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Brownie troop helps Fund-A-Teacher

This information was submitted by Parke Treadway of the Menlo Park-Atherton Education Foundation.

Local first-grade Brownie Troop 31538 of Oak Knoll School donated its spring cookie sales money — $300 — to the Menlo Park-Atherton Educational Foundation's Fund-A-Teacher initiative.

The foundation created Fund-A-Teacher in response to the Menlo Park City School District's preliminary layoff of 14 teachers as a way of managing its large budget deficit. The initial goal of the Fund-A-Teacher program was to raise $100,000, the cost of one experienced teacher with full benefits, and give the fund total to the district exclusively for teacher salaries.

At the foundation's Spring Event, parents, teachers, administrators and other concerned community members stepped forward and brought the Fund-A-Teacher total to over $137,000.

Fortunately, the larger community of district voters agreed that supporting our school teachers is a value we all share, and passed parcel tax Measure C, with 76 percent voting yes.

Thanks to the Fund-A-Teacher gift and the additional revenue Measure C will provide, district Superintendent Ken Ranella has vowed to rescind the layoff notices and keep teachers in the classroom.

Posted by Ano Nymous, a resident of another community, on Sep 10, 2010 at 9:47 pm

Given their ridiculous total compensation packages, how about if we have the teachers fund the teachers?