Edgemont School Foundation Announces $162,000 Grant

Addressing the Edgemont School District’s critical need to upgrade the computer network used by students and faculty, the Edgemont School Foundation (“ESF”) announced that it has awarded a grant of $162,000 to the District. The grant – the largest ever by ESF – will fund a much-needed project to upgrade the computer network at all three schools by increasing ten-fold the network’s speed and internet connectivity, migrating from an old network operating system that is being discontinued to a newer operating system that is more compatible with various applications, and retiring several antiquated servers. Without the grant, the project might have been in jeopardy due to budgetary constraints.

The gift was accepted by the Edgemont Board of Education at the April 12th meeting and it allowed the Board to reduced the budget increase for 2011-12 to 2.65%. At that meeting, the BOE formally adopted the budget and it will be voted on Tuesday, May 17th. Also at this meeting, the BOE renewed Superintendent Nancy Taddiken's contract through June 2013.

ESF co-chair Andrew Conway said, “The ESF Board is proud that we were able to fulfill the school administration’s request for funding, thanks to the generous support of the hundreds of donors who have contributed to ESF over the years.”

“Edgemont’s schools are the ‘crown jewels’ of our community, and ESF is dedicated to helping ensure that the schools have the necessary financial resources to continue to provide the best educational experience possible for our children,” said Howard Hirsch, ESF co-chair. “This grant does exactly that and fits squarely within the mission of ESF,” Hirsch added.

The grant expands upon previous grants of $72,785 and $118,000 awarded by ESF that funded the infrastructure for wireless technology in the Junior/Senior High School (March 2007) and both elementary schools (March 2010), essentially making the Edgemont School District a "wireless campus". Since 2004, ESF has awarded the District more than $850,000 for a variety of projects and programs, including a state-of-the-art audio/visual system in the Junior/Senior High School auditorium, a new Student Information System for the District, elementary school playgrounds, Social Emotional Learning Parent Workshops, mobile computer science labs, a Junior/Senior High School Campus Garden and a 4th grade Narrative Dance Program. Since its inception, ESF has given more than $1 million to fund projects and programs that ensure and enhance the value of an Edgemont education.

Nancy Taddiken, the Edgemont School District Superintendent, thanked ESF for its generous support. “Computers and high-speed networks with internet access for online research and communication are an integral component of education today. ESF’s grant will allow us to make necessary improvements to our technology infrastructure this summer, which will directly benefit each and every student who passes through the school system in 2011-2012 and for years to come.”

Work on the technology infrastructure project is expected to be completed over the summer so that all of the planned enhancements will be fully operational for the start of the 2011-2012 school year.