June 4, 2010

Pictures from the BEF Rocket Station at the "We are Bethel Celebration"...

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KVAL News, Feb 5, 2010, By Molly Blancett

Bethel Schools Get Much Needed Boost From Grants


EUGENE, Ore. -- It's been a rough budget year for the Bethel School District.

"The year started difficult," said Bethel Superintendent Colt Gill.

The budget was so bleak teachers agreed to work for free, take a salary freeze and cut school days. Almost all elementary and middle school principals are also teaching classes.   

"It's a huge amount of work but they take it on and you will hear some really positive things come out of it," said Gill.

Those teachers got a much-needed moral boost on Friday. The Bethel Education Foundation surprised every school with $7,500 total worth of grants. For Malabon Elementary School music teacher Michael Green, that means 30 pairs of new drum sticks.

The kids had their own ideas on how to use the money.

"I think we should use it for field trips," said first-grader Emily Golliher.

"For more play structures," said first grader Sophia Dau.

But instead the book fans win out. They're getting another reading teacher, which means smaller reading groups.

"If you don't know how to read, you won't know how to read silly books," said Dau.
   
The amounts are small. Some are less than $300. But Colt Gill said the impact is big.

"People are going to feel appreciated by the community that they are putting out this effort for," said Gill.

The Bethel Education Foundation started last August. The non-profit corporation raises money for Bethel schools.

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February 5, 2010

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Bethel District News, January 13, 2010, By Pat McGillivray

Schools Receive BEF Donations

The Bethel Education Foundation will award mini-grants in February. 

Nearly $2,000 has been donated directly to individual Bethel schools through the Bethel Education Foundation.

While BEF’s initial fundraising efforts brought in more than $10,000 for its mini-grants fund, the nearly $2,000 was designated by donors to go to specific schools.

Meadow View received the most – $420 – to be used at its discretion. 

Applications for the numerous BEF mini-grants are due Friday. The grants, ranging from $250-$500, will be distributed to winning Bethel classrooms in early February.

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The Register Guard, September 15, 2009, Letters in the Editor's Mailbag, by Janis Brew, Springfield

Give a Day’s Pay for Schools

Bethel School District teachers’ decision to work without pay on Sept. 8 is an example of the many ways teachers give unselfishly to our children and society and should not be taken for granted. Every year teachers throughout our community spend unpaid summer time getting ready for fall and spend school-year evenings and weekends planning lessons, grading papers and tutoring students. What a gift that our teachers are willing to make this commitment.

It’s disappointing that we depend on financial sacrifices from teachers to provide high-quality education. Our legislators haven’t corrected this problem, so maybe it’s time for all of us to follow the example of the Bethel teachers.

I’m not a teacher, but I am inspired by the actions of the Bethel teachers. This year, I’ll be donating one day’s pay to our schools, and I challenge our community to join me. One day’s pay can be donated to your school district’s education foundation (the Eugene Education Foundation, the Springfield Education Foundation, etc). Donations provide funding for educational materials and activities, such as science experiments, field trips, music, and extra academic support for struggling students. You’ll get a charitable donation deduction on your taxes, and you’ll get the satisfaction of helping our schools provide quality education during tough economic times.

Can’t afford a full day’s pay? Make it half a day’s pay, or even an hour’s pay. Every little bit helps!

NOTE from the Bethel Education Foundation Board: 

We loved this and we'd like to add that you consider giving a donation like this to the Bethel Education Foundation.

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The Register Guard, September 5, 2009, Editorial

EDITORIAL: Bethel gets on board, forms a local school foundation | Forming a local school foundation

Good for the parents of students in Bethel schools. They’re forming a Bethel Education Foundation to solicit money and provide small grants for the schools. These private sources of help are all the more useful now that a recession is squeezing normal public funds.

In making this move the Bethel group is behind its two larger neighbors. Eugene formed an education foundation in 1993 and Springfield in 1994. But there’s no reason Bethel can’t catch up in its rate of success, however you choose to measure that.

Formation of a foundation to help the local public schools is not a novelty any more. There is, as you might expect, a National School Foundation Association, complete with real offices in Des Moines and a Web site.

According to that site, there are some 6,500 foundations assisting 14,500 school districts across the country. According to one expert, these foundations provide the three “ments.” That is, their purpose is to “augment, supplement and complement” programs and activities of the schools.

The national group traces its roots back to the establishment of the National Center for Public and Private School Foundations in Iowa in 2001.

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley was the “driving force” behind this trend, a fact we will skip over quickly as Grassley is not popular with many because of his role in current Senate negotiations on health care reform.

In 2005, the center merged with the Association of Education Foundations to form what is now the NSFA.

None of that is terribly important to the Bethel folks, although they’ll probably want to be in touch with the national group and get whatever advice it offers.

The foundation focus will be strictly local.  The current aim is to provide small grants to teachers, who will be invited to make proposals.  That sounds sensible.  And even if the money is not great at first it also sounds like something that will be appreciated by teachers.  The implicit message of support may be as important as the dollars.

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Hoping to replicate a strategy that has netted thousands of dollars for neighboring schools, a group of parents in west Eugene’s Bethel School District has launched an education foundation.

The Bethel Education Foundation, still awaiting its formal nonprofit status, will seek donations and act as a fundraising conduit for the district’s 11 schools, distributing tax-deductible gifts earmarked for specific schools and also establishing a grant fund for teachers.

A letter about the foundation will soon be sent to the home of every student, said Brooke Cottle, a Meadow View School parent and the foundation’s president. A Web site is up, though it’s not yet complete, and a logo is being designed.

“We’re about ready to run — we’re really excited,” said Cottle, whose daughter, Avery, will be a seventh-grader this year. “We see it as a chance to get some of those things back in the schools that will benefit the students so much.”

As is the case with both the Eugene Education Fund and the Springfield Education Foundation, the Bethel organization will accept proposals from teachers for specific projects and dole out “mini-grants,” Cottle said. She said she expects that the selection process, to begin in January or February, will favor schools with the largest numbers of disadvantaged students, but also ensure that every school gets something.

In the Eugene and Springfield districts, such grants have paid for a rich variety of materials and projects, including iPods, document cameras, computer software and other technology; new musical instruments; guest artists and art supplies; musical performances and field trips; and even homework tutors.

Bethel donors can give directly to the grant fund, or designate funds to a particular school — in which case the foundation will shave 5 percent off the top for the grant fund, Cottle explained.

The foundation’s launch grew from discussions last year among parents tapped for a “key communicators” panel that met regularly with Superintendent Colt Gill. District spokesman Pat McGillivray said there has been talk of starting a foundation for years, “but this group of parents was just so gung-ho.”

“We were all so concerned, when all these budget cuts were coming up,” said Cottle, who also has two preschool-age boys.

Though the recession is hitting household as well as school budgets, she voiced optimism that parents and other community members will be willing to step up and contribute.

The group already is getting donations, she said — enough to fund the start-up.

The Eugene Education Fund has channeled millions to schools since its founding in 1993, and in recent years has exceeded its fundraising goals routinely. Last year’s $785,635 broke a record.

Springfield’s foundation, started in 1994, has sputtered over the years but last year kicked into high gear, distributing nearly $10,000 in grants.

BETHEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION

To donate or learn more, visit www.bethel educationfoundation.org or call the district at 689-3280 or President Brooke Cottle at 607-3751.

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Bethel District News, August 19, 2009, By Pat McGillivray

New Foundation Established For Bethel Students