The Cristina Chiappe Foundation will be holding a kick-off party at 12:30
p.m. Sunday in Lawndale.
The foundation, a certified non-profit, works to promote health, education and cultural diversity across the globe. Chiappe is a member of the Hawthorne school board and a faculty member at the Centinela Valley Adult Education School.
The event will be held at Hanks Bistro, located at 14406 S. Hawthorne
Boulevard.
The Manhattan Beach Education Foundation is asking parents and community members who are thinking about donating to the district to make a pledge today.
"We are asking parents to make a commitment to the education foundation so that we know by January how much money parents can commit to the school district," said Susan Warshaw, the executive director of the foundation.
Typically, school districts begin their budgeting processes in January before final budgets are submitted in the Spring. Money donated to the foundation goes to preserving teaching positions and academic programs in the district. This year, foundation organizers are looking to raise $4.1 million. Last year, the same amount was raised and went to save more than 80 teaching and staff positions, district officials said.
Pledge drive events will be held this afternoon at district schools, and those interested in donating to the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation can visit www.mbef.org/givetoday or call Warshaw at 310-303-3342.
*Updated, with photo courtesy of Cindy McMahon. Eighth graders Savannah Sartini, Jina Stanfill, and Mandy McKeegan outside Manhattan Beach Middle School. The girls helped promote MBEF's Pledge Day.
Today's report comes from Rosewood Middle School in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Parents at the school, frustrated with the lack of money for student programs, came up with a new idea to raise funds after last year's chocolate sale flopped: The school would sell test points to children. For example, 20 points could be bought for $20 and students could add 10 points to two tests of their choice.
"Last year they did chocolates, and it didn't generate anything," Principal Susie Shepherd said.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the idea was nixed after a report of the proposed fundraiser was published in the The News & Observer.
Here's more on the cash-for-grades fundraiser.
Today, I received a lengthy email from an anonymous "South Bay Pollyanna" who identifies herself as a local elementary school teacher. (Or "himself"? We'll just say herself since the writer chose a female fictional character as a pseudonym.)
This writer is asking South Bay residents to donate $5 to each of the area's 12 public school districts.
Can you afford to donate $60 in total to this one time cause? If just 10% rose to the call, it would be an impressive $430,000 for EACH district! If every man, woman, and child took action, we would raise over $4.3 million for EACH of these districts.
She describes what she calls "chaos" caused by state budget cuts and beseeches South Bay residents to take action in support of students' education.
I'm not endorsing the writer's views (or anyone else's) or vouching for all the data she cites, of course. Nor am I suggesting that I would in future post anything sent to me by readers. But someone obviously put a lot of effort into this, so here it is.
The letter is posted below.
