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Additionally, the PTO supported teachers by sponsoring the annual teacher appreciation
week and by providing refreshments for monthly meetings. The PTO spends
approximately $1,000 on school beautification throughout the year between Cole and
Spofford Pond Schools.

The PTO recruits parent volunteers to host family events throughout the year. These
include the Talent Shows, Halloween Party, the Fall Fundown and a student Color Run to
celebrate the end of the school year. Fees charged for these events help defray the cost of
outside food and entertainment.

Primary sources of PTO funds are a membership drive in the fall, a fall fundraiser,
yearbook sales, a spring fundraiser raffle and auction, and participation in the Tri-Town
Sports Sale.

This year PTO made a change to the membership drive by offering various pricing levels.
Instead of selling the directories and bus pads, PTO associated them with a specific level
of membership. Membership pricing ranged from $25 to $250, in an effort to make it
more flexible and thus increase participation from the parent community.

Boxford Elementary Schools Trust: The Boxford Elementary Schools Trust (BEST) is
an all-volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to fostering excellence in our public
schools by raising private funds to supplement longer-term elementary school initiatives
and innovative teaching tools, technology and teacher trainings. BEST provides these
funds by reviewing and approving teacher-driven grant proposals. Grant awards have the
broadest possible effect on our community and the best chance of helping teachers bring
innovation to our district. During the Fall 2016 grant cycle, BEST donated over $22,000
to Cole and Spofford Pond Schools by funding grants including:

● A Chicken Hatchery for the third grade to showcase life cycles
● A continuation of the visiting scientist program in fifth grade – Science
from Scientists – that brings actual scientists into the classroom to run
experiments and provide enhanced instruction every two weeks throughout the
school year
● Instruction and professional development to implement a Sixth Grade
Science Fair. Every month, the visiting scientists from Science from Scientists
have joined sixth graders to instruct them on the scientific method, and prepare
them to execute and present their at-home science projects in a formal Science
Fair in March.
● Professional Development for guidance counselors at Cole School
● Math Technology Suite at Spofford Pond School
● Music for Everyone Professional Development for the Spofford Pond
Band Director to explore new ways to teach music to children with disabilities.
● Professional Development at Project Adventure for sixth grade
teachers – course mirrors the course that sixth graders take at the beginning of
each year.
These added extras in our classrooms are what differentiate Boxford Schools from those
of surrounding towns. BEST reports that they are honored to bring these enhancements to
the Boxford Elementary School System and will continue to seek future funding to
maintain the high quality elementary education we have come to expect in our public

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