Greetings, Bedford!

We at the Bedford Education Foundation hope that this update finds you and yours well at this challenging time for our community and our country as a whole. The BEF has continued to work behind the scenes in recent months to determine the best ways in which our organization can assist our schools during the Covid-19 pandemic. As mentioned in our previous update, the BEF Board voted in May to amend our July grant cycle to hold off on individual teacher grants until such a time as makes more sense, in particular after the nature of school learning for the 2020-2021 school year has been determined. Instead, we voted to allocate the amount of an average-sized grant cycle for an initiative to be proposed by central administration to ensure that these funds meet a top priority need of the district at the present time, especially given the budgetary shortfalls the schools are experiencing. The BEF will re-assess what role we may have in the Fall prior to our usual November grant cycle. Now, for some good news…

The BEF Grant Committee met last week and voted to award the Bedford Public Schools a $15,000 grant for two site licenses, one for both Davis and Lane Schools, for the Lexia Core5 Reading (Lexia) program. Lexia is an online tool that students in grades K-5 will use to build their reading skills. The program supports educators in providing differentiated literacy instruction for students of all abilities from grades Pre-K to 5. Lexia engages and motivates students in a game-like environment, provides progress-monitoring student data without a test and is accessible via iPad, Chromebook, or browser. Lexia provides all students—from at risk to on-level and advanced—a systematic and structured approach to six areas of reading, from phonological awareness to comprehension. The program provides personalized learning paths for each student through an adaptive placement and scaffolded activities that align to rigorous State standards. The BEF is pleased to support an initiative that will help so many students no matter what shape their education takes during the next school year. We would like to thank all of Bedford’s educators for their dedication and tireless work during this unprecedented time on behalf of our students, and we thank the district’s central leadership for working on this proposal. We wish all of you a safe and healthy summer!