Page 154 - Microsoft Word - Annual Report 2016

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 schools.