Schools

Improving Tolland Schools, One Project at a Time

The Tolland Education Foundation has raised approximately $150,000 for Tolland schools.

Tolland's education system, like any local school district, is often the subject of debate, whether its focused on the budget, test scores or many other important conversations concerning childrens' education. 

But beyond the debate, a small group of Tolland residents forming the Board of Directors for the Tolland Education Foundation, has been quietly augmenting and improving Tolland schools. 

"The biggest thing was just to help the school system to be able to explore new things," said founding and current member Bob Stewart of the group's creation. "Budgets were designed to maintain, and we wanted be able to excel."

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Since 2004, the group has raised and given approximately $150,000 to Tolland schools. Projects are funded after teachers or administrators fill out grant request applications. The board of directors then selects the winning projects.

"We tend not to finance the day-to-day supplies of the school," said David Golden, a founding and current member of TEF. "We work with individual educators who really had a great idea for something innovative and useful in the public schools, but was outside of the normal budget process."

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The grant-driven process has helped TEF enrich Tolland schools in very concentrated and meaningful areas for students and teachers, Golden said.

"It's that kind of motivation that maximizes your bang for your buck."

The foundation has funded a large number of diverse projects, including: a media center at the library, a playground for the child-development class at , a rock wall at , a number of SMART boards throughout the district, Kindles for the book club, music software, etc. 

The selected projects have to enrich and expand Tolland schools for students, Golden said. For example, the TMS media center, a recent grant-winner, will allow a staff member to teach students how to blog, post videos and otherwise support a journalism and web-based curriculum at the school.

"For a relatively small investment, we're adding a whole new element to the school that wasn't there before," Golden said.

Superintendent William Guzman praised TEF members for their dedication to Tolland schools.

"They've been providing a whole bunch of financial support for programs and initiatives in the schools," he said. "They have been absolutely wonderful. It's a dedicated group of people."

TEF member Linda Byam, who has spent close to a year and a half as a board member, added that the foundation would not succeed without the support of the community.

"There are people in town that do support education, and they are very generous with that financial support. We're lucky that we have a community that's aware of the needs in our school system," she said.

And, Golden pointed out, a healthy school system is a gift to both students and all other town residents.

"A town is often judged by its school system. By improving education, you not only help the kids, but we also improve the quality of the school system, which reflects even better on our town," he said.

For now, Golden says the TEF will continue to accept grant applications and fundraise for Tolland schools. The TEF raises money through its annual beer and wine tasting, as well as a letter campaign.

Golden said that the group is hoping to launch a website in the next six months. The organization currently has a Facebook page.

The following residents are serving on the TEF Board of Directors:

Holly Audette

Linda Byam     

David Golden, President

Timothy Griffin, Treasurer

Vickie Hadge  

Anne Hill

Barbara Lasher, Secretary                   

Tamara P. Paolangeli

Jennifer E. Person

Judy Schachner

Bob Stewart, Vice President

William Guzman (ex-officio)     

Original board members were:

Lynne Bridge, Laurie Devaney, David Golden, Abigail Jeffries, Michael Kopsick, Theresa Renner, Andrea Spak, and Bob Stewart

Previous members also include: Greg Williams, Melissa Simonoff, Heather Ricker-Gilbert and Karen Regan.

 

Check out what the Tolland Education Foundation has been up to lately:


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