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Dr. Monte Bridges honored with AESA's prestigious Justice A. Prentice Award

RENTON WA – October 26, 2011 – Dr. Monte L. Bridges, Superintendent of Puget Sound Educational Service District (PSESD), has won the 2011 Justice A. Prentice Award, a prestigious national honor bestowed by the Association of Educational Service Agencies (AESA). The award is given to an individual annually for outstanding contributions through executive leadership of regional educational service agency programs at the regional, state, and national levels. AESA is comprised of more than 550 educational service agencies across 45 states.

Among the factors in Dr. Bridges’ award selection is his successful leadership of PSESD, developing programs to help schools and communities achieve success for all students and eliminate the opportunity gap. As superintendent for the past nine years, Dr. Bridges has built highly effective PreK-12 educational services and partnerships in the areas of instructional support, staff development, student support services, educational technology, financial and business services, and early learning.

Dr. Bridges also works along with Washington’s Association of Educational Service Districts (AESD) to provide a coordinated “network” of ESDs, which collaboratively creates and replicates innovative and cost-saving services to meet the needs of students, schools, and communities statewide.

Another key factor in Dr. Bridges’ selection is his significant statewide leadership in building public/private partnerships and coalitions to improve outcomes for all children. His work includes:

• Co-chair of the Washington State Education Coordinating Council (WSECC), composed of eighteen organizations, public and private, to support system level STEM development within the P-20 system across the state
• Development of math/science quality in schools across the state, including a highly successful Microsoft Math Project
• Building and opening the first Educare Early Learning Center in the Northwest for children birth through five through an extensive public-private partnership
• Innovative work on dropout prevention and re-engagement
• Co-chair of K-12 superintendents and community college presidents to align K-12 and community college instruction
• Co-chair of the Community Center for Educational Results Birth-3rd Grade Committee to improve education in seven of the state’s most culturally diverse school districts and communities
• Developing an innovative professional development program for school superintendents and other instructional leaders in partnership with the University of Washington to improve the quality of teaching and leadership in schools

John Zurfluh, PSESD Board Chair, commented, “Monte has a great talent in bringing people together and in working with diverse stakeholders in an inclusive and collaborative way. He understands the importance of collective impact and in leveraging and elevating the work of us all – schools, educational service agencies, the state office of education, early learning, higher ed, and public and private organizations – in order to improve educational opportunities for all children in the region and state. It is gratifying that his work has been recognized at a national level.”

Dr. Bridges will receive the award at the AESA national conference in December 2011.

About AESA:
The Association of Educational Service Agencies (AESA) is a professional organization serving 553 educational service agencies (ESAs) in 45 states.

About PSESD:
Puget Sound Educational Service District is one of nine regional educational agencies serving school districts, private schools, educators, students, families and early learning communities in Washington state. ESDs create and provide PreK-12 instructional and administrative services that are more efficient, effective, and of a higher quality when delivered on a regional or statewide basis.

PSESD’s service area includes 35 school districts and more than 200 private schools in King and Pierce counties plus Bainbridge Island. Approximately 39 percent of the state's K-12 public school students –more than 390,000 – are served in the region’s school districts. PSESD also provides programs for more than 4,000 young children and their families through Head Start, ECEAP, Early Head Start and Educare.