The Board of Directors of the Brookline Education Foundation presents this report of the Foundation’s activities for our fiscal year that began on July 1, 2006 and will end on June 30, 2007.

• Strategic Plan
• Programs
• Fundraising

After our successful 25th anniversary year, we took some time to assess the Foundation’s impact on public education in Brookline over the past 26 years and develop a plan to continue and sustain the Foundation’s growth and success during the next five years. The mission remains the same:

The Brookline Education Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Brookline's commitment to excellence in public education. The Foundation raises private funds to support innovative teaching, administrative leadership, professional development, and community participation in the schools.

The vision of the Foundation going forward is to:

… continue, expand, and improve our role as a significant and valued resource and effective advocate in support of educational excellence and innovation in the Brookline Public Schools, and a major force for the professional development and retention of an educational workforce that represents the highest standards in American public education.

Activities that support this vision include expansion of our teacher, collaborative, and systemwide grants programs, increased documentation of grant activities and outcomes, greater support for the application process, increased visibility of awards and recognitions, and improved communication with all of our stakeholders. These activities should result in greater constituent engagement and therefore increased revenue for our grants programs, further described below.

Through our grants and awards programs, the Foundation aims to foster creativity in education, encourage enduring curriculum and program innovations, and provide opportunities for the professional development of Brookline's educators. As a result of extraordinary fundraising success during our 25th anniversary year, the Foundation’s support for programs increased this year.

In 2006-07, the Brookline Education Foundation made over $210,000 in grants and awards. For the 2007-08 school year, the Foundation has committed more than $265,000 in funding for our programs.

We have approved $45,500 in funding for support of 19 grants for the 2007–08 school year, directly benefiting 38 teachers and specialists. A complete list of these Teacher Grants is attached to this report.

The Collaborative Grants Program continues to grow, both in the amount of funding awarded and in the scope of the projects undertaken. Funding totaling $116,000 has been awarded for the 2007–08 school year to support 14 grants that directly involve more than 175 educators and hundreds of students systemwide. A detailed description of the Collaborative Grants is attached to this report.

The Brookline Education Foundation sponsors several awards and endowed programs that honor individuals and enhance educational experiences for teachers and students.

• The Ernest R. Caverly Award is given annually to one elementary and one high school teacher in recognition of professional excellence and contributions to the Brookline Public Schools. The 2007 recipients are Eleanor Demont, a fifth grade teacher from Heath School, and Marilyn Kelly Chetwynd, an English teacher at Brookline High School’s Winthrop House.

• The Robert I. Sperber Award, given from time to time in honor of the former Superintendent of Schools, is awarded in recognition of excellence in administrative leadership. Two administrators have been honored with this award since its inception: William Grady, retired Coordinator of the Opportunity for Change Program at Brookline High School; and Barbara Shea, retired Principal of Lincoln School.

• The Adam Russell Gelfand Fellows Program annually acknowledges an outstanding recipient of a Brookline Education Foundation Teacher Grant. This year’s Fellowship is awarded to Amy Neale, who will use her grant to travel to West Africa through a Primary Source Study Tour this summer.

• In January 2007, the Todd Saker Fund helped support a visit to each of the elementary schools by Caldecott Honoree Christopher Bing. Mr. Bing’s visit to the schools focused on his political cartoons and illustrations of Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 and The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.

• The Jack and Jordan Trust Litchman Fund again supported ocean and tidepool studies with a visit by the New England Aquarium’s Tidepool exhibit to each third-grade classroom in Brookline. This year, the Fund also supported the development of a nutrition unit to enhance the health and fitness curriculum in kindergarten classrooms.

• The Andrea Cilley Environmental Education Fund was established by friends and family members to honor the memory of a remarkable member of the Brookline community who died suddenly this winter. Proceeds will be used to support environmental studies in the Brookline schools.

• Mady Donoff, who retired last year after a lengthy career in Brookline, asked that any donations made in her honor be sent to us. We were thrilled by her generosity of spirit and even more excited when she and her husband Bruce decided to match the generous gifts sent to us by her many friends and admirers. Funds collected are being used this year to support the Media Literacy Collaborative Grant, a program begun at Driscoll School and now being replicated throughout the system.

Thanks to the generosity of our many supporters, we are closing in on our goal of $400,000 for this year. In addition to our fall campaign and spring “apple for the teacher” appeal, our Green Apple Society, comprised of donors who annually give $1,000 or more, continues to grow.

The Adult Spelling Bee, which added more than $26,000 to our coffers, was back after a year off and bigger than ever with sixty-four teams participating, celebrity word pronouncers, and coverage on local access television. The Houghton Hivers, a team comprised of editors from Houghton Mifflin, won the Bee by correctly spelling the word “unau.”

The Foundation conducted its fourth raffle this winter. Town employee Allen Wong was the grand-prize winner. John Hodgman, a BHS graduate and the actor who portrays PC in the Mac commercials, won the Apple MacBook. The raffle netted more than $45,000 for the Foundation’s programs. 

The Foundation is extremely grateful for the continued support of local businesses. In particular, the following businesses consistently make an extraordinary effort to give back to the community:   

These local businesses understand that it makes good business sense to support the public schools through the Brookline Education Foundation. Please show your appreciation by supporting them.

2007 has been a year of reflection for the Brookline Education Foundation. We are proud of the difference we have made for teachers, administrators, and students in Brookline and look forward to continuing to expand the reach and the impact of our activities for many years to come.

“The Brookline Education Foundation is a unique organization—when I tell teachers from other communities about the work of the BEF, they are speechless. They cannot imagine having an organization dedicated to valuing the professional and personal growth of teachers!”     
—Elementary World Language teacher

“The Brookline Education Foundation's support of professional development for Brookline teachers is invaluable. It is important that all teachers have opportunities to energize their teaching practice and the Foundation makes this possible with its grants program.”    
—BHS Performing Arts teacher