Spreading Thanks to Teachers
Westfield Education Fund Encourages Families Across Town To Display Lawn Signs Showing Appreciation of Teachers; Proceeds to Fund Innovation in Schools
Submitted by Tamra Feldman
The Westfield Education Fund (WEF), a non-profit that aims to be a driver for innovation in the Westfield Public Schools, is encouraging families to display lawn signs as a public thank you to teachers and students for being true heroes in this challenging year. With timing anchored around Thanksgiving, the WEF is hoping to spread a positive sentiment throughout the community at a trying time.
“We see the incredible energy and dedication teachers are committing to make this challenging year an effective one, and wanted to find a way to publicly recognize these efforts,” said Nicole Breslow, President of the WEF. “We see it as a double win to have created a vehicle to allow the community to applaud teachers while simultaneously giving back to our schools. It will be so touching and meaningful to see this common sentiment of thanks spread throughout our town.”
Signs are two-sided: “THANKFUL for our teachers!” on one side and “Support our Westfield Schools” on the other. Local mom and Westfield resident Tracey Edelstein designed the signs. Signs are $30 each. All proceeds fund innovation for the schools. Signs are available for purchase at:https://westfieldedfund.org/lawn-signs.
With the proceeds from the sale of these signs, the WEF will fund grants to strengthen and enrich students’ academic experience. For instance, during 2020-2021, WEF is funding nearly $40,000 to sponsor the Racial Literacy Initiative, impacting all schools in the district. In 2019-2020, WEF funded improvements to the design and engineering classrooms at each of the intermediate schools. Historically, a significant portion of grant making has focused on funding various technology tools to integrate into instruction. Schools across the district have received Makerspace materials, Chromebooks, iPads, computers, printers, interactive projectors, document cameras, and camcorders to support student learning, all funded by WEF.
About Westfield Education Fund (WEF): WEF is run by a Board of Directors comprised of Westfield parent volunteers and was established in 1991 by community members, in partnership with the school district and Board of Education. It supports innovative projects that strengthen and enrich students’ academic experience but fall beyond the school district budget. Visit westfieldedfund.org to learn more about the WEF and its mission “to promote a culture of innovation and enrich students’ academic and social emotional learning”. WEF is a non-profit and relies completely on donations from the community to fund such initiatives.
