Shortly after assuming the role of president of the board of directors this January, a good friend told me that she was glad that I was president, because I’d be that much more fit to explain to her what CEEF does.  Having had a hand in many of the materials the board had produced and distributed oduring the prior 24 months, this was a frustrating admission to hear – but one I was grateful she made.

No matter the good intentions we might have, those closest to an organization can forget to continue to focus on the basics, even when progress might allow for leaving those tenets behind in order to pursue new challenges.  My friend’s honesty was a reminder to me to continue to present those basics to our community, whether as a reminder or as first-time news.

The Cape Elizabeth Education Foundation (CEEF), like many education foundations, is an independent non-profit organization whose objective is to provide funding for public education in our community.  We partner with the school district, and our mission is to fund projects and initiatives that fall outside the school budget.   Another facet of that mission is to help build community-wide support for the benefit of our schools.

So, what does all of that really mean?  We in Cape Elizabeth benefit from having a historically strong school district, a tight community, and generous community members.  On the surface, it might seem we don’t require another source of school funding.  But as one digs deeper into education in this century, it’s clear that what our tax dollars provide, even in the best of times, does not provide our teachers and students with the tools to achieve the level of education we’ve come to expect.  The founders of CEEF often used the word “excellence” when describing their ambitions.  While excellence remains our goal, what we have in our immediate view in Cape Elizabeth is the best education that we – as a community – can provide all of our children.

We have the kids – about 1,700 terrific students.  We have the teachers – some of the most dedicated, talented, energetic, and qualified in the state.  What we require in our 21^st century world are the resources needed to provide these kids and their teachers with the stage upon which they can achieve our community’s vision.  Budgets have been trimmed, slashed, and frozen; but the teachers must continue to teach and the kids learn.  How can we help?

I offer one example of how CEEF funding is making a crucial difference in our schools.  Our youngest children at Pond Cove learn the building blocks of arithmetic in K-2, just like we did.  Like some of us, many of them do not grasp the difficult concepts these earliest math lessons can present, a problem that builds swiftly if those skills are not mastered.  In today’s classroom, teachers measure our children’s understanding with a variety of assessment diagnostics, many designed by Math Lab lead teacher, Debbie Butterworth.  Using those diagnostics, the children who would most benefit from one-on-one or small-group help with a particular concept are identified.  These kids spend only the amount of time needed visiting our Math Lab, specifically to work on the concepts that need work.  The math lead teacher, with the help of her high-tech Smartboard and old-fashioned manipulatives, provides these kids with the time and attention needed to master the concept, and feel confident about moving ahead as young mathematicians.  The results of this cutting-edge collaboration proved to show a 42% increase in students’ time-telling ability last fall, showing how the input of one teacher can make such an enormous difference in so many children’s’ learning.

As all non-profits must, we rely on the financial support of our donors, and hope you consider joining our supporters if you are not currently among them.  But first, I’d like to ask that you read-up on what we’re doing.  Check out the grants history pages and see how your child, your grandchild, or your neighbor’s child might have benefited from them.  Beyond that, look at how many children received the education that YOU envision because of programs like those our donors are funding.  Ask a teacher or administrator if they feel that CEEF is helping to provide an important component of what we’ve all deemed is so important to us: a great education for our kids.

After you’ve finished, if you have any questions about what CEEF does, please contact me.  If you’ve got the time, I’ve got answers!

Regards,

Christine