OLYMPIA - Dec. 7, 2006 - Thomas Shapley, veteran editorial writer and columnist with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, takes on a new role Monday, Dec. 11, as media relations manager and press secretary for the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. He will be the primary media contact for the agency.

Shapley, 57, has been a journalist for more than 30 years, working for weeky and daily newspapers in Texas, Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Arizona. He joined the P-I editorial board in 1989 and for the past six years has covered the legislative session in Olympia for the newspaper's opinion pages.

He joins the communications team headed by Jill Severn, Assistant Superintendent for Communications and Community Outreach.

"My job is to help tell the story of public education, which is, after all, the state's paramount constitutional duty," he said.

Shapley can be reached at 360-725-6015 or thomas.shapley@k12.wa.us.