LEEF grants $72,498 to district-wide initiatives

Oct. 15, 2015 | Chris Goudreau
cgoudreau@thereminder.com

Superintendent of Schools Marie Doyle (center) is presented a check to fund projects in the district by LEEF President Todd Ratner (left) and past LEEF president Evan Robinson (right)
Reminder Publications photo by Chris Goudreau

LONGMEADOW – The Longmeadow Educational Excellence Fund (LEEF) hosted a grant awarding ceremony on Oct. 8, which donated $72,498 to local teachers this year.

Evan Robinson, the event’s master of ceremonies and a past LEEF president, said the organization has raised more than $1 million since it began raising funds for the Longmeadow Public School system in 2001.

“LEEF is just an extraordinary organization and has added so much to the quality of life to Longmeadow Public Schools,” Superintendent of Schools Marie Doyle said. “They’re our strong ally – fueling innovation in education … This is unbelievable that in this small town our parents raise such extraordinary funds to donate to the classrooms.”

In total, LEEF awarded 25 grants to district teachers, several of whom shared information about their projects during the ceremony.

Amy Westhaver, a fifth grade teacher at Wolf Swamp Road School, explained that she asked for 30 ukuleles in her grant proposal.

“This week, actually, is the first week that we have unpacked them,” she added. “It was very exciting. We had to go through the process of how to hold them and how to put your fingers on them … I wrote a lot in my grant about how ukuleles are something that they can take with them, they’re small, they’re easy to have, they’re not expensive.”

Michelle Hanson, a teacher at Blueberry Hill Elementary School, said her grant focused on providing students with special seats such as stability ball chairs and hooki stools that allow them to move without disturbing class activities.

“The connection between the mind and the body is so intertwined,” she explained. “A lot of studies have been created [that] recognize this.”?

The idea for this grant came about a couple of years ago when Hanson saw students in her classroom fidgeting often and sometimes getting out their seats, she said. One parent told her about seating designed to help curb this problem, which sparked the idea.

Hanson said the seats improve posture and strengthen the body’s core.

The seating has also been added to other district elementary schools in past years, she noted. The stools and ball chairs arrived at Blueberry Hill two weeks ago and classrooms have seen success thus far.

John Wills, a seventh grade social studies teacher at Glenbrook Middle School, said his grant, which was co-awarded with seventh grade English language arts teacher Cara Crandall, focuses on students learning about conflicts and consequences in the context of the Holocaust.

“The year sort of culminates where we investigate the Holocaust, which is a deep challenging thing to study. We try to put into the context of conflict and what happens when accountability is shifted and people lose sight of that,” he explained.

Other grants included a mobile language lab at Williams and Glenbrook middle schools, a writer in residence program for student enrichment at Center School, laptops for the Glenbrook Times newspaper and yearbook committees, and math enrichment support tools at Williams Middle School.

Also in attendance were state Rep. Brian Ashe, School Committee Chair Janet Robinson, and School Committee member John Fitzgerald.

LEEF’s annual gala is set for Nov. 7 from 6:30 to 11 p.m. at Twin Hills Country Club.

The event is one of the main methods of fundraising for LEEF grants, Evan Robinson said.

The gala’s silent auction highlights include a one-week RV rental from New England RV Rentals, four box seats to any Red Sox home game in the 2016 provided by Collins Pipe and Supply Company, and a full set of braces from Yanni Orthodontics.



 

Share this: