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Farewell to Outgoing Board President Emily Dolbear; Welcome to Catherine Burke!  As we draw to a close of this crazy, topsy-turvy school year, the BEF wants to take a moment to thank outgoing Board president Emily Dolbear. Emily has served on the BEF Board since 2013 and has been a valuable member of the Executive Committee from her second year. As a Runkle and then BHS mother of two boys, she was the Vice President of Communications before taking over as Board president. Emily is an extremely thoughtful leader, who seeks out, listens to, and [...]

During this time of challenges, the work here at the Brookline Education Foundation (BEF) continues — albeit remotely. In mid-April, our Board committees awarded 32 grants, totaling more than $200,000, to Brookline teachers. We have also responded directly to the COVID-19 crisis by funding a special Districtwide Grant to immediately train teachers in remote learning and online curriculum development instruction. Although we had to cancel our Trivia Bee fundraising event and won’t be gathering at Celebrating Teachers to present 2020 Caverly Awards, we remain focused on our mission: the professional learning of educators at every Brookline school. We cannot fulfill [...]

The BEF Idea Lab grants committee awarded 19 new Idea Lab grants last week. After hearing teachers give their pitches for their hands-on ideas to be carried out in the classroom this year, the committee awarded 19 grants to teachers from many schools in the District, ranging in grades from pre-K through the high school. The committee was excited to see some great, creative ideas from the enthusiastic and motivated applicants. Some examples include a Spanish teacher using improvisation to get her students to feel more comfortable to speak a foreign language, [...]

On Friday, October 4th, over 200 people joined us for the 2019 Margaret Metzger Fellowship Event where our 6 Fellows read their essays to a packed house! While the essays were varied reflections on teaching and working with students; all were extremely touching. We are so lucky to have such thoughtful educators in Brookline Schools. Margaret Metzger Fellows for 2019 Mireille Blau, CCS, Social Studies Rebecca Hayden, BHS, English Paul Epstein, BHS, Social Worker Lauren Ockene, Pierce, EL 4th Grade [...]

Last year, the Brookline Education Foundation gave "A Gift of Music" to the Performing Arts Department of the Public Schools of Brookline, under the leadership of K-12 Curriculum Coordinator Kenny Kozol. This gift was funded through the 35th Anniversary Gala of 2016. After an application and evaluation process, the BEF funded this musical project, recognizing that the Performing Arts department is an important and valuable part of the curriculum and provides alternative opportunities for students to explore and develop creative talents. World-renowned composer and conductor Jim Papoulis was commissioned to create original songs with and for Brookline students, [...]

On October 24th and 25th, children's book author, Lesa Cline-Ransome, visited four Brookline School Libraries. The author of award-winning Finding Langston, as well as Game Changers about Venus and Serena Williams, Satchell Paige, and Before She was Harriet gave presentations at Baker, Lincoln, Runkle, and Driscoll. She spoke about her early beginnings, what is involved in writing a children's book, and how she began writing for children, as well as reading from a few of her books. Several of the Brookline schools librarians had seen her speak [...]

Have you always wanted to run the Boston Marathon? Team Brookline is a great way to get an official bib number the historic Boston Marathon and raise money for a great cause all at the same time. Team Brookline is a group of local non-profit organizations that receive official bib numbers in order to help them fundraise.  The Brookline Education Foundation is lucky enough to be one of these five organizations. We are looking for 5 runners who believe in the BEF's mission and want to be part of a great team of people - many of them running their [...]