MSH Ed Foundation Announces Annual Gift to Schools
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 • 12:00am
Members of the Education Foundation of Millburn-Short Hills voted at the May meeting to approve the donation of over $100,000 of technology, staff development and other programs to all seven Millburn township schools. For the first time, the Board of Trustees of the Ed Foundation voted to set aside $50,000 to begin an endowment to ensure that the Foundation can continue to enhance the Millburn Township public school curriculum in future years.
Because of district infrastructure improvements, the iPad initiative delayed last year is on tap for this year. All five elementary schools will receive 10 iPads with AppleCare protection. Deerfield, Glenwood, Hartshorn and Wyoming Elementary Schools will also receive an iPad syncing/charging cart. South Mountain received their iPad cart last year. Millburn Middle School will receive one Apple syncing/charging cart, thirty iPads with AppleCare protection and a MacBook Pro laptop.
The Ed Foundation is donating $20,000 to Millburn High School to upgrade the Media Center. The gift will be used to provide more current technology and to improve access to digital media. In addition, the Ed Foundation will donate $2,000 to the high school to begin work on developing a comprehensive computer-based robotics curriculum.
The Education Foundation is continuing the successful mini-grant program begun last year. Teachers and administrators have submitted grant requests and, after review, several requests were approved for funding. For a complete list of approved mini-grants, please see the Ed Foundation website (www.edfoundationmillburnshorthills.org).
For the second year, the Ed Foundation has approved a $10,000 grant for the “Millburn Leadership Initiative”, a project submitted by the Superintendent of Schools Dr. James Crisfield. This is a four year district-wide initiative to create an ethos embracing professional collaboration.
Another mini-grant to be funded is $6,000 for “Implementing iPads in a Basic Skills Classroom” submitted by MMS teachers Tracy Freitag and Jennifer Karl. Wyoming Elementary School’s third-grade teachers Cristina D’Alessio and Lea Monaco submitted a successful $2,475 grant application for “E-Readers for 3rd Graders.” Additional approved mini-grants include technology requests for the middle and high schools, fidgety learner toys for South Mountain kindergarten teachers, visiting artist workshops in the high school and a teacher advisor stipend for the Ed Foundation Club at MHS.
The Ed Foundation is partnering with the MHS PTO in several mini-grants. As part of the Millburn Big Read – the high school's first community read initiative – students, teachers, parents and community members will be reading and discussing "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot. The Ed Foundation is contributing $2,750 towards a possible visit by a member of the Lacks family with the MHS PTO matching that amount.
Earlier this year, the Ed Foundation donated $25,000 to purchase headsets for grades 3-5 to support the school district’s use of the Rosetta Stone Classroom Education program for Spanish Language instruction in the elementary schools.
The all-volunteer Education Foundation of Millburn-Short Hills was established in 1993 as a 501(3)(c) non-profit organization. The foundation is dedicated to enhancing the Millburn public school curriculum by providing equipment, technology, programs and staff development that cannot be funded within the current school district budget.
Education Foundation fundraising events held this school year included the annual membership and donation drive in the fall, "Coin Wars" in the elementary schools and the highly anticipated and popular Millburn Schools Rock event which raised $135,000 this past March 9. The first annual Millburn Film Fest was an amazing night with camera flashes, moving spotlights, fantastic film-making by township students and also raised $7,000 for the Ed Foundation.
Year-round fundraising includes The Education Foundation Capitol One Credit Card, which generates a donation from Capitol One Bank with each purchase and the purchase of Ed Foundation "Tribute Cards" to honor a person or an event.
It is the wonderfully generous support of the Millburn community, corporate and organizational supporters and event sponsors which makes the work of the Education Foundation possible. Donations to the Education Foundation of Millburn-Short Hills are greatly appreciated and should be sent to PO Box 160, Short Hills, NJ 07078. New members to the foundation are always welcome. For more information on the Education Foundation please visit the organization's website at www.edfoundationmillburnshorthills.org.
