Pelham Education Foundation Projects Overview

Since its inception the Foundation has awarded more than $700,000 to the Pelham Union Free School District.  In 1998, the first major project completed by the Foundation was the two-year funding of the $120,000 state-of-the-art Foreign Language Laboratory and Classroom Multimedia Network.  The success of this project was felt at all grade levels in the Middle and High School and further validated by the increasing number of Pelham students ranking nationally and county-wide in language competitions.

Major Projects

In 1999, the Foundation undertook fund-raising efforts to purchase three sets of thirty Dreamwriter keyboards and printers for elementary classrooms.  That same year the Foundation funded (jointly with the PMHS reunion classes of '48 and '49) the construction and renovation of the High School Instructional Support Center to enhance student performance in the more demanding NY Regents Diploma examinations.  In 2000, the Foundation, in consultation with the school administration, identified the enhancement of technology capabilities throughout the school system as a high priority.  The creation of the Technology Centers in each of the four elementary school libraries and the installation of computer-controlled Smart Boards (a form of electronic chalk board) allowed teachers to expand their software-enhanced curriculum presentations to groups of 10-12 students.

In the past five years, the Foundation's funding has included major projects such as the state-of-the-art PMHS Laboratory for Molecular Biology, which allowed for the creation of an advanced course in molecular biology and the expansion of our high school science research program, the pilot program in Writer's Workshop, Picture Writing: Literacy Through Art and Image Making Within the Writing Process in the elementary schools, the purchase of distance learning video conferencing and video streaming technology for use throughout the district and the support of a fully-equipped fitness center to allow expansion of the high school and middle school physical education curriculum.  (A comprehensive list of the grants made by the Foundation is available here.)

Mini & Micro Grants

Since its inception the Foundation has awarded numerous Mini-Grants to support teacher-initiated projects that require funding of under $5,000.  Examples include:

• the 1997-98 Prospect Hill School initiative, Project Reach Out - Midnight Run
• the 1998-99 Hutchinson School initiative, Successful Achievement of Comprehension Strategies
• the elementary school Photography of the Architecture of Pelham program funded in 2000-01
• and the Siwanoy School Hands-On Marine Environment funded in 2001-02

More recently, Mini-Grants have supported:

• the High School Writing Workshop
• the elementary school Science Bags
• the Debate Club
• the 24 Math Game
• a student-created e-commerce Web site
• the purchase of digital cameras
• a music workshop with a guest composer

A comprehensive list of the Mini-Grants made by the Foundation

914-263-8148  |  info@pelhameducationfoundation.net  |  Franklin Place  |  Pelham, NY 10803