Redondo Beach Ed Foundation Wants To Put Your Students Education First
RBEF wants to thank the parents, students, administrators and teachers who helped make the first-ever RBEF Summer Sessions a success this past summer. We had 250 students participating from grades K-12, on two campus sites, plus students who took courses online through our Cyber High program. RBEF has plans to grow Summer Sessions over the next several years and help students who are behind or who want to get ahead.
This Could Be Your Child's Best Year Yet!
Donations to RBEF provide elementary fine art programs, science equipment in the middle schools, new technology in the high schools and so much more!
Fall Tech and Annual Donor Drive
The Ed Foundation also wants to thank all the parents and community supporters that gave to the Fall Tech Campaign and Annual Donor Drive last school year. The Tech campaign generated enough funds to give each school campus $2,000 towards new computer equipment. The donor drive in the spring raised over $200,000 to go towards school programs and teacher grants. This money is always dispersed between the elementary, middle and high school campuses. A list of how donor dollars will be used this year will be posted on www.rbef.org in early October.
Congratulations!
RBEF also wants to congratulate the students and their families who received laptops from the donor drive opportunity drawing, they are: the Dunham Family; the Hoffman Family; the Prohaska Family; the Quayle Family; the Reback Family; and the Spangler Family.
Please look for our back-to-school flier via email or at your student’s open house! There are many upcoming events and opportunities to get involved with RBEF this new school year.
Here’s to putting student education first!
New Principal Spotlight: Nicole Wesley
Presenting enough opportunities to help students figure out what they want to do after high school is hard work, but new Redondo Union High School principal Nicole Wesley is prepared to do just that during her first year as a high school principal.
Redondo Beach Educational Foundation Announces Grant Winners for Donor Drive School Competition
May 3, 2011 (Redondo Beach, CA) – The Redondo Beach Educational Foundation's "Raising The Tide" annual donor drive concluded last month. Today, announcements were made of the top four schools winning the school grant competition.
The top four schools with the highest percentage participation win a cash grant from RBEF. This year's winners include:
Tulita Elementary (Championship School) $3,000
Jefferson Elementary (1st Runner-Up) $2,000
Alta Vista Elementary (2nd Runner-Up) $1,000
Lincoln Elementary (3rd Runner-Up) $750
The annual donor drive along with the recent poker tournament and corporate sponsorships has brought in over $200,000 this year so far. A separate campaign for local businesses is currently running.
Some RBEF corporate sponsors have helped with specific programs for the school year. AES donated specifically to Parras and Adams Middle School Intramural Sports Program. Wells Fargo Foothill contributed towards new computers and software for each campus, and Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems donated specific dollars towards Redondo Beach Union High School's world-champion robotics team program and district-wide teach grants covering areas in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Redondo Union Earns AP Distinction for
Boosting Scores and Enrollment
Three years' worth of AP data for 4,869 school districts across the country
were examined....
By Ed Pilolla
A High School Degree Does Not Mean Your Child is Ready for College
If your child takes the classes needed to graduate form High School then they should be eligible to go to a UC or a Cal State, right? Not necessarily.
RBEF Annual Donor Drive Starts February 1st
Schools across California are expected to plan for the worst this month. No one knows what the budget from the state will be for public schools next year.
The prediction is that hundreds of teachers statewide will be issued preliminary layoff notices by the mandatory date of March 15. Because of this unknown – the question we are all thinking -- how many teachers could we lose next year?If the governor's proposal to seek tax extensions ends up on the June ballot, school districts will not know until later that month whether they can rescind layoff notices or not. What happens if the tax extension is not approved? With the tax extensions extended, the loss to the district would be $19/student. Without the tax extension, the lost would amount to $350 per each student in the district. This amounts to funding levels from almost 10 years ago wiping away all cost of living expenses and more!
For our Redondo schools, it would mean a $2.7 million deficit. Also, this time around, there will be no federal stimulus money to help ease the red ink. Our students would experience less teachers, program elimination, larger class sizes and instructional materials not being purchased.
The time is NOW for us as parents to join forces and make a difference for our students! How you ask? By getting the vote out and through the RBEF’s annual donor drive. One involves our inherit right as citizen’s to flex our voting power and the other is our privilege to live in a country where for $30 a month, we can afford to give our students an excellent education.
Please show your support for the tax extension vote in June and support our schools and teachers with a $360 tax deductible donation to the current donor campaign running through April 1st. Any donation helps and supports our students!
To donate or for further information about the tax extension ballot measure, go to www.rbef.org.
Redondo Beach Ed Foundation Gives Out 31K in Teacher Grants!
At the third annual RBEF mixer, caller "Mix, Mingle and Make A Difference" held at the Cheesecake Factory on November 18th, over 250 parents, school administrators and community were present for the announcement of the fall round of teacher grants for the 2010-11 school year.
READ MORE:
Redondo Beach made the list of New Desirable Neighborhoods due to it's great school district!
Not as iconic as Malibu or Hollywood, these neighborhoods are nonetheless some of the city's most affordable and livable. Consider taking a look before the hordes invade.
Welcome Back!
Welcome back! We hope that all of the students, teachers, staff and administrators of our wonderful district had a Happy and Healthy summer. The Redondo Beach Educational Foundation (RBEF) is very pleased to have been able to help the district in bridging the gap as we presented a check for $120,000 to the district at the end of last school year to save two teachers’ positions, helping keep classroom sizes reduced this school year. We are also pleased to continue to fund the very important Safe School Ambassador program. The RBEF and the PTA have partnered together to bring the Safe School Ambassador Program to our district.
Safe School Ambassadors is a nation-wide program that harnesses student power to stop bullying and violence at our schools. Safe School Ambassadors will be at every school in our district: Elementary, Middle and High Schools. The program and its training help empower peer leaders from diverse groups on campus and equip them with nonviolent communication and intervention skills to stop bullying and violence among their peers. By reducing bullying, violence, and social mistreatment on campus, grades and attendance rates improve as well as student morale. Also, with increased good behavior, less administration time is spent on discipline, and classroom time on task is increased. RBEF believes strongly that our children need to feel safe and respected at school and that Safe School Ambassadors is a great way to create an even safer and healthier learning environment. Please ask your principals about the program; they have already seen much success at the campuses.
Lastly, please visit us at www.rbef.org. We want to thank all of you who have contributed or volunteered to RBEF to better your child’s education and we appreciate your continued support. Please tell a friend about us and let us keep the momentum going! RBEF has made a difference and will continue to make a difference with the support of our outstanding community. Look for our flyers at “Back-to-School” Night.
Redondo Schools Avoid Major Cutbacks
Fundraisers and stimulus funds allowed RBUSD to save 16 teacher jobs this academic year.
Here's the bad news: Classroom sizes are up and supplies more limited in Redondo schools this year. The really good news: No teacher jobs were lost.
The outlook was much darker in May, when the Redondo Beach Unified School District sent layoff notices to 16 elementary school teachers to make up for a $3.6 million budget deficit. Educators, community members, parents, and students protested, held fundraisers, and pleaded passionately to members of the school board to save the jobs.
Their efforts paid off. Every teacher pinkslipped is still working in Redondo schools.
Hello from Brad Serkin, President of the Redondo Beach Educational Foundation for the next two years.
To parents joining RBUSD this year, RBEF is an organization made of parent and teacher volunteers who care about the quality of education in Redondo Beach. We raise funds during the lean years to help with saving teacher positions and programming none of us want to see go away. We also raise funds during better financial times and put the money towards extras like science equipment and expanded art programs. We are your ed foundation, here to help make our schools great.
This fall we are raising funds to support our technology labs on each of our eleven campuses. You will find a flier in your Back-To-School Parent Packets where we are asking each family to donate $50. You can find more details about this on our website. Donations accepted via PayPal through our website or by check and can be dropped off in the RBEF box at each school’s office.
We love to hear from parents. Email me at brad@rbef.org with any comments or suggestions you have. And, we are always looking for volunteers to help. If you are interested in giving some time, please join our team of volunteers.
A great way to get up-to-date information about the ed foundation, and our schools is by following us on Facebook. Join our page as a supporter. And, you can also get information on our website at www.rbef.org.
Redondo Beach Educational Foundation
President & Treasurer
Press Releases
Redondo Beach Educational Foundation Launches Annual Donor Drive
Community Asked To Be A Part Of The Club 360º Campaign
To Help Offset RBUSD Deficit
February 10, 2010 (Redondo Beach, CA ) – The Redondo Beach Educational Foundation (RBEF) launched its annual donor drive last week to help offset upcoming budget deficits that RBUSD will face for the upcoming 2010-11 school year. The campaign this year titled, Club 360, will help raise funds and awareness to help prevent the cancellation of crucial programming that could affect Redondo Beach public school students.
Taking its lead from the district’s mantra, that the “whole child” needs to be nurtured and educated in all disciplines, including the visual & performing arts,
foreign language, technology, leadership and sports, to name a few – RBEF created a donor campaign that embraces the “whole child” concept using a 360 degree/ full circle to represent the complete child and a whole education. “The time has come for all of us to understand that great public schools do not come free anymore and that the students need our help,” stated Blaise Tracy, president of the RBEF. “So we’re challenging Redondo Beach parents, community members, businesses and civic leaders to join Club 360 and help keep Redondo schools great.”
Last year RBEF was able to raise funds that provided a music program for all elementary schools grades K-2, new science equipment and intramural sports for both middle schools, and new computer equipment for the high school career center. RBEF also partnered with the Redondo Beach PTA Council to help fund a district-wide leadership program that helps all students and makes campus life a more positive experience socially. The program called Safe School Ambassadors is conflict-resolution training, which has been highly effective in other schools around Southern California. It was created by Rick Phillips who’s own grandson attends a Redondo public school.
The mission of the Redondo Beach Educational Foundation is to create a lasting partnership with parents, community individuals, and businesses, seeking to provide the additional funding and resources needed to enhance the educational experience of all RBUSD children.
The Club 360 donor drive campaign runs through April 1st. For more details about RBEF or how to donate, go to www.rbef.org.
Contact:
Vicky Gallion, Communications Chair
Redondo Beach Educational Foundation
(310) 613-0709 cell/ vicky@rbef.org
“The last hope for arts education in these economic times is for the parents of the district to come together as a community through their support of the Ed. Foundation. It may be the most effective way an active parent can augment their child’s education.”
Laura Pace,
Teacher,
Adams Middle School