old-fashioned flyers - to help get the word out. As voters are allowed to vote for more than one school per day, they've also established an alliance with Emmorton Elementary in Bel Air, Maryland, with parents there voting for Walt Disney Elementary and vice versa.

Join the Walt Disney community at 2 p.m. Wednesday Sept. 12 as parents, staff and students perform to Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen's "Good Time."

How to Help:

• Vote daily for Walt Disney Elementary at http://givebacktoschools.avery.com/schools/10679 through Friday
• Attend the flash mob at the school at 2 p.m. Wednesday and cheer the dancers on! 3250 Pine Valley Road, San Ramon.
• Don’t have time to vote but still want to help? Consider making a donation to the school’s non-profit fundraising arm, which primarily funds the school’s librarian, computer instructor, classroom aides and technology for the computer lab. You can find a donation button at the bottom of this webpage: http://www.des.srvusd.k12.ca.us/DESEF

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