10 Things You May Not Know About the BEF

10

 We are a volunteer group that includes parents with and without children currently in the Bedford school system, community members and corporate partners.

9

 Most of our members have been actively involved in the PTO’s of Davis, Lane, JGMS and BHS, so you may recognize some friends from over the years.

8

 There are no membership dues or secret handshakes.

7

 We welcome and need new members to continue our mission. Many of our members have children in upper grades or who are ready to move on to college.  To stay relevant, we need parents of children representing all grade levels and in particular, we’d like a greater parent representation from the elementary schools.

6

 We meet once a month for 75 minutes – starting and ending on time.

5

 Our mission is to pilot, encourage and fund the creative and innovative ideas of teachers and administrators that may not be currently implemented in our Bedford schools.

4

 We review and award grant requests twice during the year: July and November. We support and fund grants for all of the Bedford public schools: Davis, Lane, JGMS and BHS.

3

 We have funded 136 grant requests since the Fall of 2008. We piloted grants for SMART Boards and a SMART Table, iPads, Robotics, vegetable and herb gardens at Davis and Lane, stability balls, a “green screen” for the BHS communications students (just like they have in major tv stations!), Skype cameras, Nooks, digital microscopes, and many more items that have enhanced the classroom experience.

2

 We have awarded $140,000 to teachers since the Fall of 2008. Our funds come from our fundraising events (i.e. Bedford’s Got Talent Show, BEF Winter Bash, Bedford Dayl) and from private and corporate donors.

1

 We have a terrific and valuable mission, a committed small core of volunteers with passion who have truly made a difference in the quality of education for our children in the   classroom and their talented teachers. All we need is YOU.

Revised October 2015