Montclair Times May 28, 2008

HEADLINE: Ensuring innovation and equity in Montclair's schools

MFEE support 'invaluable'

By TARESSA STOVALL

This is the second in a two-part series spotlighting the vision, growth and impact of the Montclair Fund for Educational Excellence (MFEE), a not-for-profit philanthropic organization which is celebrating "15 years of bringing out the best in Montclair schools" with a major fund-raiser on May 30.

Academics alone are not enough.

It takes much more to make the Montclair Public Schools the rich resource that draws residents, strengthens property values and makes this community so attractive to such a diverse populace.

Enter the Montclair Fund for Educational Excellence (MFEE) which, for 15 years, has served as a vital arm to the Board of Education (BOE). "We give grants to teachers to do community engagement, hold fund-raisers and work with the BOE to support school-community initiatives," said MFEE Executive Director Lois Whipple.

Most importantly, "I want parents to know that our sole mission is to support the Montclair Public Schools, its students and families," said Whipple, whose son and daughter are MHS alumni.

"Our primary impact is [the] dollars that we bring into the district," Whipple explained.

Those dollars have grown from around $5,000 funding some seven grant requests in 1991 to over 1,700 grants to more than 680 faculty members for a total of approximately $1.9 million, in the last 10 years, said MFEE President Julie Jackson.

"If there is one thing I want people to know about MFEE – and the reason I took on the presidency – it is the tremendous impact of our grants and programs on the teachers, and therefore the public school students," Jackson said.

Kate Dopulos, a junior at Montclair High School (MHS), knows that impact well.

"When I attended Edgemont [Elementary School], an MFEE grant enabled us to hear all kinds of music from around the world," Dopulos said. "We played instruments from different cultures, and it was so much fun. Even as fourth- and fifth-graders, we were able to have the sort of extra special educational experience that makes a difference."

At the high school, "My chorus teachers received a grant so we could do a studio recording," Dopulos said. "MFEE is a big part of why Montclair is such a special place."

UNIQUE PARTNERSHIP
MFEE was designed to be part of the bigger educational picture in Montclair.

Deputy Mayor Joyce Michaelson had the original vision, and organized a group to make it happen. "We saw a need to provide alternative funding to the Montclair Public Schools, and we created the MFEE," Michaelson said.

"The goal was to get grassroots requests and get funding for the extras that the schools couldn't pay for," Michaelson said. "We've become a really big player now in the schools and in attracting dollars to the school system."

MFEE has a unique partnership with the BOE.

"When we started, residents said, 'My taxes are already high enough, so why would I want to contribute more money to the schools?'" Jackson said.

"We certainly want to be working in tandem with the BOE, but independently. We want people to understand the money they donate to the MFEE is not funding the BOE, but it's funding grants from teachers and staff mem-bers in the schools," Jackson said.

Superintendent of Schools Frank Alvarez is positive about the partnership. "MFEE is a great catalyst that has energized our public schools," Alvarez said. "I am particularly proud of the accomplishments of MFEE and of having served on its original board."

Support for schools comes in three ways, Jackson said: "through programs and innovations from teachers, pro-grams we initiate and develop, and programs designed to level the playing field for all students, regardless of the resources they may have."

Especially important to MFEE is "Providing the means for teachers to be innovative and creative, with very diverse learning and teachers in the classroom," Jackson said.

"I believe strongly that no matter whether we have children in the public schools, a stronger school system bene-fits everyone."

"Faculty give us feedback that even a modest $1,000 grant can make a significant difference in what they can achieve in the classroom," Whipple said. "And we're able to give larger grants to each school, funds that give princi-pals the ability to either innovate or deal with current challenges."

District Parent Coordinator Sylvia Bryant cited several benefits of the MFEE/BOE partnership. "We have 32 summer programs, and they give scholarships to support families meeting the criteria," Bryant said. "MFEE has supported more than 150 partial scholarships to support those students who qualify for the Summer Scholarship Program. They also support parent education programs, including those that bring international experts in to talk with parents, and ongoing parent workshops including family math, literacy and sexual education workshops," said Bryant.

'A GREAT EXAMPLE'
MFEE is part of the Mid-Atlantic Consortium of Education Foundations, which includes New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.

"Taxation in New Jersey is going to get to a point where they can't fund education, so they will need to turn to outside sources," as are other school districts around the country, said Consortium Director Bob New.

"I don't think people today are fully aware, but public education is changing. When budgets are passed, people believe the school got everything it needed to educate the children, and that's not the case," New said.

"MFEE is supporting the Montclair Public Schools to fund programs that the school district can't," said New.

That support includes co-funding of the Middle Schools Robotics Competition, MHS Foreign Language Lab, re-stocking and revitalizing libraries in all of the schools, creating the MFEE Laraja Art Gallery at Montclair High School, helping to launch a district-wide musical strings program, and training of teachers in social-emotional learning curriculum, according to Whipple.

"In New Jersey, we can identify about 135 local education foundations statewide that support public education in varying degrees of success," New said. "I think Montclair would be a great example of how things grow and how they become more and more important to that school district as their resources grow."

Another service MFEE provides is to serve as a nonprofit umbrella for groups such as the popular Sister to Sister Mentoring Program at MHS, now in its 10th year. This support "gives programs the opportunity not to have to cre-ate and run a separate organization, so they can focus on their work with students," Whipple said.

"MFEE has really made the difference in helping us to work with the young women of Montclair High School," said Sister to Sister Executive Director Adele Katz, who has led the program since its inception. "While we receive support from various sources, this relationship has been vital to the work we do and key to our success."

SOLID SUPPORT
Funding for MFEE comes from a combination of private contributions, many raised through community projects and celebrations such as Toast to the Teachers, Montclair Schools Rock! and "Dancin' in the Streets" coming May 30, as well as individuals, foundations and other philanthropic sources.

Community support is solid. "Our supporters are in the thousands in Montclair, to support the schools, students and teachers across the board," Whipple said.

"Sponsorship comes from all sectors, including people who do not have kids in the schools," said Jackson.

International cosmetics mogul Bobbi Brown serves on the MFEE board. "I just think it's such an incredible or-ganization because it helps all of the teachers," Brown said. "When we were reading grant requests from the teach-ers, they were all so great. And the way we can fund more [requests], is to have more money," said Brown, who is chairing the May 30 fundraiser. "It's going to be a great opportunity to bring the town together with music, dancing and fun for MFEE."

Dr. Gordon Ferguson of Ferguson Dental Associates in Montclair, 1964 MHS graduate and longtime donors praised MFEE's fundraising prowess. "It's support for education has been invaluable, especially with the decline in the amount of federal and state funding," said Ferguson, whose donations to MFEE are often made in honor of his late grandfather, Harold Ferguson, who served as MHS principal from 1927 to 1952.

Kate Epstein, who has two children in the Montclair Public Schools and another headed there, has been an MFEE supporter since her eldest entered the system in 2004. "I've really seen the benefits directly. They bypass a lot of the red tape and when a teacher needs to get something directly and immediately that benefits and impacts the classroom and the children, that makes a difference," she said.

"It's a direct benefit to the teacher, to the classroom and to the students," Epstein said. "It cuts across the entire spectrum of all the schools based on need. Hopefully, MFEE will continue to eradicate some of the imbalances."

Michaelson is pleased with the growth and impact of she has seen. "We've become a really big player now in the schools and in attracting dollars to the schools, [bringing] systemic change and new initiatives," Michaelson said. "I'm just thrilled that my vision has developed under other people and gone in new directions and flourished under their leadership."

To learn more, visit mfee.org.