The newly formed committee wants to start awarding grants to teachers during the 2007-08 school year.
By: Linda Seida
NEW HOPE A new nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting excellence and innovation in education is looking for volunteers.
The New Hope-Solebury School District Education Fund hopes to begin awarding grants to teachers during the 2007-08 school year to pay for creative programs that might otherwise remain unaffordable, according to Laurence Fieber, a volunteer with the new group who also is a member of the school board.
"We need volunteers to assist in the development of this long-term initiative," said Bill Scandone, a retired Pfizer executive who lives in New Hope and is in charge of the fund’s development and implementation.
Interested persons may obtain more information at a meeting from 7 to 9 p.m. on Feb. 6 in the district’s conference room at 180 W. Bridge St.
When Mr. Fieber was a principal in Ewing Township, a group similar to the new nonprofit awarded a grant to teachers for a new greenhouse, allowing teachers to incorporate into their lessons all it could offer students about plants and science. Other grants in Ewing paid for authors and artists in residences to work with the children.
"It was always exciting to have teachers in my school rewarded" for their creativity and innovation, Mr. Fieber said.
In Lambertville, the Lambertville Area Education Foundation is performing similar work with South Hunterdon Regional High School and elementary schools in West Amwell, Stockton and Lambertville.
Some of the Lambertville Area Education Foundation’s grants have helped pay for an Apple wireless cart and 10 laptop computers for West Amwell Elementary School, hundreds of school library books, the construction of a rock-climbing wall in the gymnasium at Lambertville Public School and cooking equipment to help teach fractions to special education math classes, in addition to numerous other things.
Raising funds will not involve the "bake-sale routine," Mr. Fieber said.
Instead, the fund hopes to reach out to individuals involved in state planning, corporations and people who have access to corporate grants as well as individuals in the community.
The group will "leave a legacy of good things," Mr. Fieber said. "Our collective efforts are going to benefit people in a positive way."
To volunteer, or for more information, contact Mr. Scandone at [email protected] or (215) 862-1641.