Educational Foundation Funds Innovative Projects

Byline: Deanna Griffin Barrington 220 Education Foundation

Established in 1999, the Barrington 220 Educational Foundation is dedicated to "bringing more to the classroom" in Barrington Unit School District 220. As a nonprofit organization, the Foundation raises funds for innovative and meaningful projects not otherwise supported by tax revenues.

The Foundation's projects and grants vary widely in scope and application. "Major projects" are large-scale endeavors for which Foundation trustees work with district administration, staff and community members to identify, prioritize and ultimately fund projects that enhance the student experience.

A small sampling of past major projects include helping establish the highly successful BHS-TV; "Project Lead the Way" pre-engineering curriculum; the Barrington High School Jim Hicks-Joe Chung Physics Learning Lab; the Middle School technology labs; Sound Field Amplification Systems and Leveled Literacy Libraries at the various elementary schools; and, with the help of a generous donor in the community, the playground at the new Early Learning Center.

The trustees of the Educational Foundation are proud to announce the major projects for the 2012-2013 school year.

They include: ongoing support of the nationally recognized "Project Lead the Way" pre-engineering program; a large-scale purchase of document cameras to interact with existing SMART Board Technology; and funding of the OverDrive Digital Download Library, which allows students to access a large variety of reading materials on electronic devices.

The Educational Foundation also received a matching grant for this school year to fund the purchase of specialized high-tech devices in every K-12 school in the district to assist special-needs readers.