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June 28, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels April 22, 2004 Ashland schools once again turn to community for help By Bill Choy Ashland Daily Tidings When it comes to supporting schools, the residents of Ashland are known to be at the head of the class. Since its first fundraiser 15 years ago, the Ashland Schools Foundation has raised a vast amount for the Ashland School District, which has seen its fair share of state budget cuts. In the past two years, the foundation has been able to supplement the district with more than $700,000 raised by the community, Ashland Schools Foundation Executive Director Susan Bacon said. The organization kicked off its annual fundraising drive on Friday with the hopes of raising at least $300,000 for the 2004-05 school year. Show of support Signs are up around Ashland to remind citizens of the fundraising drive. Volunteers are now calling previous donors for contributions, with a phone push to the rest of the community nearer to May 14, when the drive ends. "It's the only way we raise money," Bacon said. "We concentrate all our efforts on this fundraiser. We think it's quite an attainable goal and we're hitting the street and redoubling our efforts and hope this will carry some momentum into the new school year." Having a foundation raise money for a school district is becoming more accepted, although it's still unusual for many towns to have foundations, especially in a community of Ashland's size, Bacon said. "People in Ashland are passionate about raising money for education," she said. "They understand the importance of education in this world." When the foundation first began, funds earned went mainly to enrichment programs, but years of state budget cuts made funding educational programs a priority, Bacon said. "Now we fill in the gaps for basic educational core issues," she said. "The need is certainty there." And with the failure in February of Measure 30, the district will be losing an estimated $500 per student, Bacon said. For this school year, funds from the event went to a number of programs at the high school, such as hiring teachers for extra sections of math, journalism and advanced placement English, and helped restore the foods and nutrition program. A total of $72,665 was given to the high school. Without the fundraiser, those classes wouldn't be a reality, Bacon said. In the middle school, $58,368 went toward adding 22 classes to the electives schedule in areas such as dance, drama, sign language and computer technology. The drama department also received a new sound system and the money funded six grants to classrooms for enrichment activities. At the district's four elementary schools, $86,375 was raised and used for math curriculum books and materials for all 4th and 5th graders. Money also went to increasing school specialists' time at each elementary school by 20 percent, a signature grant for artists-in-residence in each elementary school, and 20 grants for enrichment activities in classrooms. Plus, $13,800 was used for services such as the Buy-in for Books Program, which enables businesses to raise money specifically for textbooks. To donate or volunteer, call the foundation at 482-8197. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams