Editor's Note: This article was written by George Wallace.
About eight years ago Rose Davis organized a not for profit group called the “North Bellmore Educational Foundation, to provide enrichment, academic and sports support to the local school district.
For most of those years the foundation enjoyed a good relationship with the district, she said, communicating primarily through the office of the schools superintendent about its activities -- principally the provision of summer and after school programming to hundreds of K-6 students in the district’s five schools.
A year ago, that relationship changed.
“I was contacted by Dr. Johnson, the assistant superintendent, saying that we needed more members on the foundation board, and that we needed to fix our by-laws,” said Davis, a CPA.
Acknowledging that her board membership had dwindled over the years, she met with two members of the school board in September, had new by-laws drawn up and submitted a letter of intention to the school district stating that she would attempt to secure new membership in her board.
Then in February 2013, Davis received a call from Superintendent Arnold Goldstein.
“It was the day after the school board meeting,” says the foundation president. “He told me that regrettably, we would not be renewed for this summer.”
That was a month ago. Davis appealed for a continuation of the relationship between her organization and the North Bellmore Schools at the March Board of Education meeting, accompanied by two new board members and a small contingent of vocal supporters.
Following an exchange with the board, during which Davis presented new bylaws and stated her intent to reconstitute her not-for-profit board, the North Bellmore School District agreed to take a new look at whether they will work with the educational foundation this summer.
“Things have been brought to us tonight that we didn‘t have before today,” said JoAnn DeLauter, president of the Board.
“If we had been able to work this out in September, tonight wouldn’t have happened,” added Grace Cramsie, a trustee with the board.
The North Bellmore Educational Foundation is best known for its annual Summer Enrichment Program, which Davis says reaches hundreds of students each year to supplement what the school district is able to provide. After school programs have also been visible components of the foundation’s work.
But at its March board meeting, members of the school board said their expectations for a foundation go beyond providing program activities, and include a fundraising component for the district.
Though the foundation’s bylaws state that it will provide both funding and programming to the district, Davis said that significant fundraising is out of reach to her organization.
“What I’m thinking we’ll do is change the foundation bylaws from ‘funding and program’ to funding and/or programming,” she said.
In a report given to the board late last year, the foundation president provided a list of material and programmatic accomplishments beyond the summer and after-school programs -- including smart boards for each school, athletic equipment, sports clinics, wellness fairs and the provision of community service hours and job opportunities for older students.
At Monday’s meeting, several local residents spoke out in favor of continuing the summer enrichment program at the school, including Jenna Cavuto -- a product of the local school system who returned to help teach for the foundation last summer.
“Can your decision be reconsidered?“ asked Cavuto.
“Yes, I don’t see why not,“ answered DeLauter.
With that, the board closed the open portion of the meeting and went into executive session.
“I’m trying to keep this program in the schools,“ Davis said. “It’s familiar to students in this location. “If I can, I’ll try. But I’ve only got two more weeks before I’ve got to get the summer program together.“
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