A week after announcing the launch of a Newtown Education Foundation, a meeting was held at Reed Intermediate School on Wednesday, September 2, for community members to learn more and volunteer for the foundation’s executive board, according to co-founder Kristen Bonacci.

Ms Bonacci, Aaron Carlson, and Casey Ragan, all Hawley Elementary School parents and PTA members, founded the foundation. The foundation was announced and introduced to the public on Wednesday, August 26.

The Newtown Education Foundation’s mission is to “enrich the learning experience for our students by promoting innovation and creativity through collaboration with the community,” according to a press release.

In Bethel, where Ms Ragan works as a computer teacher for kindergarten through third grade students, she said the Bethel Education Foundation has supported school programs and efforts.

As of August 26, work was underway for the Newtown Education Foundation to receive 501(c)(3) status, according to Mr Carlson. The foundation is expecting to file as a nonprofit, tax-qualified corporation organized to promote and support innovative education programs for the benefit of students in the Newtown Public School system.

“For me, I think it went fantastic,” said Ms Bonacci on Thursday, September 3, about the meeting with community members.

Roughly 20 people attended the event, which included comments by Superintendent of Schools Joseph V. Erardi, Jr. The superintendent, according to Ms Bonacci, also asked people to fill out comment cards or refer community members to serve on the Newtown Education Foundation executive board.

Overall, Ms Bonacci said, the comments shared by the people present showed interest learning more about the foundation, adding, “I feel the feedback was extremely positive from all of this.”

Some challenges were brought up during the meeting, according to Ms Bonacci, including how the foundation will gather funds with so many other foundations existing in town. Ms Bonacci emphasized the importance of getting people with experience to serve on the executive board to help smooth out some of the challenges the foundation could face.

Throughout this week Ms Bonacci said the foundation co-founders would be collaborating with people who are interested in volunteering on the executive board.

Ms Bonacci said the co-founders are interested in taking the process “step by step” and making sure everything is done “the right way.”

“We don’t want to rush it at all, because we don’t want to make any mistakes,” said Ms Bonacci.

Ms Bonacci also said she anticipates more meetings to continue collaboration with community members.