Our Mission
- Broaden community support for education.
- Promote excellence by encouraging educators to take innovative approaches to education.
- Serve as a conduit for foundation, corporate and individual donors to fund challenging programs in support of Ashland Public Schools' goals and curriculum.
Our History
In 1995 some Ashland parents, lead by Meg Whitehead, Claudia Bennett, Roberta Lesser, Nancy Stevens, Delores Markey, Elizabeth Manning and Judy Leavey among others, started the Ashland Education Foundation with the mission to provide financial support to Ashland K-12 school teachers for special projects not covered in their annual budget. The founders, through the generosity of lawyer and parent Tom Sannicandro, devoted many hours to formally establish the Foundation as a non-profit organization, complete with its own by-laws, tax ID, bank account and P.O. Box. The parent volunteers raised funds through unique means. The Thank-a-Teacher program invited parents to make a donation to the fund in their teacher's name at the holidays and at the end of the year. Through various fundraisers, during the first five years, the Foundation was able to award over $25,000.00 in grants for innovative programs, many of which are still providing value in our schools today.
AEFI continued to grow through the 2000's as a consistent and innovative supporter of our schools and has become one of the model education foundations in the region. Since its creation, the AEFI has raised ~$800K for innovative projects in our schools, with nearly $500K of that coming in the last 5 years alone.
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AEFI continued to grow through the 2000's as a consistent and innovative supporter of our schools and has become one of the model education foundations in the region. Since its creation, the AEFI has raised ~$800K for innovative projects in our schools, with nearly $500K of that coming in the last 5 years alone.
Click to read more...
Board of Directors
• Benjamin Kriete
President • Julia Chase
Publicity Director |
• OPEN
Clerk • Alison Carey
Benefit Director |
• Gregg Grenier
Treasurer • Meredith Connery
Innovation Grants Director |
• Sentie Kironde
Board Member |
|
Katie Kriete
Board Member |
• Karen Spilka
State Senator |
School Administration Partners
• James Adams
Suptdt of Schools, APS |
• Paul Carpenter
Dir. of Tech & Ops, APS |
• Carolyn Breault
Instructional Grant Coordinator |