Framingham Public Schools
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Framingham Schools targets improved fund-raising By Charlie Breitrose/ Daily News Staff Sunday, November 6, 2005 FRAMINGHAM -- After filling the executive director's job after 18 months and two false starts, the Framingham Education Foundation now wants to expand its mission to support the town schools. Jane Eyler of Framingham assumed the top job Sept. 19, and jumped into preparations for one of the biggest events of the year, the Spelling Bee, which raises money for mini-grants and will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Cameron Middle School. With a background in marketing and fund raising, plus having two daughters in the school system, Eyler fit the job perfectly, said foundation president Susan Nicholl. "She had a detailed focus and knowledge of education in Framingham, paired with broader vision of fund raising," Nicholl said. "She brings in the big, national perspective and applies it in a focused way on a community, it's a great combination." No one was happier to see Eyler hired -- besides Eyler -- than Nicholl. For the last 18 months Nicholl, essentially did the job, for which Eyler will receive a half-time salary, for free. "Actually, that search took a long time," Nicholl said. "We had started looking about a year and a half ago, but it wasn't as easy a position to fill as we thought." Last November, the foundation hired an executive director, Clive Beasley, but after a few months, Nicholl said it was clear things would not work out. "It wasn't a good fit -- we haven't talked about this publicly," Nicholl said. "Sometimes you come to a job with different perspectives and different expectations. After we worked together for a while -- about four or five months -- we didn't think the approaches matched." Before Beasley, the foundation nearly hired another person, but Nicholl said the deal was never closed. Instead of going back to a traditional job posting, Nicholl said the board decided to do it more informally. "I knew it would be OK, but there were times over last year I wasn't sure how we would get to that point," Nicholl said. One day, a fellow board member suggested Eyler. Nicholl actually knew her from when Eyler was involved with Framingham schools, including starting an after-school foreign language program at McCarthy Elementary School. When Eyler got her job at a marketing company in Peabody she could not continue to be involved in Framingham. Nicholl believed Eyler would be a good fit, but she wondered how she would get her. "I thought, 'How could we lure her from her big fancy job to our organization?'" Nicholl said. "But it turns out she had already wanted to be back and connected to her community." A $100,000 anonymous challenge grant that was matched by $100,000 raised by the foundation has provided the money for Eyler's position. Finishing that campaign and bringing on a professional director was a big step for the foundation, Nicholl said, and now it needs another vision. "We don't have a goal right now, we are working on that right now," Nicholl said. "We had a vision for what to look like now, and we have accomplished that. Now we want to look few more years down the line." Eyler's office at Juniper Hill Elementary School currently has a stack of dozens of computer monitors which were donated by Computer World. Eyler said some will be given to a teacher at the high school who distributes them to students who cannot afford them, and others will be used in a project still in the works. That sort of donation is something Eyler hopes will become more common. "I would like FEF to be the place where people call if they want to connect with schools in Framingham," Eyler said. "We are trying to move up to the next level. First we want to raise our visibility, particularly around potential funders, and we want to look not only in the community but outside the community." The foundation, Eyler said, has a specific focus. "If somebody is building a playground, we're not the place to do that. There are other places that do it," Eyler said. "We are the place to get a program funded that is not in the regular school budget." A major reason to get the foundation's name out there is to avoid confusion with the other fund-raising efforts in town. Individual school PTOs and the Framingham High School PTSO/Booster Club all run their own fund raisers, and the district creates partnerships with businesses through the Partners in Education. For years, the mini-grant program has been the foundation's focus. The grants of up to ,000 are given to teachers who have new and interesting projects they want to do with their classes. Superintendent Chris Martes said the foundation provides a great service, even inspiring teachers to be more creative. "The mini-grant program is a wonderful way for teachers to think a little out of the box, try some new things, and then share that with their colleagues," Martes said. Martes said he is glad for the support that the foundation provides, but said he would not want it to become a mechanism to fill the district budget. The foundation also provides money for "signature programs," which are major, often district-wide initiatives. One example was the ROPES program, which taught middle and high school students about respect, fighting stereotypes and preventing bullying. Martes had some ideas of areas where the foundation could lend a hand, and perhaps create a signature program. "It could be something like supporting middle school math as a major initiative," Martes said. "Wellness could be major initiative. Early literacy (for young children) could be major initiative, and art is another great example." Eyler sees other opportunities for the foundation to branch out beyond the mini-grants, and some have already begun. "We want to make the mini-grant fund bigger and we also want to add other kinds of categories (into which people can donate)," Eyler said. The foundation recently started the Irving August Grant Fund, named after the Framingham resident who started the exchange program between Framingham and Lomonosov, Russia, known as FLAME. Other funds include the Jade Walsh Fund for Language Arts and the Thayer Grant for Technology and Research, Eyler said. By offering different places for donors to give money Eyler said she hopes it will encourage more people to give. "Donors like to know what they are donating to, but organizations want to spend the money on whatever they want," Eyler said. "This sort of meets the two in the middle." Many communities have education foundations, which provide money to enrich the schools, but most do not have a paid staff member. Nicholl said Newton and Brookline have a paid employee, but she could not think of another in the area. Eyler works on a contract basis, Nicholl said, and she will be kept on as long as she and the foundation are happy with each other. Although she does not yet know what the foundation will look like, Eyler said she does have a vision of success. "We have an event in the spring to let people know about our successes, and I want that to be huge," Eyler said. "Something where people want to go." |
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