LONGMEADOW — Thanks to the fundraising efforts of parents and community members, Longmeadow teachers can educate students with initiatives and materials that would otherwise be out of reach. The Longmeadow Educational Excellence Foundation awarded $78,241 in grants to 31 educators at its annual ceremony on Oct. 24.
LEEF President Seth Stutman, whose daughter is a student in Longmeadow, said he began working with LEEF as a volunteer, before becoming more involved as a parent. He has since become a fifth-grade teacher in East Longmeadow, and this year, he was awarded a grant from East Longmeadow’s educational fund.
“I’m aware of how tiring and exhausting and sometimes ungrateful this work is,” Stutman said. “In none of your contracts, does it say you should be writing grants,” Stutman told the educators at the ceremony, noting it is work done in the educators’ spare time.
Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea spoke about the “creative, energetic initiatives” behind the grants pursued by the teachers and administrators. The grants represented programs and materials from across all the academic disciplines taught in Longmeadow’s schools. “It’s a celebration of the creative work here today,” O’Shea said of the grant award ceremony.
Three-time LEEF grant recipient Brenda Mazza, the literacy coach for grades K-2 at Center School, explained that in each of the last three years, she has applied for a grant for decodable readers for each of the grades she works with. Decodable readers are books that “allow [students] to apply the language skill they’ve just learned in a book,” Mazza said. She spoke about the progress children have made through using these tools and thanked LEEF for helping young students become ‘strong, independent readers’ and trusting the “professionalism” of teachers who pursue educational best practices.
Anthony Ohannessian has received grants from LEEF for a different area of learning. As a band teacher at Glenbrook Middle School, he has applied for grants to expand the range of instruments available to students, including a marimba, bassoon, oboe and two horns. These “essential” instruments are also “some of the most expensive,” Ohannessian said. Acquiring them has meant students can play “more challenging” pieces of music and learn instruments they have an interest in, rather than just those the school can afford.
Stutman told the teachers and administrators, “You are what makes Longmeadow School so special.”
The following educators received LEEF grants this year:
- David Allen, Blueberry Hill School principal
- Laura Arpiainen, Blueberry Hill School music teacher
- Ruthann August, Longmeadow High School student support
- Susan Barron, Wolf Swamp Road School fifth grade teacher
- Chelsea Berry, math coach, grades 3-5
- Tracy Bradshaw, Williams Middle School grade 7 math teacher
- Melissa Candon, Longmeadow High School world languages teacher
- Pamela Cangemi, Williams Middle School grade 7 English teacher
- Wendy Case, Wolf Swamp Road School fifth grade teacher
- Mark Cormier, Longmeadow High School English teacher
- Cara Crandall, Glenbrook Middle School English teacher
- Carly Cronin, Wolf Swamp Road School fifth grade teacher
- Jennifer Daponde, Wolf Swamp Road School fifth grade teacher
- Cathy Eaton, Center School kindergarten teacher
- Kathleen Epaul, Longmeadow High School world languages teacher
- Chelsea Fratini, Wolf Swamp Road School kindergarten teacher
- Kelly Gallo, Longmeadow High School wellness teacher
- Kerry Kennedy, Longmeadow High School librarian
- Susan Lauser, Wolf Swamp Road School art teacher
- Julia Manna, Center School literacy coach
- Brenda Mazza, district literacy coach, grades K-2
- John McCarthy, Williams Middle School STEAM teacher
- Beckie McKittrick, Wolf Swamp Road School kindergarten teacher
- Rebecca Noble, Williams Middle School grade 6 teacher
- Anthony Ohannessian, Williams Middle School band/orchestra teacher
- Rebecca Powell, district math coach
- Judith Ranahan, Glenbrook Middle School grade 6 numeracy and literacy in action teacher
- Michelle Sylvester, Williams Middle School grade 6 teacher
- Corrina Tabin, Glenbrook Middle School grade 7 resource support
- Kendra Therrien, Wolf Swamp Road School kindergarten teacher
- Arthur Thovmasian, Longmeadow High School music teacher
