The Newtown Education Foundation (NEF) held an open public forum on Monday, October 5, at Reed Intermediate School.

Kristen Bonacci and Casey Ragan, two of NEF’s three co-founders, spoke about how the foundation came about and answered questions about what the foundation will do during the forum.

The mission of NEF is to enrich the learning experience for students by promoting innovation and creativity through collaboration with the community, according to the foundation.

Ms Bonacci said the idea to start NEF came from the experience the three founders, which also include Aaron Carlson, had with also starting the recent Support Our Schools (SOS) campaign.

A number of surrounding towns, according to Ms Bonacci, have Education Foundations. During the recent summer months, Ms Bonacci said, work was done to look into starting a foundation in Newtown. As part of that research, Ms Ragan and Ms Bonacci attended a conference last week to learn more about education foundations.

According to the Connecticut Consortium of Education Foundations, there are roughly 90 Education Foundations in the state.

Ms Ragan said the idea of starting NEF came from generating ideas on how to help local schools.

“We need to get better solutions to everybody and [share] what they can do,” said Ms Ragan, who works as a computer teacher for kindergarten through third grade students in Bethel.

The Bethel Education Foundation, Ms Ragan said, raises money to give to the schools to provide opportunities to test new implementations and ideas. As an example, Ms Ragan said the Bethel Education Foundation supported her idea to purchase robots to help teach her students about computer programming.

“That’s something that a Board of Education not necessarily doesn’t want to support, but they don’t understand the reasoning behind supporting that right now because it is an innovative idea to get little kids in elementary school working with robots and building robots,” said Ms Ragan.

Now, Ms Ragan said, she has ten robots that the students use to build and learn, and next year, the success of the program may lead to the school district supporting the program.

Education foundations, according to Ms Ragan, help support “innovative ideas, creative ideas, outside the box ideas” to provide proof of needing further backing or implementation.

Some ideas flop after being supported by foundations, but Ms Ragan said that is acceptable.

“We want them to try it, and a lot of those [failed] ideas can be mixed amongst groups so they can be used in other ways,” she explained.

Other towns, according to Ms Ragan, have also had students apply for grants, not just educators. One grant, she said, had students establish a television studio in a school.

“These are ideas that we are trying to get the Education Foundation to support and bring into our community,” said Ms Ragan, “instead of just complaining about politics and money in town that we don’t have or want to have or can’t figure out what to do with. This is our quick and easy way to say here is your money and let’s figure out how to do it.”

Ms Bonacci said the NEF co-founders are working to establish an executive board to run the local foundation. They hope to have that board in place within the next week, she said.

“We’re thinking at this point 11 members of the board, then moving forward after tonight with the application process,” said Ms Bonacci.

Ms Ragan said they are trying to find people with different talents and backgrounds to help the foundation.

One difficulty so far, according to Ms Bonacci, has been differentiating NEF from other foundations, campaigns, and programs in town.

“We’re not looking to intrude or be invasive to those foundations… So we need some spins and some different ways to do things to come up with different ideas, fundraising ideas, to set us aside from them,” Ms Bonacci said. “So we need someone who has knowledge and can spin it in a different way that we aren’t doing the same things and taking away from the foundations in Newtown.”

The co-founders are also looking specifically for a certified public accountant and an attorney to hold positions on the executive board, according to Ms Bonacci.

“We want community members from every walk to help get this together and working for us,” Ms Bonacci said.

NEF will work separately from the Board of Education and local PTAs, according to Ms Bonacci, who also explained the foundation will focus on supporting all of the schools in the district.

People can also volunteer to help with different programs, according to Ms Ragan, who explained that people can help create and run different events or be in charge of different aspects of the foundation without acting as an executive board member.

Superintendent of Schools Joseph V. Erardi Jr, who was present for the forum, spoke about his past experience with both the Connecticut Consortium of Education Foundations and districts that had education foundations. 

“It’s just a huge benefit, and it is all about innovation,” said Dr Erardi, about education foundations in general, before saying foundations have worked best when it is understood that they support programs and ideas that Board of Education’s cannot fund.

The superintendent also shared a few past examples of education foundation supported programs, including technology purchases, a paperless classroom, and a forensics laboratory. Dr Erardi added that while he will not be a member of the foundation, he will do everything he can to support it.

Residents interested in learning more about the NEF can contact Ms Bonacci at mjb0327@aol.com.