As part of the Brookline Education’s 30th Anniversary celebration, Brookline teachers were asked how the BEF has helped them. Many of their honest, humorous, and poignant responses were presented at our Gala. Here are just a few:

  • With every grant, through countless opportunities and at each celebration provided by the BEF, I have felt valued and respected. The BEF has empowered me to take risks as a learner so that I might grow as a teacher. – Alicia Hsu,  Third grade,  Lawrence School
  • Through two generous grants from the BEF, I have been able to study and explore the rain forests in Costa Rica, and, closer to home, engage in an intensive two-year training and application of the “Schools Attuned” program. While vastly different, these experiences have helped to broaden my perspective, invigorate my soul, and truly motivate me as both a teacher and a learner. – Malia Scott, Math Specialist, Lincoln School
  • The BEF has helped me to see and know firsthand the power of collaboration and vision.  With support from the BEF, members of the Brookline community … started a conversation and a set of actions that would eventually lead to the school system’s adoption of a 5th core value – educational equity.  Because of the Brookline Educational Equity Project…we talk differently and courageously about eliminating the racial achievement gap and ensuring high achievement for all students in Brookline.  Thank you for your role in this, BEF! – Daryl Campbell Frischling, Grade 6 Math and ELA, Pierce School
  • The BEF has helped me examine best practices and bring them to life in my classroom.  If you think about all the students who benefit from these, the effects of the BEF are unparalleled. – Alanne Duger,  5th Grade,  Baker School
  • Knowing that there is support from the BEF for good ideas makes me feel appreciated and valued for what I bring to the table and helps keep me motivated to think outside the box.  – Mary Angina,  Physics & Chemistry,  Brookline High School
  • Both of my grants helped me take organized time away from the classroom to re-focus my teaching. It was like a “present” to have it paid for!! – Ann Pettrone,  Grade 4, Driscoll School
  • The BEF helped keep me in public education at an early point in my career when I was weighing other choices. The BEF has helped me write poetry. The BEF has helped me by showing me, every year, how this community supports its teachers.The BEF has humbled me by allowing freakish individuals into the Spelling Bee who can spell “smaragdine.” The BEF has helped my students by rejuvenating me.  (If you think I’m cranky now, just imagine what I’d be like without the BEF.) – Mary Burchenal, English Department Coordinator,  Brookline High School
  • If not for the BEF, we would never have been able to transform the culture at Heath and create the professional learning community that is fundamental to our work as a school. – Milly Katzman,  Principal, Heath School
  • The BEF has helped me and other recipients of the EmPOWER writing grant to provide explicit writing instruction based on executive functioning skills.  I love seeing how teachers carry over the EmPower strategies across the curriculum. – Laura Vish, Speech Language Pathologist,  Runkle School
  • My colleagues and I wrote a BEF grant to attend a training course in Responsive Classroom, and it has transformed my teaching!  – Maggie Nichols,  Kindergarten,  Lincoln School
  • To have a foundation that exists to promote teacher learning and that celebrates and deeply respects the work we do is simply amazing!! The BEF has a meaningful impact on the quality of teaching and thus learning in the Public Schools of Brookline.  – Ellen Goldberg,  Brookline Early Education Program,  Devotion School
  • It’s so important for teachers to share their ideas about what works!!  BEF grants are powerful because they create time for in-depth exchange. – Leslie Fagen, Enrichment and Challenge Support,  Lawrence and Pierce Schools