• The Brookline Education Foundation @ PreK-8
• The Brookline Education Foundation @ BHS
• New Board Members Elected
• Driscoll School Librarian Receives Gelfand Award
• Donoff Retirement Gifts Fund Collaborative Grant
• Brookline Employee Wins Mini Raffle -"PC" Takes Second Prize
• The Place to "Bee": Foundation's Annual Spelling Bee

2007 Caverly Award Recipient: Eleanor Demont

2007 Caverly Award Recipient: Eleanor Demont

At this year’s Celebrating Teachers event, Eleanor Demont, a 16-year veteran Heath School teacher, was presented with the Ernest R. Caverly Award in recognition of professional achievements and contributions to the Brookline Public Schools. Demont, who co-taught the first inclusion class for typically developing children and children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) in Brookline, has taught first, second, and third grades and currently teaches fifth grade at Heath. With each move, she “relished the opportunity to challenge her abilities and grow professionally,” according to a colleague.

Legions of admiring students, parents, fellow teachers, and administrators bear witness to Demont’s superlative teaching talents. Two parents of children in her first PDD inclusion class note, “She was then and is now absolutely committed to meeting the individual needs of each of her students, whether they have special needs or not, and has truly defined for Heath what it means to understand and respect human differences.”

In addition to being in the forefront of inclusion, “Eleanor was among the first Brookline teachers to work on mentoring and induction in a systematic way... [S]he understands the value of collaboration and the need to support new teachers,” according to a fellow educator. But, “collaborating with Eleanor involves lots of laughter and play – even though she is absolutely serious about student achievement and teaching.”

That mischievous side was on display when Demont accepted her Caverly Award. Noting with a tinkle in her eye that, “much like we all do when delivering our ‘Oscar’ speeches, I desired to be witty, profound, and make original, brilliant points about education,” Demont shared some treasured teaching memories about the value of being fair, and about listening to the words and agendas of students. “When thinking about my work, the powerful moments are those connected to learning the craft by simply being in the presence of youngsters. Over years of retelling, these individual stories grew into generalized ideas about instruction that have guided me for a quarter century.”

Congratulations to 2007 Ernest R. Caverly Associate Eleanor Demont, who has been a powerful catalyst for excellence in every aspect of teaching, both at Heath School and across Brookline!

2007 Caverly Award Recipient: Marilyn Kelly Chetwynd

2007 Caverly Award Recipient: Marilyn Kelly Chetwynd

According to her colleagues at Brookline High School, 2007 Ernest R. Caverly Associate Marilyn Kelly Chetwynd “combines a passion for learning and helping others learn, with a commitment to helping our most afflicted and damaged students.”  “[She] has a remarkable capacity to cross barriers of age, race, culture, gender, disability... to reach students who are masterful at keeping others at a distance.”

Chetwynd has taught at Brookline High School’s Winthrop House, which is located at the Baldwin School in Chestnut Hill, since 1990 and describes it as, “a Special Education alternative program for creative and intelligent different drummers with learning and emotional disabilities.” Fellow educators, parents, and students depict Chetwynd’s various roles at the Winthrop House, as “English teacher, Learning Disabilities teacher, Job Coach, Coordinator of Special Programs and Work Study, and Head Teacher and Advisor.”

In accepting the Caverly Award, Chetwynd celebrated the “gifts” inherent in teaching: “The true gifts in teaching are the things we learn every day. School days are rarely dull, and we can never be quite sure what each new day will bring…except, perhaps, that each new day brings change.”

Chetwynd’s own greatest gift may be her ability to enable students to develop their own visions of who they are and who they can become and, in her own words, “ to believe in their own worth and to reach for the stars.”  A guiding principle of her professional life, has been the concept that  “every student, even the most difficult, is someone’s child, and every child deserves the same attention and understanding I would give my own.” It is easy to understand, then, why a Brookline School psychologist asserts, “Marilyn is certainly the teacher so many of us would invent for our own children.”

A BHS administrator perhaps says it best: “She is a star of the Brookline faculty whose selfless devotion to students exemplifies not only the best Brookline has to offer, but showcases the power of an educator to transform the lives of children through excellence in teaching.” Congratulations to 2007 Caverly Award winner Marilyn Chetwynd for achieving this well-deserved recognition!

At the Foundation’s recent Annual Meeting, the following board members were elected:

Karin Cole works as a psychiatrist in private practice and through Massachusetts General Hospital.  She loves to spend time gardening, running, cross-country skiing, swimming, and playing with her two daughters, who attend Heath School.

Cherie Gaehde has three children at Pierce School, where she has served as Chair of the PTO Board, Co-chair of the Pierce School Council, and Co-chair of the Book Fair. Prior to taking time off to raise her children, Cherie was a manager at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Kate Silbaugh is a Professor of Law at Boston University, where she specializes in Family Law and Work-Family policy. She also is an overseer at the Epiphany School in Dorchester, a tuition-free school for children from low-income families. Her three children attend the Lawrence School, where she is active in the PTO.

The 2007 Adam Russell Gelfand Fellowship has been awarded to Amy Neale, Driscoll School’s librarian. This Fellowship commemorates the life of Adam Gelfand, his love of education, and, in particular, his love of geography, mathematics, and poetry. The Fellowship is presented annually to the recipient of an outstanding Brookline Education Foundation Teacher Grant and provides a monetary award to be used by the honoree for continuing education, travel, curriculum development, or other similar pursuits.
   
Neale’s grant will fund participation in a two-week Primary Source Study Tour of Ghana that includes lectures, workshops, and explorations of a variety of cultural and historical sites. Neale will utilize the resources and information she obtains during her travels to evaluate and enrich the Driscoll School library collection and to create lesson plans about Ghana to enhance existing academic units about West Africa.

Mady Donoff, who served on the Brookline Education Foundation Teacher Grants committee for many years, retired in 2006 after a 28-year career in the Brookline public schools, first as a speech and language therapist, and more recently, as a guidance counselor. At Mady’s request, the Brookline Education Foundation was the recipient of all gifts made in honor of her retirement. Mady and her husband, Bruce, have generously matched these donations and the combined funds will be used to support a 2007-08 Collaborative Grant to replicate system-wide a Media Literacy program developed at Driscoll School.

The Foundation is grateful for the wisdom, experience, and wry sense of humor Mady brought to so many grants committee meetings in the past and for her generosity and that of all the donors who made gifts in honor of her retirement.

Allen Wong, a Brookline Schools’ computer technician, won first prize in the Foundation’s 2007 “Win-a-Mini” raffle. Wong has decided to accept the alternate cash prize of $12,000 in lieu of a Mini Cooper.

The second prize, an Apple MacBook computer, went to well-known author and humorist John K. Hodgman, who personifies a PC in Apple's "Get a Mac" advertising campaign. Hodgman will donate his computer to “826NYC,” a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students with creative and expository writing skills and to helping teachers inspire students to write.

Three lucky third prize winners - Cecily and Ben Colburn; Carol Mitnick; and World Education, a non-profit organization that focuses on world-wide environmental, health, and community issues - each received an Apple iPod Nano.

Congratulations to our winners and many thanks to everyone who purchased a ticket in this year’s raffle!

Nearly 200 enthusiastic spellers, cheered on by hundreds of spectators, participated in the 13th Annual Spelling Bee on March 11th. Thanks to Brookline Access TV, which donated its resources to televise both Bees, viewers also could watch the Bee (live or in reruns) from the comfort of their own homes.

Celebrity news personalities Joe Bergantino, Sharon Brody, and Henry Santoro, and Heath School teacher Eleanor Demont served as word pronouncers. School Superintendent Bill Lupini was “Chief Judge” and was ably assisted by “Judges” Ethel Sadowsky, Carol Schraft, Barbara Scotto, and Kay Schlozman.

Susan Spitz, Will Johnston, and Louise Robbins, spelling for the “Houghton Hivers” won the Adult Bee by correctly spelling the word “unau.” Best costume award went to “The Brookline Family Coolidge,” whose members, Yehuda Kurzer, Josh Friedman, and Shira Fischer, came dressed as over-sized bees.

Forty-six brave fifth-graders competed in the Children’s Bee. Lawrence school student, Nina Goodheart emerged victorious, correctly spelling the word “momentum.” Terri Schmitz from The Children’s Book Shop compiled the list of words and served as pronouncer. Brookline Police Captain John O’Leary, Detective Jen Canney, and Polly Cornblath served as judges.

In addition to being a popular community event, the Adult Bee is a major fund-raiser for the Foundation. Many thanks to all those who helped make this year’s Bee a tremendous success.