NEEDHAM EDUCATION FOUNDATION AWARDS FIRST LARGE GRANTS

PROGRAM WILL SUPPORT FINE ARTS AT HIGH SCHOOL,
RESPONSIVE CLASSROOM AT NEWMAN

Contact: Anne Murphy, NEF President,
(781) 449-2795;
duehren_murphy@attglobal.net

NEEDHAM, Mass., January 31, 2001 -- The Needham Education Foundation (NEF) today announced that the fine arts program at Needham High School and the "Responsive Classroom" project at Newman Elementary School will be the first recipients of its new Large Grants program. The Large Grants program complements NEF's traditional annual grants program by offering grants of up to $15,000 for one- to two-year projects that are innovative, collaborative, and of broad and lasting impact for Needham schoolchildren. They may be school-wide or system-wide and promote the arts, sciences, or social and cultural enrichment.

Selected from a total of 17 preliminary proposals, "The Responsive Classroom" project at Newman will be under the direction of Newman Principal Robert Abbey. The $13,100 NEF grant will support teacher and staff training to promote "responsive" techniques, which integrate social and academic skills. Initially affecting Newman s 650 students with possible expansion throughout the town school system, the program teaches cooperation, responsibility, empathy, assertion and self-control.

A $15,000 grant to the "Fine Arts for All" project at Needham High School, led by Dr. Leo Hogan, assistant principal of Needham High School, and the school's Fine and Graphic Arts Department, will allow the acquisition of new computer equipment and other materials to accommodate the growing, unmet demand for arts offerings such as graphic design, desktop publishing, photography, painting, and music. Currently 100 students -- half of those requesting such electives -- have been declined admission because of space and equipment limitations. The NEF grant, along with school staffing and other commitments, will accommodate all students.

"Our ten-year commitment to funding innovative programs for Needham school children has been taken to a new level with our Large Grants program, which strives for broad and long-lasting impact," said Anne Murphy, NEF co-president. "NEF's first Large Grant recipients meet all the goals we established for the program."

"Both projects are models of collaboration, relying on significant matching funds and staffing commitments from other sources," added Seth Bauer, NEF co-president. "More importantly, both will have ripple effects throughout the Needham school system. The Responsive Classroom is a respected, well-documented program to foster positive social skills at an early age, which will carry forward to adolescence and beyond. And the Fine Arts for All program will serve current and future Needham High students, who would otherwise be in study periods without this funding."

The above Large Grants are effective for the 2001-2002 school year. For the current school year, NEF made more than $73,000 in grants ranging from $1,000 to $3,500 to support programs at all of the town's public schools. Grants included funds to support character education for middle schoolers, a program on the history and traditions of African-American music, an artist-in-residence program to create a student-designed art installation at the new Broadmeadow School, and an art enrichment program for first graders at Mitchell.

The NEF is an independent, community-based, not-for-profit organization raising funds for the enrichment of public school children in Needham, Mass. Its fundraising programs include the annual Spelling Bee, teacher recognition cards, and the year-end appeal, among others. Established in 1990, NEF's purpose is to stimulate innovation and excellence by supporting educational programs that are outside normal public funding and to maintain a permanent fund to implement such programs and activities. For more information about NEF, please visit www.nefneedham.org.

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