During the 2023-2024 school year, the High School offered an introductory course and an advanced course on Artificial Intelligence through Inspirit AI, courtesy of previous Foundation grants. The courses were taught virtually to students with two high school science teachers overseeing the students. This grant funds the same introductory and advanced courses again in 2024-2025 and also a 1:1 AI Mentorship program for interested students who have completed the advanced course.  Students will be paired with a mentor, in their area of interest to work on an individualized research program. Artificial Intelligence is and will continue to have a significant impact on our students' lives and their potential future careers.  The school does not have faculty with a background in this field, and the field is changing so rapidly that it would be difficult for one of our teachers to remain current with the latest developments.  The advantage of using Inspirit AI is that the instructors are current or recently graduated AI students from top institutions such as Stanford, MIT and Columbia and as such are familiar with the cutting edge work in this area.

Through this grant, the Picture House will partner with Bronco TV and the BHS Film Club to bring a round of film and TV industry professionals as guest speakers to Bronxville High School. Through detailed discussions about life on film sets, crew positions and their responsibilities, students will learn about networking, specialization, and career planning. When applicable and logistically possible, guest speakers will also give demonstrations of the work they do, whether with lighting and camera equipment or editing and post production.  The speakers have wide ranging experience across arts and entertainment and STEM.

This grant funds a pilot program in which the Bronxville Picture House would teach simple camera and video techniques to first graders to create “How-To” videos. The first graders will film short videos throughout the pilot course and all pieces will be compiled into a final video.

Through our Bronxville Promise, the District has committed to developing lessons that teach students the skills of civil discourse and how to respectfully disagree on topics that matter. This grant allows further curriculum work for interested Middle and High School teachers to create these opportunities for students.  During the Civil Discourse Boot Camp, each participating teacher will review the process around civil discourse and the work that has been done thus far, engage in further curriculum writing and workshop some ideas and texts with peers, and try out the lesson with peers and obtain feedback.

This grant provides funding for a college essay boot camp in August 2024 for the BHS Class of 2025. This initiative will supplement and build upon the existing in-house program held in the spring by the English Department.  The Director of Counseling will work with the vendor to tailor a targeted program focused on essay revision and strategy.  Investing in a college essay boot camp led by a recognized expert will help students to showcase their unique talents and accomplishments and demonstrate who they are through their essays, increasing their chances of successful admissions results. This boot camp will be designed to provide strategic guidance and help to ensure the smooth completion of college essays in a timely manner.

This grant proposal enables students in our Special Education classes to participate in equine assisted learning, which is an experience where participants are offered a safe environment with horses to enhance social-emotional skills, build relationships, and gain confidence. Ground Programs are “unmounted”, meaning the lesson takes place on the ground.  Ground Programs are a wonderful way for the participant to learn about horses and their behaviors by participating in a variety of exercises and activities with the horse.  The equine assisted learning program targets improving communication, fine and gross motor skills, body awareness, sensory integration and modulation, and time management skills.

During the fall of 2023, the school district provided funding for a mental performance coach to meet with all varsity athletes once for approximately one hour.  Athletes and their coaches met with the trainer in 4 groups ranging from 20-50 students. This grant provides additional funding for this work to continue with winter and spring varsity athletes and to expand the program from one to two sessions for each of the 4 groups per season. 

Through this grant, the Mental Health First Aid organization will train middle school staff.  The Foundation approved a grant last spring for a group of teachers in the high school to receive Mental Health First Aid training, and this training was extremely well received by high school staff.  Through this next phase of training, Middle school staff members will become more knowledgeable about identifying students who are in crisis (or close to being in crisis) and direct them to the correct support staff members.  This grant will serve as the stepping stone for teachers and staff to be able to better support their students.  

The Bronxville Promise compels us to strive for a community of belonging.  To that end, the school has been working to revise the Middle School Advisory Curriculum to include lessons on belonging, developing an inclusive school community, and anti-bullying. Thus far, the school has written two full units for Middle School Advisory including, "Creating an Inclusive School Culture", and "A Case Study on Ostracism: A Middle School Perspective". Through this grant, the school will revise both these units based on teacher and student feedback and write one additional unit for grade 8.  The proposed work will include a case study approach, as students have shared they find it easier to talk about case studies than share personal experiences as it relates to bullying and feeling that they belong.  The school intends to incorporate conflict resolution skills and strategies for distress tolerance as well as a service learning component. 

This grant will pilot a community garden for Special Education students as phase one for what ultimately could grow into a larger school initiative if the pilot is successful. Other teachers/student groups/clubs will be welcome to coordinate with the Special Education teachers if they would like to help out and use the space. The grant will fund the construction of the garden space, furnishings, tools and supplies for the garden, and related curriculum development/programming for the Special Education students.

In recent years, the school has introduced different types of flexible seating in classrooms (swing desks, cushions, wobble stools) for independent and partnership work. This grant enables first grade teachers to incorporate more flexible seating options into their classrooms. The teachers have consulted with the second grade team, which previously implemented flex seating in their classrooms, to learn which flexible seating options they found to be successful and which options really supported the students.  

Over the past several years, the school has introduced and provided students with different types of seating (swing desks, cushions, wobble stools) for independent and partnership work. After observing the success of the second grade team’s flexible seating redesign, this grant will fund flexible furniture for the third grade to increase student engagement through choice, collaboration, and reflective thinking as a group or individual. As the school adapts our curriculum to teach the skills of the 21st century, it is important to align the development of these skills with the physical space of our classrooms.

Through this grant, the Performing Arts Department will display high quality photographs of past performances in the auditorium lobby. This grant provides the funding to allow faculty to have the selected photographs professionally matted and framed and then hung in the auditorium lobby.

The Bronxville School’s administration is pursuing plans to construct an indoor security vestibule at the Pondfield Road (“flagpole”) entrance to the school building, completing the installation of an enhanced security infrastructure at all three main entrances to the District’s school buildings.  The project will include the build out of the new security vestibule and the related reconfiguration and renovation of the current Middle School office and rotunda space to accommodate the new indoor vestibule. This grant provides funding to cover the direct costs associated with the construction of the security vestibule including electrical, heating, ventilation and air conditioning work.

This grant funds a new audio system in the Main Gym, which is used by the entire school district for various activities (daily P.E. classes, athletic teams, and other activities including testing, spelling bees, guest speakers, and community events).   

This grant funds a set of Baroque bows for High School Orchestra students. The professional standard in concert halls and universities today is to perform music of the Baroque era with Baroque bows. Yet in K-12 educational settings, students spend all of their time learning Baroque pieces on modern instruments. This grant was inspired by a visit of the HS orchestra to the Trinity Wall Street Baroque Orchestra, during which they were advised to obtain Baroque bows. This visit also raised the possibility of future collaboration between the Bronxville HS Orchestra and the Historical Music Program at The Juilliard School, which could involve their students visiting Bronxville to work with our students and our students visiting Juilliard to observe their rehearsals. Having a class set of Baroque bows will allow HS Orchestra students to learn Baroque performance style in a deeper and more meaningful way than they could with conventional bows. Students will dig deeper into music history to understand how to use the bows and interpret the music and collaborate with one another to fully realize the music.

This grant enables the K-12 Fine Arts Department to update their Macbooks, iPad Pros, and Apple pencils for various uses across the curriculum.  The Arts Department uses this technology in all art classes, and this grant enhances students’ ability to create. Students will always focus on hands-on, tactile techniques in art, but the technology integration expands these explorations to innovate content and ways of thinking. Students will use the sophisticated technology and programs used in professional art and design fields through various digital art projects and incorporate these tools into their creative process and sketchbooks/journals including career-focused applications such as animation, illustration and graphic design. The K-12 curriculum continuum culminates in AP Art & Design, which is now fully digital.

3-D printing has been part of the work in Middle School Technology class for many years where students create fun designs, including the capstone project for eighth graders of designing a playable game that incorporates 3D printed game pieces. This grant will fund the purchase of plastics processing equipment that will recycle the waste material from 3-D printers. Using this equipment, the Middle School Technology class will collect waste plastic, then grind it down, and form the waste into different objects that can be functional and useful to our community. Collecting, grinding, and forming are the three basic steps we need to take in order to make recycling more of an active part of our community and close the waste loop.  This equipment will transform recycling into an activity rather than simply filling the correct bin.  

This grant will fund the purchase of two pieces of equipment that would assist in the training of athletes at all three of these levels: (1) the Roger Tek Sled; and (2) the Crowther Pan Sled. The Roger Tek sled is a multi- function sled that allows coaches to coach both offense and defensive players. Most sleds are specific-based, which means they are used primarily for either offense or defense and are for specific positions (linebackers, linemen, etc.) The Roger Tek Sled has the ability to be stationary, or once engaged by the athlete, to be moved from either side offensively or defensively, allowing athletes to be engaged in high level repetitions while being in a controlled and safe environment. The Crowther Pan Sled allows two athletes at a time to work all levels of blocking, but the sled will not move straight if either of the athletes uses the wrong technique. This gives the coach and athlete immediate feedback to improve technique and overall safety. The Crowther Pan Sled allows players to test and better understand timing, leverage, speed and aggressiveness, which in return improves confidence and safety.

This grant is for outdoor musical equipment for Elementary School and Special Education students. The equipment will be installed in a space separate from the active physical play area so students can experiment with it, have spontaneous social engagement and communication, and engage in self-expression. The equipment has a curvy design so it is easier for students with a limited range of movement or players in wheelchairs to reach all the notes. Providing students with the opportunity to engage in music on the playground provides a new outlet to promote well-being and improve their mental health.

This grant enables the AP World Languages teachers and High School Principal to attend the annual AP Conference in July 2024. The conference will help AP teachers to learn new approaches to planning, pedagogical techniques, and ways to enhance AP curriculum.  The AP Conference is a national event that brings together educators from across the country. At the AP conference, AP teachers have the opportunity to share instructional strategies with colleagues around the country, explore new resources and technology, and develop best practices for AP language curricula. Two World Languages teachers have submitted proposals to present two workshops at the AP Conference. One workshop is titled “Empowering AP Students through Service Learning” about the incorporation of a WE Service Learning Project into the AP language curriculum.  The High School Principal is interested in expanding the WE service model beyond the World Language classroom to other disciplines in the high school.

At the end of the 2023-2024 school year, a member of the Social Studies Department is retiring, and the school will be adding a new AP to the curriculum. In preparation for these changes, the Social Studies Department will extend an invitation to the faculty member assigned to teach the courses next year to attend the AP summer conference.  At the AP conference, the teacher will have the opportunity to learn new teaching strategies from colleagues around the country, explore new resources, and develop best practices for enhancing the AP Social Studies curriculum.

Through this grant, the Director of Curriculum and the High School Principal will travel to Finland with a group of educators and administrators from Putnam Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services (PNWBOCES). The group will make school visits and attend educational workshops. The Finnish educational system is a success story, transforming from a Soviet-influenced poor performer as late as the 1960s to a country that routinely places in the top 5-10 countries in the world in PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) testing. Interesting characteristics of the Finnish system include little to no homework, an emphasis on free play, and later introduction to formal schooling. The purpose of the trip is to determine if there are innovative/successful practices or ideas from the Finnish system that can be adapted for use in our school district.

This grant will facilitate professional development in fostering critical thinking skills across curriculum and instruction for the High School English Department. Specifically, this grant will focus on applications in the Socratic seminar in concert with the English Department’s objective to implement civil discourse across our 9-12 continuum.  Through this professional development for the English Department, every High School student will be impacted by the instruction that is developed as a result of this grant. This grant aligns with the dispositions of Critical Thinking and the newly developed Heart of the Bronxville Promise which focuses on developing open mindedness and empathy for others with dissenting opinions and viewpoints.

The Bronxville School has a longstanding professional relationship with the Gilder-Lehrman Institute (GLI). This grant funds three one-day workshops for High School and Middle School Social Studies teachers, focusing on both (1) specific historical content delivered by subject matter experts; and (2) instruction in the GLI’s Teaching Literacy Through History pedagogical approach. The Bronxville teachers are planning to structure the three workshops around “Enduring Issues” (e.g., nationalism). In addition to reflecting the current theme in both the Regents and AP examinations, this approach allows all teachers to participate fully (vs focusing on a specific time frame or event, such as Post-Civil War Reconstruction). Most of the discussion will revolve around what Teaching Literacy Through History entails, which is a set of skills to help students interpret primary sources.

The NCTE annual conference brings together best classroom practices, emerging research in ELA instruction, and experienced educators to discuss and develop ELA-focused work. Keynote speakers, workshops and sessions focus on different strands within the study and teaching of ELA to engage teachers in the areas of their curriculum that need the most support. Workshops designed for literacy and writing and reading instruction for every age are offered, bringing together a wealth of knowledge, practice and experience in the teaching of ELA.

The National Council for Social Studies hosts an annual conference presenting current issues in Social Studies curriculum and best teaching practices. This grant enables one faculty representative from the High School and one from the Middle School to attend.  The attending faculty will have the opportunity to share best teaching practices with colleagues around the country, develop strategies for enhancing the Social Studies curriculum, and explore new teaching resources.

This grant will help to enable the senior class to secure motivational speaker Harlan Cohen to speak to students and parents in late May 2024. Mr. Cohen is a nationally known speaker with a social media following of over a million viewers.  Mr. Cohen will address graduating seniors on "Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable". This interactive seminar will walk the seniors through all the changes ahead, helping them address issues of college planning, first generation issues, navigating change, life in the classroom, life outside the classroom, commuting, homesickness, roommates, relationships, parent issues, mental health and  finances. His college "life hacks" are designed to prepare students to tackle adversity in the upcoming college years.  The objective in speaking to eighth and ninth graders is to introduce students to overcoming rejection and apply strategies that will enable them to pave a path to achieve success in High School. The framework and strategies will empower students to embrace change, navigate adversity, and find support as they transition to life in High School and college.  The PTA will co-sponsor an evening seminar titled "Happy, Healthy, Almost Stress-Free College Planning"  open to all Bronxville parents.

The goal of this grant is to help the Elementary School student population to resolve challenging issues during recess and reach peaceful resolutions.  Engaged in a project-based learning experience, first graders collaboratively designed the Peace Path for the school’s playground to address conflicts peacefully, literally step by step. Students walk the Peace Path with their peers, following prompts that include clarifying questions, active listening, and suggestions for overcoming their difficulties.  This grant provides funding for the supplies to install the Peace Path. The first grade classes plan to incorporate the Peace Path into their classrooms as well.

The goal of this grant is to highlight our school's character and personality through new finishes to one of the main stairwells. The staircase will be refinished with particular images and sayings that are symbolic to our school community, including the dispositions of the Bronxville Promise, the Be 3 characteristics, and positive affirmations. 

This grant provides funding for the school to have a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (“CSCS”) for a second year. Through a previous grant, the Foundation funded the CSCS’s work with Bronxville students during the 2023-2024 school year. The CSCS will continue to develop conditioning programs for (1) Middle and High School students who do not participate on athletic teams, and (2) all the interscholastic sports teams for pre-season, in-season, and off-season training. The perceived benefits of the program are increasing athletic performance, improving the psycho-social well-being of adolescents, and promoting and developing healthy exercise habits. The school currently employs an athletic trainer who provides valuable care to student athletes, and the CSCS provides additional support. Student athletes will follow yearlong periodized programming that monitors their overall volume and intensity in relation to their sport specific season, and the CSCS will help non-student athletes to design their own appropriate programs. Selected exercises will be time efficient and take into account students’ current biological and chronological training age. Designed programs also will include proper warm up, order of exercise, volume, and cool down.

The grant commissions artist in residence, Bren Bataclan, to work with Elementary School students to create a large, colorful  mural in the second floor corridor. The mural will provide a dynamic, positive visual for the entire school building, where staff and students can see themselves reflected in the Bronxville Promise. Through this proposed week-long project, Elementary School students will attend an assembly with the artist and create their own visuals, and a number of visuals per grade will be incorporated into the mural. Students will be encouraged to observe the entire process and ask questions as the artist creates the mural and brings the promise to life before their eyes. The project will culminate in a mural unveiling for the school where everyone will be able to see the important work that they participated in throughout the week.

Regardless of whether students continue into computer science, knowledge of the fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence and its power in various industries will be relevant to their futures. After a successful year-long, virtual AI course through Inspirit AI, which was funded through a previous Foundation grant, this grant provides funding for a bootcamp for seniors to learn about this field prior to college.

Through a previous Foundation grant, the High School offered an introductory course on Artificial Intelligence through Inspirit AI.  This grant will fund the same course for a second year and an advanced AI course for students who have taken the introductory course. Exposing students to the fundamental concepts in AI will be beneficial for their studies in college and beyond. The advantage of using Inspirit AI is that the instructors are current or recently graduated AI students from top institutions such as Stanford, MIT and Columbia. They are familiar with the cutting edge work in this area.

This grant commissions the writing of a musical selection specifically tailored to the abilities of our Bronxville Band students.  The composer, Carl Strommen, will meet with students and Band Director, Uma Karkala, throughout the process and provide hands-on experience to our students as he crafts a composition that will be an educational, musical, and historical piece for the Bronxville community.

To further support the Performing Arts department and Bronxville’s growing chapter of the International Thespian Society (“ITS”), this grant will cover the cost of the troupe’s dues. Bronxville’s chapter of the ITS has been a success and continues to grow in popularity.The troupe has acted through several plays including Martin McDonough’s “Pillowman,” Steven Karam’s “The Humans,” and  Simon Stephen’s “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime,” and Yasmin Reza’s “Art.”

The Foundation has funded two previous grants for student musicians to work with professional chamber music coaches. Orchestra teacher Matthew Dell has identified additional music professionals to help prepare student chamber groups to compete in the Young Musicians Program for the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center, as well as perform for judges at New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Spring Festival. Participation in this program is open to all High School Orchestra members as well as pianists and other instrumentalists. By working with these professional coaches, students will expand their knowledge of musicality and technique.

This grant will fund a “Programmer in Residence” to work with Middle School and High School teachers on ways to corporate computer science into their existing curriculums. A programmer who works professionally in the programming field will work with Bronxville School faculty in different scenarios, including in-class demonstrations and activities, to relate computer science concepts to any subject matter.  

Administrators and faculty will review the process for designing activities that promote Civil Discourse in classrooms surrounding controversial topics that align with curriculum. Teachers will identify topics, select resources, and begin planning.  This grant will enable faculty to do additional curriculum work over the summer to test, refine, and share their work broadly. The goal is to design two to three Civil Discourse discussions that will occur in various High School classes that cover the disciplines of Social Studies, English, Technology and Computer Science, and Science. Students in these classes will benefit from learning what Civil Discourse is and how they benefit from being a part of one. The goal of Civil Discourse is defined as one that respects differing opinions, which is connected to our Bronxville Promise through Engaged Citizenship. Additionally, the goal of Civil Discourse is not to change one's mind, necessarily, but broaden one's understanding of the issue by hearing multiple perspectives. Teachers will identify the topics which will be vetted by the Strategy and Curriculum Committee of the Board of Education.  

Cybersecurity is a new and constantly changing discipline.  This “Hacker Camp” will create space outside the regular school curriculum to expose students to the basics of Cybersecurity with a variety of hands-on activities over the course of 5 days. These lessons will include, but not be limited to: working with microcontrollers, learning programming basics, connecting hardware and software, communication and cryptology, and networking.  

Through a previous Foundation grant, work within the National History Day (NHD) program was expanded to invite different specialized professionals in each component of the NHD project (film, performing arts, web and media design) to work with students on their research, composition, and submissions. This grant continues this NHD work by inviting more specialists in these areas to work with the Freshman and Sophomore classes, allowing them to strengthen their research, analysis, and presentation skills.

This grant will fund summer curriculum work hours for Social Studies teachers in grades 6-12 to align historical thinking skills and enduring issues of history, as well as focus on annotation skills and writing skills in preparation for revised Regents exams in US History and World History.

To take better advantage of our performing space in the auditorium, this grant proposal is for the purchase of a custom black projection curtain and projector. The OptiBlack 2.2 projection curtain will allow future production of plays and musicals to achieve much higher production values and professional scenic design by incorporating modern digital projections. These new upgrades to the Bronxville auditorium will create visually-striking, modern productions for our student performers and tech crew.  

Ten years ago, the Foundation approved a grant to install water bottle filling stations in the school. This grant will install an additional bottle fill station at The Bronco Barn to help hydrate athletes during practices and games and reduce waste from plastic water bottles. The water filling station will have two bottle fill units  (each having both a bottle fill and water fountain function). The grant will also include 10 small, portable 5-gallon coolers for away games when bottle fillers are not guaranteed to be accessible. The installation of a bottle filling station at the Bronco Barn will give athletes a convenient place to fill their own water bottles close to Chambers and Hayes Fields and maintain adequate hydration. In addition, maintenance will benefit from having less waste to manage.

This grant is for new furniture and equipment for a newly expanded athletic training room. The newly renovated space allows student athletes to get pre/post practice and game treatment, get evaluated, and do their rehabilitation of injuries in a facility better equipped to support their needs. The equipment and furniture includes a stationary bike, two treatment tables, a hydrocollator, and a multi-purpose combination rack.

This innovatively designed and furnished space will be used each day for eating, working, practicing mindfulness, and to bring the faculty/staff community together. This space will also be used throughout the day to give faculty a quiet place to work when their classrooms are being utilized. The goal of this grant is to offer an inviting, comfortable place for coworkers to have lunch, socialize, build comradery and recharge. 

The Life Skills/Speech space was renovated during the summer of 2022 to better meet the needs of the students and now has multiple areas that provide a learning/working environment for the students in the program.  There is an academic instruction area where students work on their individual programs and receive small group instruction.  Students work on math, reading and writing skills based on their individual educational plans. They learn social skills and about community. There is a kitchen and laundry area for students to work on skills in this area so that they become more skilled for jobs in the home, school building and in the community.  There are also mats, sensory lighting, a swing, a trampoline, a treadmill, music and other resources for students to decompress and take a break. Upgraded furniture will provide much greater flexibility and enable the seating to be moved on a regular basis to meet the needs of the students in this program. The flexible furniture will enable students to work together or independently as needed. 

This grant will add a second Gaga pit to the grass area near the playground to allow more students to participate in this popular game at the same time. The current Gaga Pit, which was funded through a previous Foundation grant, is a circular pit with wooden walls surrounding a sand or rubberized surface. The game of Gaga, which is played with a ball, is incredibly popular at the Bronxville School. The Elementary School uses the Gaga Pit during recess and our after-school program, and it is also used in Physical Education classes (K-12).

This grant will combine the Occupational Therapy (OT) and Physical Therapy (PT) rooms to create an interdisciplinary space that will be referred to as the OT/PT Suite. The interdisciplinary model will support the current OT/PT work and implement sensory integration equipment/techniques. Since the rooms share many of the same students, combining the rooms will provide interdisciplinary collaboration, enhance communication, team work, and evidence-based interventions to better support therapy services in real time within the OT/PT department. The applicants are partnering with Fun and Function on the design concepts, the selection of effective equipment, and professional development.

This grant will purchase display boards and cases to showcase student artwork K-8 and will be shared with any grade level, discipline or school organization. New display cases also will be located in the Hallways radiating from the rotunda and used for the arts and as needed by other subject areas such as math, world language, and social studies. The boards and cases will create a positive, creative environment for our students and promote the engagement of  the entire school as students share and respond to the artwork and ideas of others.

Acquiring three MiniOne Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) systems and two classroom sets of MiniOne Electrophoresis systems for the science department will provide a wide range of students with an opportunity to explore genetics like never before. PCR is an essential technique in today’s molecular biology and biotech applications. Starting with a small sample of DNA, scientists can produce billions of copies of a specific fragment quickly and affordably with this DNA copy machine. PCR can be done by students in the classroom using the MiniOne PCR system, which was developed for the classroom and provides an intuitive environment for the students with its Bluetooth integration and app-based software. Gel Electrophoresis is a workhorse in the molecular biology lab. The technique is used to separate various sizes of DNA by running DNA through a molecular sieve called an agarose gel. Students analyze the positions of the bands to piece together the molecular clues to help answer questions about the DNA samples. The MiniOne Electrophoresis system brings together all of the critical components of electrophoresis in an intuitive, education-friendly, and safe system. This powerful combination translates into students being able to SEE their results the same day they run their activity, keeping them fully engaged in their work.

This grant will add a book vending machine in the Elementary School for use as part of the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Be 3 program. Students will be given tokens to choose a book of their choice from the book vending machine as a reward for positive behavior. Book vending machine tokens will encourage students to read more and engage in positive behaviors tailored to the school values. 

This grant will enable the track team to display current records that are held by past and present members of the Bronxville Track Team. Having a board that displays all of the accomplishments that the team has accrued over the years will be a great motivator for current and future athletes.

Through the Elementary School’s reading/phonics curriculum, faculty teaches students foundational reading skills, and students then practice these skills by reading decodable texts. Decodable books are texts used in beginning reading instruction and are written to follow a sequenced and consistent phonics pattern. Providing K-2 students with a broad library of decodable texts will contribute to greater phonics skill practice and acquisition. By reading texts with a high percentage of decodable words, students will strengthen their reading abilities and be able to practice phonics concepts they are learning. 

This grant will provide funding for first grade classroom flexible seating. Giving students a choice of seating helps them to focus and best identify their learning styles. The flexible seating options will allow for multiple meeting areas and arrangements of small groups for learning.

This grant will fund the purchase of highly durable, top-of-the line lacrosse goals with a cart so they can be easily moved and stored during the off-season.

The percussion section is an important part of the Bronxville band, and upgraded equipment will improve the students’ experience and provide higher quality performances. This equipment will also be used in Band Director Uma Karkala’s cross-curriculum project with the language department to teach students the music of the languages they are learning. Both French and Spanish have a rich history in music, and Uma Karkala wants to develop students’ love of these cultures not only through language but also through music.

The Bronxville High School Arts Society hosts Open Mic Nights, featuring High School student performances. This grant proposal will fund the purchase of portable sound equipment so that the Open Mic Night performances can continue to thrive and be an opportunity for students to showcase their performing arts talents, inspire the next generation of student artists, and bring our community together in a joyful celebration of the arts.

New probes will enhance a variety of lab activities, both existing and new. The Pasco probes provide for a fast, efficient and reliable means to collect different experimental variables. This grant will replace some probeware that has a finite usable life and add several new sensors that will allow the collection of new and different data than is currently possible.

This grant will refurbish the existing batting cage, including increasing the height by four feet and adding mesh lining in the batting cage.  Refurbishment will improve safety for players and coaches, including the elimination of ricochet risk from batted balls inside the cage and allow for the use of the cage by two hitters.  The refurbished cage will: (i)  be used by all three school baseball teams, i.e., modified, JV, and varsity; (ii) be in line with modern designed school cages; (iii) provide for optimal use of the existing 80' footprint by allowing two batters to simultaneously use the cage; and (iv) provide optimal safety to players.  

The steeplechase is a spring track event in which both male and female athletes run 3000m around the track (7.5 laps). This grant will fund the purchase of steeplechase barriers so the track athletes can use them as part of their training for the event.

This grant will fund the purchase of tools and equipment for the construction of production sets under the supervision of technical director, Brian Wedeking. The grant will also include the purchase of a locked cabinet to keep all the materials safe and secure when not in use. Our auditorium space has some limitations that make the fully expansive use of the black projector curtain impossible, so the sets will be supplemented with components built with the set of tools. Technical theater allows our students an opportunity to create and develop skills not available in any other class.

This grant request is for athletic training equipment to develop more high end velocity and acceleration, allowing Bronco athletes across different sports to compete at the highest level.  The equipment includes the "Run Rocket", MYOSOURCE acceleration speed cord Bungee Resistant kits, Kbrands Elite Speed Training Kits, SKLZ Speed Chutes, and SKLZ - SPEEDSAC Weighted Training Kits.

This grant allows the Elementary School to continue with Phase 2 of their design thinking work.  Phase 1 of the design thinking work, which was also funded through a Foundation grant, reflected on the impact of Covid on relationships within the school community, between students and their peers and students and their teachers, and also between the school and community, families and teachers.  As a result of the analysis of data from Phase 1, the Elementary School will focus Phase 2 on alignment to what is important, namely, the Bronxville Promise.

This grant allows the Middle School to continue with Phase 2 of their design thinking work. Phase 1 of the design thinking work, which was also funded through a Foundation grant, focused on the Middle School's identity and how to strengthen school culture. As a result of the analysis of data from Phase 1, Phase 2 of this work will focus on developing a Response to Intervention program; a robust Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) program; interdisciplinary curriculum work, and a stronger advisory program building on the already excellent program that exists.

Kindergarten and Special Education teachers will participate in training for the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education (IMSE) Orton-Gillingham method and the essential five components to literacy. The IMSE Comprehensive Orton-Gillingham training will deepen teachers' understanding of the structure and foundation of the English language as well as the research behind the science of reading. The course will also provide greater knowledge in teaching students in all three tiers of response to intervention. Last summer, the first and second grade teachers received this training and believed it deepened their literacy instruction knowledge.

This grant will purchase  Meddy Teddys, which are specialized flexible teddy bears, for Kindergarten classes, the Special Education classes, and two Elementary School psychologists. A core element of The CARE program is Mindfulness. The Meddy Teddys help to demonstrate to Elementary School students how to sit mindfully, how to stretch, and how to recognize a calm expression.

This grant will fund a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (“CSCS”) who will work with the athletic department for one year to develop conditioning programs for (1) Middle and High School students who do not participate on athletic teams, and (2) all the interscholastic sports teams for pre-season, in-season, and off-season training. A properly designed program will increase athletic performance, improve the psycho-social well-being of adolescents, and promote and develop healthy exercise habits. 

The incidence of mental health and substance abuse disorders in teens has been rising.  We have professionals in the building, our school psychologist and counselors, to manage students who have significant issues. The high school brought in trainers to provide Youth Mental Health First Aid training to all of the high school faculty.  This grant will fund the training of 3-5 teachers more extensively in the program.  Once a small group of faculty receives the additional training, they will train a grade level of students, possibly 10th grade, in the program. The grant also will also cover the cost of workbooks for the students. This training will give students the tools to understand mental health and substance use disorders, destigmatize these disorders, and support their peers and seek adult, professional help for themselves or their peers when necessary.

Greg Shamie, from the Leadership Program, will support faculty advisors and students in grade 8 and selected students in grade 9 to create compelling and dynamic presentations that describe their experience through the lens of the Bronxville Promise - Leadership, Innovation, Critical Thinking, and Engagement. These in person sessions will be supported by the asynchronous mini course of videos created by Greg Shamie, which was funded by the Foundation in 2021.

This grant is to run a pilot program offering students an opportunity to enroll in an online course about artificial intelligence with a faculty supervisor in the building.   The organization that will offer the course is called Inspirit AI. Artificial Intelligence is an area of growing importance.  Allowing students to enroll in the Inspirit AI course with online course supervision by a high school faculty member will provide the school with a sense of student interest in this area as well as possible curriculum ideas.

This grant will provide continued support to Bronxville’s pilot chapter of the International Thespian Society by funding annual chapter fees as well as a field trip to Broadway.  Bronxville’s ITS Troupe continues to grow in popularity. The core group has grown from roughly a dozen to 20 students who attend weekly meetings. The troupe acts through plays and works with Shakespearean monologues. The students’ enthusiasm for theater has also manifested into a well-received, student-run one-act production of a play.

This grant is for College Kickstart software, which is designed to help students curate their college list and ensure it is balanced. The College Kickstart website states their software "bridges the gap" between "colleges I'm thinking about" and "colleges I'm applying to” and "streamlines the process for both students and counselors."  Over the past few years, the number of college applications has skyrocketed. Use of the College Kickstart software will empower each student during the college application process by giving them access to the most impactful information available to them.

With this grant, work within the National History Day (NHD) program will be expanded to invite different specialized professionals in each component of the NHD project (film, performing arts, web and media design) to work with students on their research, composition, and submissions. This grant will benefit the Freshman and Sophomore classes, allowing them to strengthen their research, analysis, and presentation skills. 

The Chamber Music Club was created last year as a pilot program to coach chamber groups in Bronxville High School’s music program. The groups were entered in the Youth Chamber Music Society (CMS) Lincoln Center competition, which provides opportunities for professional coaching sessions and live performances. This grant will continue to support this pilot by providing additional coaching with professional musicians to prepare our chamber groups for concerts.  The students hope to benefit from live performances, professional coaching sessions, and community service opportunities through collaborations with the Elementary and Middle School orchestras. 

This grant will fully refurbish the auditorium's Steinway Model B piano. This piano serves seventy-five percent of our student population and is enjoyed by the community during many performing arts events. 

This grant will provide funding to purchase tables and stools that are designed for artmaking and that are appropriate and safe for Elementary School art rooms.  This grant will benefit each and every Elementary School student along with Special Education students in the Middle School and High School.  The new furniture can be easily moved and rearranged to provide flexibility and the stools are adjustable in height, allowing students to be more innovative and engaged in the creative process and to do collaborative work in various groupings. 

This grant is for flexible furniture in the Elementary School science rooms. The new furniture will enable students to carry out their school work comfortably and encourages students to work collaboratively, flexibly and creatively.  As the teachers adapt the curriculum to teach the skills of the 21st century, the learning environment also impacts students. Today’s students thrive in adaptive, flexible classroom environments that facilitate student engagement, collaboration, and connections with teachers.  This new redesign will benefit every single student in the Elementary School.

This grant will fund the construction of two outdoor learning spaces on the Bronxville School's campus.  The faculty and students have really responded positively to the increased class time spent outside since the pandemic began.  From a health and wellness standpoint, administrators expect the appeal of outside instruction to continue going forward even when pandemic-related restrictions are behind us. The two dedicated spaces for outdoor learning will be located behind the school.  The PTA is partnering with the Foundation to share the expense of funding this project.

This grant provides funding for FrontRow Juno Audio Systems for Middle School classrooms.  Through four previous Foundation grants, the Elementary School classrooms have been equipped with Juno systems.  During the pandemic, these systems have been incredibly helpful given that teachers and students are wearing masks. Post-pandemic, the audio systems are a great tool as well. The speaker system allows the teacher to move throughout the room seamlessly while ensuring all directions and instruction can be heard by all students.  They also help students focus who might otherwise be distracted.

Given pandemic-related restrictions, the high school held its annual musical outdoors in the spring of 2021, and the Foundation provided funding for a sound consultant and the rental of audio equipment for the shows.  After very favorable feedback on the spring performances, the high school decided to stage a production of The Crucible outdoors in the fall of 2021, and the Foundation provided similar audio support by funding a professional sound engineer and the rental of comprehensive microphone coverage.

This grant is for visits by outside contractor Mario Daniil for maintenance and updates to the TV Studio and the purchase of adapters to download video to laptops. The TV Studio is used by students throughout the district.

This grant will fund the purchase of Coros Pace 2 watches to allow the track coaching staff to gather athlete-specific information to help set individuals goals, make informed training decisions, and track the progress of student-athletes.  The varsity track and field team will benefit from streamlined tracking of student-athlete progress throughout the course of the season.  Furthermore, the information from the watches can be used to help avoid overuse injuries. 

This grant is for decodable texts that are used in beginning reading instruction and written to follow a sequenced and consistent phonics pattern. K-2 students read decodable texts in order to reinforce and solidify their understanding of phonics. Providing K-2 students with well-written decodable texts will contribute to greater phonics skill practice and acquisition. This is in line with the work the district has implemented in our kindergarten, first and second grade literacy program. 

This grant will provide a variety of sensory bins for our first graders to use during play time or if they need a sensory break. Sensory materials provide stimulating, hands-on experiences for kids. Sensory breaks also are beneficial for students that benefit from additional movement opportunities to help with focus, attention, and learning. The entire first grade will benefit from this grant. The bins will allow for collaborative play as well as an outlet or break for students.

This grant is to replace the backboard systems on the courts in the High School Gymnasium and the Blue Gymnasium with the new TruBounce Backboard system.  The TruBounce system enhances the game by providing a softer and better bounce, more mid-range options, and better scoring opportunities. All students in the Middle and High School will use the backboards in Physical Education class. The most significant benefit will be to our basketball teams, at every level: modified, freshman, junior varsity, and varsity. 

Over the past two years, students have spent more time in the outdoor areas of our campus than ever before and it is a trend that will likely continue.  Our school campus provides several wonderful outdoor areas for our students to enjoy, but they are not equipped to meet all of their needs.  The goal of this grant is to provide teachers with outdoor areas where full classes can be outside and have a place to sit comfortably.  Teachers will be able to have fresh air time effortlessly, whether the students are enjoying an art lesson on the tables, quiet reading sessions in the fresh air, or snack time. 

This grant is for the purchase of a treadmill for the Life Skills classroom.  Access to a treadmill in the classroom will provide students with an immediate, safe indoor environment for methodical movement to reduce stress, improve focus, and provide overall mental and physical well-being.

This grant is for Lego Spike Essentials for second grade, BricQ Essentials for kindergarten, Root Robots for fourth grade, and Unruly Splats for third, fourth and fifth grade.  The new kits have an additional curriculum (for sixth to eighth grade students) that the school can implement for the fifth grade in years to come. The  Root Robot allows for block-based and text-based programming to further engage students.  The Unruly Splats are currently used in PE classes, courtesy of a previous Foundation grant, and the set for the classroom will allow students to create even more complex games by combining computer programming and physical play. 

This grant will provide a Frontrow Juno Sound System for High School classrooms.  Over the past few years, the Foundation has funded grants for these portable Frontrow Juno Sound Systems for the Elementary and Middle School that have a student held microphone as well as a lanyard microphone for teachers to wear to be hands free.  This grant will cover the remaining High School classrooms so each room will be equipped with a sound system to save teachers voices and help students hear.

This grant will provide funding to purchase a Mac desktop for all of the editing that is done for Bronco TV and other schoolwide videos.

This grant will allow the Bronxville football program to expand its game and practice filming technology. This new technology will help players understand ways they can improve, as well as assist coaches in providing specific feedback to help improve players’ skills and abilities. It will also be a helpful tool in the recruiting process by giving college coaches another way to evaluate players.  The technology can be used by other Bronco teams as well.

Through a Foundation grant, the Elementary School was given the opportunity in June 2021 to process the time since the pandemic began to consider how they have changed as educators and what innovations occurred during this time that should be carried forward in future years.  Through this additional grant, the Elementary School will do further work in this area to be sure to capture all that was learned during those challenging times to continue to differentiate and reach all students.  The work with EnRusk follows a "design thinking" process that typically occurs in three stages. This grant application covers the first stage of the process. The Elementary School will further unpack, process, and reflect on teaching through a pandemic in order to spot innovations that occurred and scale them across the school, rethink processes and structure, and create innovative strategic projects and programming that continue to make us distinct.

Through a Foundation grant in the spring of 2021, the Bronxville Middle School was given the opportunity to process the time since the pandemic began to consider how they have changed as educators and what innovations occurred during that time that should be carried forward into future years.  Among the data shared was more opportunity to do interdisciplinary work and more connection between faculty members and students. The work with EnRusk will follow the "design thinking" process that occurs in three stages. This grant covers the first stage of the work and will allow the Middle School to begin to develop prototypes that make it unique.

The Institute for Multi-Sensory Education (IMSE) offers comprehensive training that will provide the first and second grade teachers with a thorough understanding of IMSE's approach and the science of reading. Participants will learn how to incorporate fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension into their daily lessons using multi-sensory, sequential, direct instruction.  A systematic and sequential phonics/reading program is a key component in the development of all students’ reading abilities.  This training will help teachers to reach students that need more instruction and provide small group support to master the skills needed to become a successful reader.    

This grant will fund Beth Agarabi's participation in the Kenyon Writers' Retreat for Educators. Ms. Agarabi would like to refresh and hone her professional development and writing craft, as the lesson designs will improve the curriculum for ninth and twelfth grade English classes and the Creative Writing Club. The program’s units and emphasis on contemporary literature will also be shared across grade levels at Fall Department meetings.  

This grant enables the Elementary School (K-5) to continue their work with Greg Tang by focusing on key skills and strategies for every grade, differentiating for enrichment and reteaching, and exploring how to teach the most critical skills in both live and virtual environments.  Greg Tang has created a website that enables teachers to identify specific concepts within the Singapore Math curriculum that are challenging for the class, groups, or individual students and then allows the teachers to create learning plans to address those specific areas.   His teaching targets progression and allows for differentiation in teaching plans within a class.

This grant enables the second grade team to continue to make math curriculum updates with Greg Tang by focusing on key skills and strategies and exploring how to teach the most critical skills in both live and virtual environments.  Greg Tang has created a website that enables teachers to identify specific concepts within the Singapore Math curriculum that are challenging for the class, groups, or individual students and then allows the teachers to create learning plans to address those specific areas.   His teaching targets progression and allows for differentiation in teaching plans within a class.

Each year, students in grade 8 and seniors enrolled in WISE curate portfolios of their work that align with the four dispositions of the Bronxville Promise. As part of the activity, they share their growth stories with the faculty in the form of presentations. For several years, the students have worked with Greg Shamie from The Leadership Project on how to give a dynamic presentation. Through this grant, Greg Shamie will develop modules for an asynchronous mini-course on public speaking that can be used by the school for years to come.  Additionally, Greg will train the seniors to coach the eighth-grade students in developing their presentations as part of their WISE internships.

This grant funds a second year of interactive Winning Mindset training for student athletes in grades 7-12.  Winning Mindset focuses on the cognitive well being of athletes and teaches them how to mentally prepare to compete and represent Bronxville in a sportsmanlike manner.

The Visual Arts team hopes that this grant will expand the printmaking curriculum in all three schools with benefits across different disciplines.  The Visual Arts team wants to build on the foundation that is currently in the curriculum by bringing in visiting artists for units in various avenues of printmaking (silk screen, intaglio, woodblock, etc).  Students in all grades can benefit from these lessons as they can be modified by age level.

This grant will enable the World Languages Department to host an evening symposium for students and parents focused on the cultural, linguistic and societal importance of second language acquisition in regard to future career choices and participation in our global community.  The symposium will consist of a keynote speaker followed by a panel discussion highlighting the impact and importance of second language knowledge in one’s career.  

The High School and Middle School language team wants to engage the Bronxville School District as well as the community at large in a celebration of the many voices of Bronxville and to recognize the impact of second language study beyond the walls of the classroom. The grant mostly covers the costs of materials/equipment for events during language week including cultural presentations and performances.

This grant will fund a pilot Food Scrap Recycling Program in two components. A guest speaker will educate Elementary School students about the importance of composting in reducing waste, and a food scrap recycling pilot program will be implemented in the school lunch rooms. 

This grant will train Elementary and Middle School students to recognize and act on the signs of choking so that they can help save lives. Using the tools provided in the Heimlich Heroes program, which includes fifteen minute instructional videos and interactive training dolls, this grant will teach the students how to identify a choking emergency and perform the Heimlich maneuver.

This grant will fund coaching sessions for 3 selected chamber music groups from the high school orchestra.  The students will prepare and participate in the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society ("CMS") Young Musicians Program.  The program provides an opportunity for advanced high school instrumentalists to perform in the Regional Concert professionally produced by CMS, receive coaching by CMS professionals, and ultimately perform at the Young Musicians Concert at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.   The sessions will be videotaped and shared with the full orchestra so that the larger group benefits from the coaching sessions.

Building on previous IDE grants for classroom technology and furniture, this grant outfitted Zoom classrooms with large screen monitors, webcams and microphones for hybrid and socially distanced instruction and provided teachers with home use equipment should the need for fully virtual instruction arise.  The District continues to fund IDE training for teachers to help them create learner-active, technology-infused classrooms with new components on teaching in hybrid and virtual environments.

This grant funded the application of PUREZONE to railings, handles and other high-touch areas to help keep the school facilities safe and clean.  Purezone is  an antimicrobial film that has been shown to combat the growth of coronavirus on surfaces.

This grant will transform the blacktop portion of the Elementary School playground into a 21st-century playspace through a thermoplastic playground surface with colorful designs like hopscotch, four-square, obstacle courses, and more. 

The District is continuing its partnership with Innovative Designs for Education (“IDE”), which  helps schools to redesign classrooms and strengthen instructional practice that supports students’ ability to take ownership of their work and develop executive functioning skills.  Through IDE professional development funded by the District, the school has created learning units to help students strengthen their capacity to lead, innovate, engage the world, and think critically.  This grant gives teachers who participated in intensive IDE training a budget to buy furniture and technology to redesign their classrooms to match the IDE instructional goals.

This grant funded coverboards for a student project to sample for salamanders in Bronx River Research II,  a course that embodies the District's vision for Project Based Learning. The research project aims to determine the effects of invasive plant species on amphibians.  This grant directly supports students in Bronx River II and the coverboards can be used by future students after this project. Students in Bronx River I (approximately 20) will assist with this project and will benefit as well.

This grant for a portable podcast studio will enable faculty and students to record podcasts of a professional quality for the entire District. This can be used immediately in the Middle School and High School for projects, and it will be introduced in the Elementary School as more people become comfortable with the equipment. This addresses all four of the Bronxville Promise components by amplifying student voices to discuss what is happening in their world and how they are processing schoolwork and their everyday lives.

This grant will fund additional Juno FrontRow Audio Systems for Elementary School classrooms.  During the pandemic, these systems are incredibly helpful given that teachers and students are wearing masks and observing social distancing guidelines. Post-pandemic, the audio systems are a great tool as well. These systems allow teachers and students to be easily heard and are especially helpful at the Elementary School level where younger students may have hearing issues that have not yet been diagnosed.

This grant will enable the District to launch an updated cable channel to communicate with school families and community members.  The cable channel will store multiple years of concerts and performances that can be easily accessed and will have a "bulletin board feature" with video, announcements and other modules (weather, twitter feeds, etc.) running simultaneously. The cable channel will enable the District to promote events and potentially stream live concerts, recitals and sporting events in the future.

Through two grants, the Foundation funded 15 Wolfe wireless microscopes to supplement the 34 microscopes that the Middle School already has.  These additional microscopes will allow 2 classes to run simultaneously without sharing.  Being able to give students an individual experience with the microscopes will give them better skills and independence and also is optimal during the pandemic.   This will benefit both the 7th and 8th grade curriculums.  In 7th grade, all students use the microscopes for a unit on cells.  In 8th grade, all students prepare for the NYS Science Exam, where there is a lab portion using microscopes.

Given pandemic-related restrictions, the High School is planning to do an outdoor musical in late spring 2021, and the Foundation funded two grants that will provide production assistance.  For the outdoor performance, individual microphones for every actor need to be rented as well as additional sound amplification equipment for the pit and audience. The grant also includes a consulting fee with Sean McNall from Hudson Valley Shakespeare Company to discuss best practices for performing outside.

This grant provides funding for the purchase of a new Digital SLR camera and case for use with Bronco TV, Bronco TV JR, and the Elementary School program. This camera will be for remote work like interviews and filming of school events outside of the studio.

The grant will replace the current PA system at Chambers Field and improve it with new equipment that will upgrade the sound quality.  A narrow dispersion sound system will help to limit the level of audio beyond the field area.

This grant is for four Keiser Performance Trainers, which are single-column, high-low pulley systems that use a pneumatic technology.  The Keiser technology provides a safer work-out than traditional strength-training methods by allowing the muscles to remain active and engaged throughout the entire range of motion and velocities with reduced shock loading to muscles, connective tissues and joints.  The Keiser trainers will be used by every fitness class, special education classes, and our athletic teams.

As part of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion work in the Elementary School, this grant provides funding for the first grade team to purchase a selection of fiction and nonfiction books to expand their classroom libraries to reflect a more diverse population. 

This grant will fund GoRout, a new technology that will benefit all athletes in the football program.  The technology will enable the coaches to create a more interactive curriculum with more repetitions in practice and less huddling and allow them to spend more time teaching technique, form and safety.

Dr. Elle Drago-Severson will continue her work with curriculum leaders (who represent faculty leadership across all grades and subject matters) as they pivot to hybrid learning, make adjustments to their curriculum, and rethink how best to develop a productive and cohesive classroom culture.  Curriculum leaders report that Dr. Severson’s guidance has been incredibly valuable as they work to support their teams emotionally and help them to remain resilient.

Through two separate grants, the Foundation funded the continuation of work that was begun over a year ago with EnRusk (formerly NoTosh) to use the “Design Thinking” process to develop innovations in the high school focused on building community and means of connection.  As of March 2020, four groups had developed prototype ideas to pilot in the high school, but they were forced to pause the work due to COVID-19.  The four groups reconvened with EnRusk in late January 2021. The pandemic has accelerated innovation at the high school and provides a unique opportunity to move forward with the prototypes. The prototype ideas to foster greater connectivity and community are even more salient during the pandemic and therefore the impetus to innovate around these areas is greater now than even last year. 

Through two separate grants, the Foundation funded ‘debrief' sessions led by Enrusk (formerly NoTosh) to determine what lessons have been learned in the High School during COVID and what we can take forward into the future. Enrusk will take the data during the debrief sessions and analyze it for themes and insights and generate reports to be shared with various constituents.   

The Foundation funded ‘debrief' sessions led by Enrusk (formerly NoTosh) to determine what lessons have been learned in the Elementary School and Middle School during COVID and what we can take forward into the future. Enrusk will take the data during the debrief sessions and analyze it for themes and insights and generate reports to be shared with various constituents.   

This grant will allow staff members to enroll in a free Bronxville Adult School course as a gesture of appreciation for their work and to promote health and wellness.

Building on the work of the Diversity Book Club, this grant will bring New York Times best selling author/illustrator Grace Lin to the Bronxville School to address themes of inclusion, identity, and the power of story.  Grace Lin won the Newbery Honor for "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" and the Theodor Geisel Honor for "Ling and Ting." Her novel "When the Sea Turned to Silver" was a National Book Award Finalist and her picture book, "A Big Mooncake for Little Star" was awarded the Caldecott Honor. In 2016, Grace’s art was displayed at the White House where Grace, herself, was recognized by President Obama’s office as a Champion of Change for Asian American and Pacific Islander Art and Storytelling.  Over a two-day residency, Grace will speak to students and faculty about how literature represents our identities, the dangers of stereotypical representation, and how students can find their voices as writers through art.

Students with disabilities often have difficulty with interpersonal communication, self-regulation and impulse control, planning and finding intrinsic motivation for learning.  This grant will teach ES and MS special class students to interact with and train dogs, allowing students to improve upon these critical skills and to develop confidence.  Working with the dogs and the trainer will directly impact the achievement of the academic, functional, communication and life goals of students in the ES and MS special classes.

Building on the District’s previous work on math curriculum with Greg Tang, this grant will enable the first-grade team to work with him again to create an outline of the skills and standards across the school year and specific strategies and methods to lead more effective math lessons. The work will also focus on the selection of problem types and activities for whole-class instruction, cooperative group work, and independent practice.

This grant will bring a cohort of 8th grade students to see Hadestown the Musical on Broadway.  Using the musical as a lens through which to view the classic myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, this grant will introduce students to western classics and their impact on the development of western literature and artistic expression.

This grant will fund the Bronxville Middle School and High School ELA department plans to buy books to implement book club units in conjunction with the professional development work that the District has sponsored with Literacy Consultant, Kate Roberts.

This grant will provide funding for a summer pilot in which Bronxville faculty from the technology, math, and science departments will work collaboratively on curriculum with a small group of students in order to plan for broader implementation potentially utilizing such spaces as the Learning Commons and the Innovation Lab.  Teachers will lead students through STEM curriculum in the morning and spend the afternoons debriefing the process, analyzing student work, and writing curriculum.

This grant will provide funding for an advanced interdisciplinary program offered to high school students with a deep interest in the study of world languages and cultures.  The program will include field trips and offer students opportunities to interact with scholars, present their work to a community of global scholars, and obtain a seal of biliteracy.

This grant will provide seed funding for the Entrepreneurship classes in an effort to support and encourage the spirit of innovation in Bronxville.  Enrolled students will pitch their ideas, projects will be selected, and the class will develop the selected projects.

This grant supports the second year of the Bronxville School’s International Thespian Society Troupe. This experience offers our young thespians additional exposure to the arts as well as opportunities to perform.

In the last four years, the high school has added significant coursework to the curriculum in engineering, programming and technology. This grant to fund a Design and Innovation Center will provide a wonderful new space for the exciting work our students and faculty are doing in these areas.  Courses that will be able to take place in the Design and Innovation Center include current offerings like Introduction to Engineering, Computational Physics, and Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles.  New courses that are being developed and can take place in the Design and Innovation Center include  Robotics and Entrepreneurship.

This grant will allow the District to continue its partnership with IDE, Innovative Designs for Education. IDE, led by Dr. Nancy Sulla, helps schools to redesign classrooms and strengthen instructional practice that supports students’ ability to take ownership of their work and develop executive functioning skills.  Following successful earlier cohorts, this grant funds phase III to recruit the next cohort of teachers to engage in professional development with IDE to establish classroom environments that promote student ownership and executive functioning, including students’ ability to plan, manage time, problem solve, and self regulate. The training includes new components on teaching in a hybrid environment.  Professional development with IDE and pay for participating teachers is funded through the district. This grant provides a budget for participating teachers to buy technology to redesign classrooms to match instructional goals associated with LATI-C (Learner Active, Technology Infused Classrooms).

This grant will fund improvements to the Middle School Art Room that will increase the functionality and flow of the space.  The new furniture will  provide students with ample room to create and store their artwork, all in a comfortable and organized workspace.  The new chairs will give Middle School students greater mobility, which allows them to better focus.  The teacher will have a large drafting desk that will enable students to see artistic demonstrations while gathering around the table as well as demonstrations projected from the Doc Camera onto the TV screen.  The new space will feel like a modern art studio and cultivate independent artists in high school and beyond.

This grant funds the purchase of a 3-D printer that will be used in Middle School Science.  The science curriculum in eighth grade includes a culminating building project that employs all of the knowledge the students learn during the second half of the school year including energy, motion and forces.  Students will use the 3-D printer to build a device that accomplishes a task in a unique and innovative way.  Students who participate in the Science Olympiad also will learn the 3-D printer’s capabilities and use it to build their devices for their competition.

This grant for Unruly Splats will bring coding and active play together for our students. Students will use iPads in conjunction with programmable splat boards that light up and make sounds as a fun introduction to scoring and comparing algorithms.  The Unruly Splats plan aligns with the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) Algorithms and Programming Standards for Grades 3-5.  Students will learn how to make decisions with conditional statements and to keep score with scoring blocks.  Students also can create their own games and play them with classmates like relay races and obstacle courses.

This grant provides technical support and equipment for the TV studio including a 4K Recorder, Q-Lab Service, a Field Recorder Package, and Scenic Prints and Materials.

This grant will greatly enhance the learning environment in our Special Education classes by providing key technology enhancements.  Students will receive iPads, and teachers will receive professional training to optimize their efficient use.  Noise cancelling earmuffs and headphones will allow the students to focus better in the classroom as well as participate in larger school gatherings.  This grant also will provide funding for MILO the Autism Robot, which has revolutionized how children with autism learn and develop socially and emotionally.

This grant provides funding for VEX V5 Robotics Kits that will enable Middle School students to experience programming and mechanical engineering on an authentic level.  Vex Robotics offers the ability to construct, program and pilot a student-made robot that can perform simple and complex tasks.  This brand of robotics kits have age appropriate equipment that can be deployed in current elementary and future high school offerings.

This grant will provide funding for the replacement of four Wenger Acoustical Shells, which project sound in the auditorium.  This grant will be a great benefit to our music and performing arts students during concerts and recitals.

This grant funds the purchase of additional moving theatrical lights to use during stage productions, plus accessories to complete the original plan for auditorium lighting.

This grant will provide funding for the live streaming and film footage of sporting events for our varsity athletic programs and other special events.  The Local Live services will allow friends and family members to live stream games when they are unable to attend in person.  Film footage will also be a highly beneficial tool enabling coaches to give instruction, helpful play review, and constructive feedback to players.

This grant will fund audio-visual equipment in three Elementary School playrooms that will include large screen monitors, speakers, wireless microphones and bluetooth connectivity. The screen and speaker media system will support and enhance current Physical Education curriculum as well as mindfulness and yoga exercises.  With the use of Air Tame 2, PE teachers can use apps and other novel capabilities on iPads to cast the screen right to the monitors in the gyms.

This grant will fund a digital portable recording studio to be used by our music students for compositions, personal assessments, ensemble pieces and recordings for college applications.  The studio will also be used to create recordings of performances on school grounds such as the Memorial Day performance.

This grant funds the installation of a Sensory Path Hallway, an 80’ path comprised of colorful decals laid out by design on the floor and wall of a 40’ portion of a hallway.  The path will give  Elementary School students an opportunity to self regulate through an aesthetically pleasing sensory motor experience.

The grant will provide funding for a Vertimax V8 EX vertical jump and speed training system.  The Vertimax Platform is specifically designed to maximize athletic potential by focusing on three key components:  speed, explosive power and vertical jump.  Its resistance technology allows athletes of all ages to train in the vertical and horizontal planes with consistent loads on specific areas of the body that result in marked athletic performance improvements.  The Vertimax system can be used in connection with nearly any sport, and up to 5 athletes can train on a VertiMax platform at one time.  The system can be utilized by our Elementary, Middle School and High School students.

This grant will fund two wireless and chargeable sound systems that can be used for a variety of school events.  The larger system will be used for outdoor events on fields, in the playground, and on the front lawn.  The smaller system is best suited for indoor events in the gymnasiums or cafeteria.

"This grant will extend the work started by Dr. Ellie Drago-Severson in Bronxville with teachers in formal leadership positions. The work is based on her book, "Leading Adult Learning," which aims to provide an effective model of support for leadership and leadership development.  Dr. Drago-Severson will provide two days of individual coaching for all Curriculum Leaders, K-12, in one-on-one sessions to support their work with the adults in their care.

This grant will fund professional development for teachers seeking to incorporate voluntary reading into the World Languages curriculum.  A consultant will work with the faculty to develop instructional strategies and design a program to incorporate reading libraries of various genres into the World Languages curriculum.

The grant will fund portable meditation carts that will include meditation pillows, blankets, yoga mats, and a singing bowl to provide an escape from the stress of the school day for students and faculty alike.  The meditation cart will provide a mobile outlet for teachers who are interested in bringing these practices into their classrooms but do not have a dedicated space.

This grant will allow freshmen to participate in a grade-wide One Love workshop during their Freshman Transition Program facilitated by high school students and a dedicated One Love staff member.  High School students will also work on outreach, plan fundraising events, and be trained to facilitate an enhanced version of the One Love workshops in Middle School advisory classes, all under the guidance of a dedicated One Love staff member.  As a culminating Senior Week event, a One Love workshop will be led by students and the dedicated One Love staff member for all seniors to be educated and reminded of resources available before going off to college and that they can start or join a One Love club on their respective campuses.

This grant will fund a speaking engagement with Kevin Hines at Bronxville High School.  Members of Bronxville High School’s Social Issues Awareness Club were inspired to apply for this grant when they learned about Kevin Hines’ story in a video on Youtube.  In 2000, Kevin Hines tried to take his own life by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge.  He survived thankfully, and since his recovery, he has dedicated his life to promoting mental health awareness and talking about his personal journey. The club hopes that Kevin’s inspiring messages about mental health will have a positive impact on our student body and help them to think about mental wellness in a new, healthier way.

As part of the CARE wellness program in the Elementary School, this grant will provide materials for mindfulness, emotional regulation, and distress tolerance as a pilot in fourth grade and resource room classrooms.

This grant will provide technical support to faculty and students for use of the TV studio.

Fifth graders will critically analyze social media content and identify its impact on school age users. Working with educator and filmmaker Mike Feurstein, students will write, direct, and act in Critical Media PSA’s that specifically address the potential negative social and emotional influence of online use, and will demonstrate practical strategies to counter that influence.

This grant was awarded to the Middle School Government for their request to create videos that will educate, inform and inspire healthy and nutritious food choices for their peers.

This grant is Phase 2 of the 2018 Mandarin language pilot course. This year the high school will be offering Mandarin I & I, taught by the Orange-Ulster BOCES Mandarin Chinese Department, which includes 7 teachers and a supervisor, Diane Lang, Ph.D.  The students meet in school as a class and the instructor will video conference in to the class. The class will be supported by a staff member in Bronxville who will provide onsite classroom coordination. In addition to teleconferencing the Mandarin teachers also interact with students and parents via telephone and email and the teachers typically make at least one site visit to the school per year.

This grant allows for the creation of a Bronxville troupe of the International Thespian Society in order to support the performing arts department. The troupe offers our young thespians additional exposure to the arts as well as opportunities to perform.

This grant enables high school students to attend the  National Orchestra Festival. The National Orchestra Festival provides students with the opportunity to interact with other students from across the country, receive written and recorded feedback from nationally-recognized experts, and participate in a clinic with noted college professors.

The grant funds workshops for the students on the high school athletic teams. The  Winning Mindset curriculum focuses on helping athletes achieve better results through focusing on mindset training in addition to athletic training. A main tenet is focusing on what is in your control: attitude, effort and aggressiveness. In this society with so much focus on awards and winning records, this brings the athlete back to focus on things that he/she can control.

The grant funds faculty attendance at  two conferences, FETC and CUE. The conferences are  the largest national conference for technology in education.Attendance enables the faculty to collaborate with educators from across the country while learning the latest in education and curriculum in the technology space.

This grant enables High School students to work with professional puppeteer, Fergus Walsh (http://www.fergusjwalsh.com)  to design and build the “Audrey 2,” the puppet which takes over the world! The high school will perform the musical, Little Shop of Horrors, using this puppet in all four of it's iterations.

Following a very successful initial cohort, this is grant funds phase II to recruit the next cohort of teachers to engage in professional development with Innovative Designs in Education to establish classroom environments that promote student ownership and executive functioning, including students’ ability to plan, manage time, problem solving, and self regulate. Professional development with IDE and pay for participating teachers is funded through the district. This grant provides a budget for participating teachers to redesign classrooms to match instructional goals associated with LATI-C (Learner Active, Technology Infused Classrooms).

This grant funds the purchase of general stage microphones to use during concerts, assemblies and recitals as well as some moving theatrical lights to use during stage productions. 

This grant will allow our baseball program to maximize practice time and space by funding two 20 foot inflatable batting cages and one batting turtle. These cages are portable and may be moved from the gym to the turf and from the turf to Scout Field.

This grant funds expanding the seating choices in the classroom with floor chairs/cushions for students to use for reading/studying/computer use. In addition, portable lap desks will allow flexibility for  students to use with the floor chairs. 

This grant funds the creation of language learning environments with optimal listening conditions via sound/microphone equipment for all seven World Language classrooms. Studies show that sound amplification has helped students hear better and most importantly truly listen, eliminate background noise in a classroom setting and provide more opportunity for successful (language) learning and better experience. 

This grant funds headphones to be used to record and share student work. This will include reading passages, written stories, and math explanations and rationales. The headphones will enable the students to listen to their peers' recordings and be able to give meaningful feedback. It will enhance the way students and teachers are able to use technology in our classrooms, making it more accessible and interactive for the students. These headphones are designed to minimize background noise and will enhance the quality of the recordings.  

This grant funds the purchase of iPads for the Elementary Music Program.  Integrating technology into the Bronxville Elementary music program is the next step to helping our students to be creative thinkers while learning the fundamentals of music. Throughout an elementary music lesson, there are many opportunities in which incorporating technology through the use of iPad's can benefit a child's learning.  The iPads will increase student engagement through the use of fun and interactive music programs like Music First Junior, which gives students opportunities to engage in fun, creative games and songs that allows each of them to share and collaborate in the music making process. Other apps will give students the opportunity to practice note reading by placing the notes they hear and sing on the music staff by swiping it on the device. 

This grant will fund the "Diplomatic Diggers" a two day workshop to support second graders in understanding the large spans of time where different life forms lived and how they have been preserved here on Earth. Second graders will also explore a variety of roles that professional diggers take on.This grant will also fund the development of an elementary excavation site to be preserved as an open play area where necessary tools and guiding materials will be made available for students to explore independently during recess and after-school.

This grant funds iPads, iPad Pros and Apple pencils for various curriculum projects in the K-12 Visual Arts Program including digital drawing, animation and movie-making.

This grant funds supplies to build a robot for our independent study in robotics. The robot will be used to compete in a competition run by FIRST Inspires, an organization that facilitates high school robotics programs.

This grant funds the purchase of materials for the evolution unit of Core Biology which will emphasize Cross Cutting concepts that all students can use throughout their STEAM coursework. This unit of study will involve examining and measuring similarities and differences in the skeletal components of representative forms of primates and hominids to better understand the process of evolution. It will also examine the different types of evidence used by biologists and paleontologists to build the current pathways that lead up to existing organisms. Students will examine evidence from comparative studies of anatomy, embryology, and biochemistry to trace the ancestral relationships of modern humans and the primates.

This grant funds newer, more powerful machines for students in the App Design course which follows an AP CSP (Computer Science Principles) curriculum as well as students doing an independent study in Swift Programming language and Xcode.  The new devices will allow students  to run a more powerful processor and the latest version of Xcode which supports AR.

Ths grant helps fund a one-time purchase of new football helmets for the school’s football program. The goal is to provide all our football players with helmets that have received a 5-star rating in the the Virginia Tech Study and are using newer technology than of our current helmets. The district is considering the VICIS helmet for varsity, the Schutt F7 helmet for JV and the Riddell Speed Flex Youth helmet for the modified program.

Second graders will engage in the design thinking process to research current indoor recess and free time activities to determine which activities are most engaging. Based on this research, our grant  will design activities and games that promote collaboration, innovation, critical thinking and persistence. This grant will fund the purchase of needed materials.

This grant funds  the Bronxville Middle School teachers attendance at the  National Conference on Social Studies.

This grant expands on a previously awarded grant and extends from design thinking around grades to design thinking for the ninth grade, as a first step in considering what might be possible for the high school experience to be more closely aligned to the Bronxville Promise. The goal is to think more broadly about a school design that allows us to fully realize the Bronxville Promise. It has implications for assessment, teaching and learning, and space. The design will potentially include interdisciplinary learning opportunities that will make excellent use of our facility upgrades, including the learning commons space.

This grant funds,  he EdChange Consulting Group under the leadership of Paul Gorski to help our school establish an equity vision and provide whole staff training in culturally responsive teaching. This grant also provides funding for three educators to attend a weeklong seminar at the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Teaching Race in the Classroom. In order to prepare our students to successfully engage in a global society consisting of citizens from a range of cultures, races, religions, and gender identities, we must first provide effective professional development for our educators in this area. The EdChange group is at the forefront of scholarship in the field of equity literacy and culturally responsive teaching and learning.

An exceptionally talented local duo visits our HS Orchestra and Band students to provide a multi-cultural experience where the students can learn more about global music. Students learn to compose pieces themselves and have more exposure to musical conventions from multiple cultures.

Life Track Services will conduct an online “Exit Survey” of our 2019 graduates three times:  before the end of the school year, survey them again within 18 months of graduation, and conduct a final survey five years after graduation. The feedback given in regards to student preparedness for college will assist in planning academics and counseling programs for our students. The results of the survey can illustrate how the Bronxville Promise has affected our graduates and if their growth in the dispositions equipped them to continue to develop in their post-Bronxville life.

This grant funds the rapidly growing Model UN Club in the High School. The grant funded the MUN students to attend the “Best Delegate” conference in the summer of 2018 at Georgetown University. The grant was requested in order to prepare the Bronxville students to host its own conference for the first time.  The visit allowed MUN students to work with a well-known performance coach in order to improve their debating and presentation skills.

Each month Elementary School teachers will read and discuss a carefully selected book that focuses on leadership across cultures to broaden students’ understanding and appreciation of people from various ethnic, racial, religious, and cultural backgrounds. This grant also includes a creation of a Teacher-Parent Resource Page per book that will contain guiding questions, background information, and related video/media connections.  Finally, professional development with a well-established consulting group, Border Crossers, will facilitate discussions around potentially sensitive topics: dealing with race, religion, and ethnicity.

This grant allows us to pilot a high school elective foreign language course in Mandarin taught by a faculty member from the Orange-Ulster BOCES Mandarin Chinese Department, which includes 7 teachers and a supervisor, Diane Lang, Ph.D.  The students meet in school as a class and the instructor will video conference in to the class. The class will be supported by a staff member in Bronxville who will sit in the class and coordinate materials. Mandarin teachers also interact with students and parents via telephone and email; the teachers typically make at least one site visit to the school per year.  

This grant funded a series of dance workshops to better prepare the Middle & High School Students for the rigorous dance routines choreographed for the Spring Musical Guys & Dolls.

This grant funded a New-York Historical Society Educator  to work with 7th grade students to examine, analyze, and discuss replicas of artifacts, works of art, maps, and primary documents to gain a better understanding of the Underground Railroad.

This grant funded participation by the Bronxville Elementary 4th grade students in a highly regarded residency which gives students a voice in how to best stand up to bullying behaviors through the art of filmmaking. Students work with filmmaker Mike Feurstein over the course of three days brainstorming ideas about how to combat bullying, then learn filmmaking techniques to create an anti-bullying public service announcement. Each 4th grade class will produce 3-4 anti-bullying PSA’s that will become part of a video library, Don' t Wait Project/How to Unmake a Bully.

As a part of the schools overall social-emotional learning curriculum, Elementary School students receive weekly classes introducing them to yoga and mindfulness practices, based on the curriculum of the School Yoga Project (SYP), a program of Little Flower Yoga. The learning of life skills is emphasized, including emotional regulation and resilience, increases attention, improves physical wellness, and respectful community building.

This grant funded 9th and 10th grade students work with Performance Coach, Karen DeMauro, in connection with National History Day curriculum.

The Bronxville High School Student Help Desk was created and launched in 2015 with much success and now serves as a model to other Districts around the region and state. This grant gives students the opportunity to present “live” on a bigger stage during the NYSCATE (New York State Association for Computers and Technologies in Education) Conference and pays for the cost of the students travel, room and board at the conference.

In the summer of 2019, the BSF will support the Bronxville High School in sponsoring three juniors to attend the SGLI at the Punahou School in Honolulu to attend the two week intensive session with approximately 70 other students representing over 20 schools and 10 countries. They will collaborate on examining global issues, formulate solutions, engage the world and develop as leaders.  The accompanying Bronxville faculty member will not only support the students in their work at the summer institute but also participate in a series of professional development opportunities with other teachers from around the world. After the students complete the summer institute they will work with a faculty member through Bronxville’s independent study program, and develop a project connected to SGLI’s yearly theme.  The students will have an opportunity to connect with peers online to further develop their work and connect it to a larger global effort of change.

This grant enabled A state-of-the-art TV studio to be installed for students to learn how to create and produce TV shows.  The professional-quality TV studio is equipped with three cameras, LED lighting, teleprompters, an anchor desk, playback monitor, green screen and a control room. The initial curriculum is for High School students but it is envisioned that eventually, all students will be able to work in and benefit from the studio.

This grant funded a transverse climbing wall, installed in the Elementary School West Playroom, which is an age-appropriate wall for grades K-5.  It consists of a variety of different holds, obstacles, and hurdles to engage climbers in a variety of fun and challenging cross-curricular activities.

This grant improved the rehearsal area for the school’s growing band program by creating three small group/independent rehearsal spaces from what was an ad hoc storage area, renovated the main band room, allowing for better sound and a cleaner work/playing environment for students, and updated an adjacent storage area.  As a result, all three areas are much improved for practice and specific function during performances and productions.

This grant partnered with IDE (Innovative Designs in Education) to redesign classrooms and strengthen instructional practice that supports our students’ ability to take ownership of their own work and develop executive functioning skills. A cohort of teachers, who have participated in professional development sessions with IDE, received a budget to design classrooms with furniture and/or technology to create innovative learning environments where instruction scaffolds towards student ownership. This is the next step from a previous Foundation grant where teachers worked with the Buck Institute for Education to develop Project Based Learning units.

The 3rd grade classes received a variety of adaptive seating choices in order to improve student on-task engagement and productivity.  For some students, adaptive seating has helped to increase writing stamina. Fidgeting helps some students concentrate, which will increase academic success.

This grant funded a  mid-stage traveler curtain, which allows the school to set-up scenery behind the curtain, petition off half the space for solo recitals, assemblies, increasing the overall functionality of the stage.

Through a previous Foundation grant with consultant Fielding Nair, special education teachers researched best practices for classroom setups. While there are many examples of general education settings that have been transformed in innovative ways to allow for more active student collaboration, there are fewer examples of special education classrooms that have embarked on such transformations.  Bronxville hopes to take the lead in this area. The grant would fund the purchase of new, innovative furniture for the Resource Rooms (grades 6 - 12). This furniture will provide for different types of seating based on student personal preference as well as task demands (ie. collaborative work). The new furniture will make the rooms completely modernized and more responsive to individual students’ needs.

This grant funds a pilot project  for new cooperative and flexible seating within one of the Middle School English classrooms. This new furniture promotes independence in Project Based Learning (PBL) and other student centered learning experiences.

Math Craft is a brand new student-centered course designed to explore the relationship between math, the arts, and technology. This new sixth grade exploratory class gives students a new experience with mathematics.  By designing, analyzing, manipulating, calculating, scaling, and thinking critically, students will apply their knowledge of math to discover innovative ideas and projects. With the iPads, students are able to make interactive, digital portfolios to interact with one another and a greater audience.

This grant from Middle School math teachers purchased 110 (enough for the entire grade) TI-Nspire graphing calculators for use in the eighth grade which research has shown to accelerate the understanding of complex mathematical and scientific concepts.

This grant funded the Flying Start to Literacy program which are books that will be used both in the classroom and at home.  These readers allow students to build fluency through increased opportunities for repeated reading in the classroom and at home.

This grant funded 24 microscopes that allow the students to view specimens with greater magnification during lab observations.  

These grants funded equipment used in the HS science classrooms to enhance student experience as the equipment allows for the collection and analysis of new and different data.

This grant provides three virtual reality headsets for students to experience virtual tours for over 600 colleges and universities, providing another useful tool for students to make more informed decisions in a less stressful environment.

This grant funded the purchase of materials for a new HS course, “Introduction to Physical Computing”.  These materials purchased will be used to engage students while learning concepts of how to digitally program on the screen and interact with it in real life.

This grant funded the purchase of four mini drones used by the programming club as tools to engage others by reaching out and finding projects through which they can grow interest with their drone skills but also working with others to assist in needs, possibly solved with the use of a drone.

This grant funded digital resources including Ebooks & Audiobooks to create a digital library for our 5th Grade, MS & HS Special Education students.

In an effort to teach safe tackling techniques to our students and advance the coaches ability to teach the game, the The Bronxville Football program requested a grant to fund The Mobile Virtual Player (MVP); it is a state-of-art teaching tool used at all levels of play including, youth, high school, college and professional football.

This grant funded a guidance officer to attend the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) annual conference in which college admissions officers from around the world and school counselors gather to network and to discuss best practices, trends in college admissions, and much more.

This grant funded to district technology staff to attend a conference of educators, researchers, developers, and other members of the worldwide Scratch community. The conference provided lots of hands-on workshops and opportunities for peer-to-peer discussion and collaboration in Scratch.

This grant supported the attendance of the District technology team at the annual Computer Science Teachers Association Conference and Future of Education Technology Conference.

The grants provided funds for members of our High School Social Studies team to attend the National Social Studies Conference.

This grant provided funds to continue work with Rachel Simmons to give workshops with small groups of juniors regarding college admissions and “effortless perfectionism” and to MS students regarding overthinking and social media.

This grant funded District Technology faculty to attend the annual SXSW EDU, a national conference, for educators, that focuses on innovation, collaboration and creativity.

As an offshoot of both the Harvard “Design Thinking Workshops” grant from 2017  and Challenge Success survey, this grant funded workshops for district faculty to work with a global consultancy firm to change the way we think, learn and work in terms of grades and evaluation.

This grant partially funded district technology staff who applied for and were selected to attend the Infosys Pathfinders Program.  This program allowed district staff to continue the scope and sequence of the existing K-12 Technology and Computer Science curriculums.

This grant funded professional development for a HS technology teacher to help students develop professional looking apps so they may showcase their skills, engage with their world and solve problems with apps they develop.

This grant funded professional development for the policy board to provide transformational learning that generates new knowledge, new ways of thinking, and rapid adjustment to complexity.  Training will help transition educators who are adept at incorporating “best practices,” to educators who are adept at designing and implementing “next practices.”

During the 2016-17 school year, a coding curriculum was piloted in the 3rd grade. That summer, the Technology Department wrote a K-5 coding curriculum using code.org, CSTA & ISTE materials and standards. The Department requested Foundation funds for a coding program support specialist who could help roll out the curriculum in the 2017-18 school year in all Elementary school grades. Without this support, implementation of the curriculum would have taken years longer.

The Technology Department and the Director of Curriculum requested a Foundation grant to form an Advisory Committee with teachers from K-12 interested in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math). The Committee is tasked with identifying gaps and opportunities in the District STEAM curriculum, identifying professional development needs, helping better integrate math, science and visual arts and developing buy-in across the faculty for engaging in the STEAM curriculum.

This grant requested a wide array of materials and tools to support the variety of technology curricula and offerings in grades K through 12.

This grant implemented the third phase of the i2Learn project. This year, the Foundation funded week-long STEM immersion projects for 6th graders to Build a Lunar Colony, for 5th graders to Build a Friendly Monster and for 4th graders to Explore Ecological Systems. During the i2 Learn weeks, students collaborate with their teachers and classmates to problem-solve, build, test and revise projects to solve a series of interdisciplinary challenges.

This grant established a TED-Ed Channel for Bronxville students to develop TED talks connected to courses of study in which they are particularly interested. TED stands for Technology, Education and Design. The talks will be hosted on the high school TED channel. Students will also participate in a special TED-Ed curriculum that will help them create presentations based on real TED guidelines.

This grant funded a collaboration between the school and the Bronxville Historical Conservancy. Teachers and students will work with local historians to enhance curriculum using Project-based Learning experiences and embedding local history into their projects.  

The PUBLIQuartet is a professional string quartet that champions the work of new composers and creates novel interpretations of repertoire standards. This grant gave Bronxville high school orchestra students the opportunity to work with the quartet. The quartet gives a recital for the students, plays the students’ draft compositions and then meet with the students in small groups to provide coaching to further enhance the students' work. Quartet members will also engage the students in dialogue about the nature of musical creativity, strategies for developing musical ideas, musical rhetoric, and the use of constraints to foster creativity.

High School English teacher, Franco D’Alessandro, requested funding to create an Independent Study in Playwriting for Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors. Students write and develo original one-act plays or scenes for a larger play over the course of the first three marking periods. The students then cast, rehearse, and revise in the fourth marking period, and ultimately perform their works on stage for the BHS community. By funding this for a second year, the Foundation has helped the program grow into a full-fledged independent study class from an after-school activity.

High School Chorus Teacher Pam Simpson received a grant for specialized vocal training for HS chorus students. The grant was provided from a special fund designated for the performing arts and managed by the Foundation. 

For the grant request, Director of Technology Jen Forsberg worked with Elementary School Language Arts teachers to help bring technology tools to elementary students to help with storytelling. The Jacob Burns Film Center provided professional development and coaching for 2nd, 3rd and 4th  grade teachers to help students create digital stories and short films using iMovie. Students and teachers learned how to create storyboards and how film creation can be integrated into the curriculum.

This grant purchased Lego WeDo sets for the 2nd grade. The sets and associated curriculum allow students to be innovative and learn about engineering, as well as life, physical, earth and space sciences. Students work together to build machines with Lego bricks, and write code on an iPad to make the machine move and perform tasks.

This grant request from the Middle School science teachers purchased two complete sets of wireless temperature probes for use in scientific experiments. The previously-used wired probes had sustained damage due to fire and rust and were insufficient for the number of students using them.

The first grant for a classroom amplification system was written by third grade teacher Pam Kolhoff working with a parent in 2015. They had extensive research about the poor acoustics in typical classrooms and the many behavioral and academic benefits resulting from enhancing classroom sound.  After learning about the benefits for students and teachers several additional grades have requested funds to introduce the systems into their classrooms. Children even in the back of the room are better able to hear the teacher so that every seat in the room is like a front row seat. The system comes with student mics as well and teachers found students more eager to speak out using the mics and their classmates better able to listen and less likely to interrupt. 

This grant allowed the Elementary Science teachers to a Tower Garden system for each of the science labs.The Tower Garden uses a state-of-the-art vertical aeroponic growing system that recycles nutrients and water, using less than 10% of the water of a traditional garden. The Tower Garden will allow the teachers to develop hands on scientific inquiries that will address many of the learning standards in the science curriculum

In 2014, the Foundation gave a grant to the High School Physics teacher to create an Advanced Engineering curriculum. This grant will serve to purchase several pieces of capital equipment - a laser cutter and 3D printer - along with some necessary consumables so that Advanced Engineering students can create realistic prototypes of product ideas. These rapid-prototyping tools will provide students with an introduction to computer-controlled manufacturing - allowing students to realize their designs using low-resolution materials but using a high quality process. The ability to fabricate original designs in-house and to high-precision is vital for rapid feedback and learning, and thus real engagement in a solutions-driven design problem.

The Elementary School purchased a set of Imagination Playground blocks in 2015 for outdoor recess use for Grades 1-5. The blocks are over-sized and come in a variety of shapes that encourage innovative design, problem solving and teamwork. This grant requested another set of blocks for indoor recess use.

This grant request was written by four high school students involved in the Bronx River Science Research course that was first developed with a Foundation grant in 2015. These funds purchased an autoclave used to sterilize water for experiments and to sterilize biohazardous waste from bacteria studies of the river. Students were using Sarah Lawrence College for sterilizing, but the research program at Bronxville has grown so large, that using Sarah Lawrence facilities was no longer an option. The autoclave was funded out of a specially designated fund for science managed by the Foundation.

The Foundation funded a Makerspace renovation and materials for the Elementary School library in 2016. A makerspace is a place in which people with shared interests, especially in computing or technology, can gather to work on projects while sharing ideas, equipment, and knowledge. In order for the Elementary teachers and the librarian to use the space to its fullest potential with the new Elementary coding curriculum, the Technology Department requested funds to have Laura Fleming, a well-known pioneer in educational makerspaces, consult to the school.

This grant funded District Technology staff to attend the annual Annual Computer Science Teachers Association Conference (CSTA) and the SXSW EDU Conference. Attendance at these conferences in the previous year resulted in the development of the Elementary School coding curriculum.

This grant funded attendance for ten K-12 iSTEAM Advisory Committee members to attend a Harvard University Design Thinking Workshop.  Design thinking evolved from the fields of architecture and product innovation and entails using right-brained creativity and left-brained analytics to innovate and plan. Bronxville Administrators are using the principles in curriculum design and teachers are using it in lesson planning and modeling its use for students.

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The Foundation originally funded training for select faculty in Project-based Learning (PBL) in 2015. Teachers attended the Buck Institute, one of the premier conferences in the field of education on this topic. This year-two grant provided additional coaching for faculty already trained in PBL 101 and specialized training for members of the STEM faculty to take PBL 202 training to help them better integrate technology into student projects and promote innovation in the classroom.

The Foundation originally funded professional development in teaching a Socratic Seminar in 2015. The goal of a Socratic seminar is for students to facilitate discussion on specific texts to help one another understand the ideas, issues, and values reflected therein. This grant provided for additional coaching in the technique for High School English teachers.

Bronxville School unveiled the Bronxville Promise in 2014 committing the school to helping students lead, think critically, innovate and engage the world around them. Faculty across all grade levels and disciplines rethought curriculum and instruction so they can embed learning opportunities that will ensure their students develop in these four dispositions. With a 2016 grant, the District engaged a consultant to help create an assessment framework to provide feedback on how well the District was delivering on the promise to create engaged students. This year’s grant will develop a framework for assessing students’ ability to innovate.

In 2015, the Foundation funded the Middle School to implement a premier reading and writing program developed by Columbia Teachers College. This grant sent ten Middle and High School faculty to a special institute at Teachers College to help them learn to teach students how to improve their spoken and written argumentation skills.

This grant funded members of the Psychology and Guidance teams to receive training in how to implement certain cognitive behavior strategies to support their students. The grant was made out of a fund designated for Special Ed and managed by the Foundation.

This grant funded Technology Department staff to attend several conferences on Computer Science Principles (CSP), an up and coming AP course that is more portfolio based rather than learning one language.  The portfolio approach is focused on making connections to the real world and using any “language” to solve real world problems.

This grant provided professional development and coaching for ten teacher leaders around digital assessments, collaboration and project based approaches in 21st century classrooms with a focus on 1:1 classrooms (a 1:1 classroom is one where each student has a computing device).  A second cohort of teacher will work toward their Google Level 1 Teacher Certification.

High School Principal Ann Meyer and Art Teacher Courtney Alan worked with Fielding Nair International, a premier school architecture firm to design and renovate the High School art room to allow for better light, room for larger projects, more flexible and appropriate storage, additional drying and display space, appropriate ventilation and display technology.

This grant provided for special lighting and technical enhancements to the auditorium. The grant was funded out of a specially designated fund for the arts managed by the Foundation.

In 2016, the Foundation provided grant funding to for the Elementary School to test some alternative seating to help high-energy kids sit and focus longer. The pilot was successful, helping keep students on task longer and more productively. This year both the third and fifth grades requested funds to purchase the alternative seating for their classrooms.

The 5th grade teaching team requested a grant to build a library of leveled books for instruction in different genres. They added nonfiction, historical fiction, fiction, and some mentor text titles to help provide a variety of titles at specific reading levels for students. The book titles correspond to the 5th grade Columbia Teachers College Reading and Writing Program units.

This grant funded new flexible, durable, folding and stackable furniture for room A310 to help facilitate “Harkness” style set up for Socratic Seminars, allow for performance space and a variety of collaborative furniture arrangements.

The Foundation has funded the implementation of the Singapore Math curriculum in the Elementary School starting with Kindergarten in 2012. Professional development for faculty as well as special materials were funded each year culminating in this year’s funding of training and manipulatives for the 5th grade.

Challenge Success is a program out of Stanford University that seeks to understand and suggest solutions for student stress and overwork. The Foundation funded the Middle and High Schools to participate in the Challenge Success program in 2016 and this grant funded administrators, teachers, students and parents to attend a conference to further discuss the results of Bronxville’s survey concerning student wellness.

Director of Curriculum, Mara Koetke, requested funds to bring The Girls Leadership Institute to Bronxville to provide learning opportunities for our girls, along with their primary influencers, parents, to develop the self awareness and self advocacy skills necessary for leadership.  Schools that have partnered with Girls Leadership previously include Brearley, Spence, Dalton, Ursuline and the Pelham and Mamaroneck School Districts.  

High School teacher Bill Meyer first requested a grant to learn about mindfulness techniques in schools in 2013. Additional grants funded mindfulness in the Middle and Elementary schools in 2015. The Mindfulness Fellowship request from Mr. Meyer will bring together a group of teachers in K-12 as Mindfulness Fellows to create a K-12 mindfulness curriculum and teach other faculty how to incorporate the techniques into all classes and into the culture of the Bronxville School.

i2 Learn works with the most well-know science curriculum partners (MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Woods Hole, etc) to produce curricula, materials and professional development for teachers so that schools can create week-long, month-long or summer STEM immersion projects for their students. Bronxville partnered with i2 Learn for the 2015-16 school year to provide a week-long STEM project for Middle Schoolers. In subsequent years, the 5th grade class started i2 Learn weeks.

Challenge Success is a project out of Stanford University producing research and programming around the stresses today’s Middle and High School students deal with.  This grant allowed Bronxville’s Middle and High Schoolers to participate in the Challenge Success student survey and receive comparison data for other similarly high-performing school districts across the country. Subsequent Foundation support helped a group of principals, teachers, parents and students from Bronxville to attend a Challenge Success conference to further discuss Bronxville results and share emerging best practice in helping reduce student stress.

Funds from this grant allowed the 2nd grade to expand and update their classroom libraries in response to shifts in instructional practices based on the Common Core standards for Social Studies. The new libraries contained books at a variety of reading levels and were more connected to the specific 2nd grade social studies contents

Elementary school psychologist, Minu Thomas wrote this grant to bring the work of Little Flowers Yoga into the Elementary School. Little Flowers is a NYC-based organization that brings the tools of yoga and mindfulness into schools. Little Flowers worked directly with Elementary students and also provided professional development to Elementary teachers so they could continue bringing mindfulness techniques to their students.

The Foundation underwrote materials and professional development for the Elementary School to adopt Singapore Math in grades K-5. Starting in 2012 in Kindergarten, a new grade level was funded each year. This year’s grant brought the curriculum to the fourth grade.

Play Group Theater uses theater arts to teach Common Core literacy requirements in a fun and engaging way. In 2014, Play Group worked with 1st, 4th and 5th graders and provided professional development to teachers in those grades to help sustain the innovative teaching methods. This year, 1st grade teachers requested additional help from Play Group to strengthen their work with 1st grade student.

High School English teacher, Franco D’Alessandro, requested funding to create an activity open to Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors  who were interested in writing one-act play and casting and performing them for the Bronxville community. The activity proved so successful, that D’Alessandro requested a grant the following year to develop the activity into a full-fledged independent research class for credit.

High School English teacher, Dr. Victor Maxwell, sought funds to organize an activity in which his English students and others would work on  poetry during the year and then several would be chosen to share their work in a coffee house format open to Bronxville students and parents.

Director of Technology Jen Forsberg worked with teachers in grades K, 1 and 5 to write this grant to bring the Jacob Burns Center movie making curriculum to their students. Digital movie making is one more way for students to tell stories and this curriculum allowed them the tools to access that.

This grant, written by the 1st grade teachers, was for individual Lego Build to Express kits for each student and for professional development for teachers to learn how to help students use the kits to experience a variety of lessons in a more hands on manner.

This grant purchased 48 Flash Master devices for use in the 3rd and 4th grades to help ensure that every student could achieve automaticity in basic math facts. If students do not become proficient with basic facts at this level, they struggle with math later on.

This grant provided a library of special reading materials at different reading levels for the Special Ed reading specialist.

High School Social Studies teacher, Bill Meyer, wrote this grant to work with Elementary and Middle school students using the historical fiction book he’d written, “Horace and the Time Keepers.”

Three high school students wrote this grant for funds to start a club where students came with ideas for products and inventions and could receive small grants for materials.

Bronxville High School 9th and 10th grade social studies students participate in National History Day each year. National History Day challenges students to research and create an in-depth project around a common theme. This grant allowed for a consultant to come in and work with students on presentation skills.

This grant written by Elementary Principal Trish Murray and Director of Technology Jen Forsberg provided funds for furniture, renovation, technology and supplies for a MakerSpace in the Elementary library.

This grant request came from Elementary Principal Trish Murray and Elementary Psychologist Minu Thomas to pilot a variety of seating options that would allow more movement than traditional desks for children with focus issues. Research has shown that seating options and other fidgeting objects that allow children some movement help improve learning and behavior.

This grant provided funds for High School Art Teacher Courtney Alan and High School Principal Ann Meyer to work with noted school architects, Fielding Nair International, to create design options for the High School Art room that would allow more flexibility, more wall space, more light and better storage.

Noted school architects, Fielding Nair International, worked with High School staff, students and parents to complete a study and recommendations for creating more innovative classroom spaces with technology and flexible layouts that would support a larger variety of teaching and learning methods than traditional classrooms.

This request from High School Principal Ann Meyer, asked for furniture and technology to help make several science and math classrooms better suited to the more varied teaching and learning methods increasingly used in the high school.

This grant provided for Special Ed faculty and students to participate in a design process with noted school architects Fielding Nair International to create new designs for the Special Ed classrooms.

High School Principal Ann Meyer and Board of Ed member Adele Murray requested these funds to engage an energy consultant to work with High School science and math students to assess the school’s energy use and make recommendations to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

This project came from Brad Ashley to support the varied technology roles he plays at the school - K-12 Technology Specialist, Computer Science teacher and Technical Director for the Auditorium. The lab was used to work with students on individual projects, to train teachers,  to work with students staffing the District’s technology help desk and to train students working on sound and lighting for the Auditorium.

This request came from the 5th grade teachers to purchase iPads and receive training on how to use them. Student would use the iPads to create digital media presentations, practice coding, learn oral presentation skills, listen to audio books, and learn foreign languages.

This grant provided for special technology for use in the Middle School special ed classrooms.

After a successful pilot in third grade classrooms during the 2015-16 school year, the second grade teachers requested funds to purchase sound enhancement systems for their classrooms. Last year’s grant request included compelling qualitative research about the academic and behavioral benefits to students being able to hear better in class. Teachers also cited far less vocal strain when using the devices.

High School Guidance Anne Abbatecola requested presentation equipment for use in the Cafeteria so that that large space could be used for meetings and presentations when the auditorium was in use.

This grant from High School teachers Chris Doyle and Beth Agarabi requested additional equipment for use in film making for Humanities classes and for use with Bronco TV and film production classes.

This grant from High School math teachers Justin O’Brien and Dr. Michelle Merriweather purchased a classroom set of TI-Inspire graphing calculators which research has shown to accelerate the understanding of complex mathematical and scientific concepts. The grant also provided for professional development for the teachers.

Professional development in the Columbia Teachers College Writing and Reading program started in the Middle School in that 2015-16 school year. This grant continued work in the Middle School and started training for teachers in the Elementary School in this premier writing and reading program. It is helping give teachers and students across grades a standard framework and shared language for teaching and learning how to write across a variety of genres.

This grant continued and deepened the PBL professional development started in the 2015-16 school year. Faculty that had taken PBL 101, were eligible for the next level of training at the Buck Institute and a PBL trainer came on-site to work with teachers in their classrooms.  Project based learning created longer, inquiry-based lessons for students using real world problems and challenges.

Socratic seminar training started in the 2015-16 school year. This grant funded a second year of training by a consultant working with teachers to show them how to facilitate seminar classes similar to Harkness-style discussions.

This grant funded Chris Hazleton, an educational consultant from Fielding Nair to work with 35 teachers on inquiry-based learning. This training helped faculty take full advantage of the redesigned High School “innovation classrooms” designed with a flexible layout and furniture and presentation technology.

This grant request from Director of Technology Jen Forsberg provided for professional development for 12 teacher leaders in grades 5 to 8 around digital assessments, collaboration and project based approaches in 21st century classrooms.  

The District makes the Bronxvile Promise to students to help educate the whole student to hone skills in leadership, innovation, communication and engaged citizenship. Director of Curriculum Mara Koetke requested this grant for a group of teachers to work with a consultant to start to develop assessment frameworks around each of the four dispositions of the Promise. This grant was to work on assessing engaged citizenship.

This grant supported the attendance of the District technology team at the annual Computer Science Teachers Association conference.

Foundation resources allowed one of our Latin teachers to attend a six-week intensive program to experience ancient Greek and Roman archeological sites

This grant for $136,000 written by Brian Senior, Physical Education Department head, transformed an old weight room and wrestling room into updated cardio and weight rooms with new equipment for use for athletic teams and physical education classes.

This grant was written by a student athlete along with Athletic Director Karen Peterson to provide a sideline hydration system for various athletic teams. The system was more efficient and cleaner than previous systems.

This grant was written as the Mountain Biking team entered its fourth year at Bronxville and expected significant expansion. The grant funded equipment to help the team grow. Mountain Biking is one of the only coed, non-cut teams for High School students. Standard first aid equipment that was not in the Athletic Department’s budget was funded as well as retro-fitting a bike trailer to carry 8-10 bikes to help transport equipment to events.  

This grant provided funding for HS science teacher, Justine McClellan, to develop an independent science research curriculum concerning the health of the Bronx River and to purchase specialized water testing equipment.

Imagination Playground blocks are giant, foam blocks in a variety of shapes that encourage children to use creativity and problem solving to build a variety of machines and structures. A parent working with the Elementary School recess committee discovered the blocks and brought them to the attention of the ES Assistant Principal and the two collaborated on this grant. The blocks proved a big hit and a useful tool as part of the ES STEM initiative.

This grant, written by the fifth grade class, provided games and materials for indoor recess for when weather precluded outdoor activities.

Mindfulness activities are taking place in all three schools in Bronxville. The Foundation first made a grant to a high school teacher to train in mindfulness techniques and he has taught those techniques to his students and formed a meditation club. His students worked with fifth grade students, teaching them mindfulness as they transitioned to middle school.  This grant provided for an outside agency to come into the elementary school and provide mindfulness sessions to students and training for teachers in the techniques.

The Foundation is helping the District roll out Singapore Math in the Elementary School one grade-level at a time.  The grant provides for professional development for teachers as well as special Singapore Math teaching materials for the third grade.

This collaboration between Elementary PE and Elementary Science teachers provided special phys ed “simple machines” equipment like pulleys, to help students experience the mechanical advantage of each simple machine while learning STEM concepts about force, load, work, and more.

Provided a quality Yamaha keyboard for the new auditorium that could be used off the stage.

This grant provided reading material specifically aligned to the newly adopted Common Core standards.  The standards require significant non-fiction reading.

These grants replaced outdated and sparse classroom library resources in elementary school classrooms.

This grant provided for the redesign, renovation and furnishing of the middle school computer lab to create a flexible, tech-enhanced space with appropriate hardware, software and equipment for computer science, robotics and maker projects.

In 2014, the Foundation funded a group of high school teachers as “Innovation Fellows” who worked during the 2013-14 school year studying educational and pedagogical innovations.  The Fellows’ study led to the importance of flexible classroom design to support new modes of teaching and learning as opposed to more traditional lecture methods. This grant provided for redesign of three classrooms by Fielding Nair Inc, a leading architect in innovative school design, as well as renovation and furnishing costs and funds to expand the group of Innovation Fellows and to train faculty in use of the new classrooms.

This grant funded a consultant to work with the newly created middle and high school Humanities Department to help develop a humanities research curriculum that would cut across the english, social studies and world language disciplines. Research units at each grade level were redesigned to reflect an inquiry based approach and focus on interdisciplinary connections.

Two middle school teachers attended a multi-day workshop to learn yoga and meditation techniques and ways to incorporate those into middle school classes.

This grant provided funding for Project-Based Learning (PBL) coaches from the renowned Buck Institute to train Curriculum Leaders in the basics of PBL. PBL challenges students with real-world problems and encourages them to create and test solutions.

The grants provided funds for one of our High School Social Studies teachers to attend the National Social Studies Conference to better understand Common Core curriculum requirements.

The Foundation funded Nancy Letts, a consultant, to work with selected teachers to instruct them on how to teach using the Socratic Seminar method. The goal of a Socratic seminar is for students to help one another understand the ideas, issues, and values reflected in a specific text. It is a version of close reading, suggested by Common Core Learning Standards.  Teachers observed the consultant leading a seminar, developed their own seminars with the consultant and then delivered and received coaching from the consultant and fellow teachers.  

Director of Curriculum, Mara Koetke, wrote this grant with the Middle School faculty asked for assistance improving the Middle School writing curriculum. The Teachers College Writing program is widely recognized and provides a framework and shared language and standards for teaching and assessing writing across grade levels.

This grant, funded out of a specially designated fund for Special Ed managed by the Foundation, provided Chrome Books and a variety of other devices for use in Special Ed classrooms.

High School math teacher, Justin O’Brien, requested a classroom set of laptops to be used for Computer Science classes.  The classes require the installation of specialized software and configuration and a dedicated set of laptops provided for more time-on-task in computer science courses.

Third grade teacher, Pam Kolhoff, requested funds to pilot a sound enhancement system for her classroom after a parent shared compelling research about poor acoustics in typical classrooms and the academic and behavioral benefits that result when all students can hear the teacher well. The system also reduces the need for teachers to raise their voice and results in less strain and sick days.

Following on last year’s highly successful move by the District to Chromebooks and Google Classroom apps, the Elementary School Principal requested additional Chromebooks and training for Elementary School faculty.

High School Social Studies teacher Chris Doyle had previously requested funds for 10 Mac laptops for use in his TV production classes. The laptops proved popular with his students and others and this year’s request from Mr. Doyle and art teacher Courtney Alan requested 20 Mac Books and Final Cut software for use by all High School students in creating digital productions.

This grant provided injury rehabilitation equipment similar to that used in physical therapy offices to help Bronxville’s injured athletes heal more quickly and conveniently.

This grant replaced an old, dangerous football sled with two new sleds.

This grant provided funds for Bronxville alum, John Heiss, a professor at the New England Conservatory of Music to work with Bronxville band students.

This grant provided resources for a High School teacher to develop a new high school course offering, titled “Advanced Physics and Engineering.” This course addressed the needs of students to  further their physics studies as well as get an introduction to the concepts and methodology pertinent to an engineering course of study or career. Grant funds were used to purchase specialized materials, for professional development and a stipend for the teacher to develop the new curriculum over the summer. The course enrolled students in the fall.

Foundation grants supported professional development for language arts teachers in all three schools to come up to speed quickly on new requirements of the Common Core.

Provided funding for an “in-house” field trip for 4th graders when a historian from the New Netherlands Museum brought to life the experience of Henry Hudson’s crew aboard the Half Moon through hands-on activities and a variety of replica artifacts. The program supplemented the 4th grade study of the Age of Exploration as part of the social studies curriculum.   

This grant funded a competitive fellowship awarded to five high school teachers as “Innovation Fellows” charged with taking a year to study new  aspects of pedagogy and skills that are necessary for students to thrive in the 21st century. The Fellows studied a variety of topics including the flipped classroom and flexible, innovative classroom design that led to future grants for specialized education architects to help re-design several classrooms as flexible, tech-enabled spaces that allowed for a greater variety of teaching and learning methods.

Provided specialized libraries of books in each kindergarten classroom comprised of multi-leveled texts on specific non-fiction topics so that each Kindergartner would be able to read a text on the same subject that matched his/her reading level.

Provided for Lincoln Center’s Education Partnership to work in second grade classrooms to use performing and visual arts and visits to cultural institutions as an engaging way to supplement ELA and social studies curricula

Allowed two MS faculty to attend training to learn yoga and meditation techniques that could be brought into the classroom setting to help reduce stress and improve focus.

Provided funds to bring noted motivational speaker and former professional snowboarder, Kevin Pearce, to speak to Bronxville students about grit, determination and brain injury.

This grant purchased elementary school classroom libraries of non-fiction texts which were required by the new Common Core curriculum.

Provided funds for a professional composer to work with orchestra students on their own compositions.

Provided funding for the 9th grade class and their Freshman Transition leaders to travel to Sharpe Reservation at year-end to celebrate their work and community building together.  

This grant reprised the popular Sharpe Reservation trip for new High School freshman and their senior mentors.

The Foundation underwrote training and materials for the implementation of the Singapore Math curriculum in the Elementary School starting in 2012 in Kindergarten. This year’s grant applied to the 2nd grade.

Provided funds to send a HS Humanities teacher to an intensive summer workshop on “Teaching Shakespeare in the Classroom” to help create a more engaging and deep learning experience for students in one of the essential parts of the ELA curriculum. The teacher worked with other MS and HS teachers in the fall to provide them the tools to use in their classrooms. A license to continue to use course materials was also purchased so that other Bronxville teachers had access to the teaching materials.

This grant request from the 1st, 4th and 5th grade allowed Play Group Theater to work with students in creative and engaging lessons geared toward the Common Core literacy standards for those grades.

Provided funds for poet, Douglas Florian, to work with Elementary students in grades K-5 providing four assembly programs tailored to each grade level. Florian read and recited original poetry, taught children various techniques such as rhyme, simile, onomatopoeia, and haiku and shared his own creative process for writing, illustrating and publishing his work.

With resources from this grant, the District leadership team, including many new and recently new hires, worked with Cambridge Leadership Associates to strengthen the team’s leadership and adaptive capacities.  The consultation lasted for 13 months and included not only administration, but expanded to include faculty leadership and classroom teachers as well.

Thirty teachers from across all three schools were trained as Certified Google Educators and helped additional faculty learn to use the new technologies.

This request was for two High School math teachers to attend a conference at Phillips Exeter Academy about the impact of applications of technology in the classroom and the role of technology in math and science curricula.

This grant funded the ES assistant principal and the Director of Professional Development to attend the National Schools Conference to learn more about school/university partnerships. The Elementary School had begun a partnership with Long Island University to provide graduate education student interns for the Elementary School and the school hoped to deepen and expand the partnership.

These funds allowed the high school World History teachers to attend the 94th annual Social Studies National Conference to learn about best teaching practices, strategies and methods for implementing Common Core requirements, and to align World History content for grades 6 to 10.

Foundation resources allowed the World Languages teachers to attend conferences focused on the teaching of foreign languages including AP courses.  

This grant of $166,000 helped the District start to move from special use, off-site computer labs to bringing technology seamlessly into classrooms to allow easier collaboration between students and students and teachers. More than 400 Chrome Books were purchased and 30 teachers were trained in Google Apps for Education.

This grant provided equipment and supplies to renovate Room A106 into a digital photography studio for a variety of purposes for art classes -   reference photographs (still life studies, lighting studies, portrait studies, living artwork, etc), set up of studio work for portraits or still life that can be used for students’ AP portfolios, artist’s portfolio, digital portfolios or to professionally shoot their artwork to be used in their digital portfolio or to send to colleges for arts supplements and applications.

This grant provided iPads and apps for Special Ed teachers to use for speech-language therapy and for occupational and physical therapy.  iPads were also used for data collection, to provide students with immediate visual and auditory feedback and to use for one-on-one work in small spaces.

This grant provided building materials and equipment to transform a room into a studio for use by Bronco TV, for music recording and additional recording needs of the school.

The Varsity Baseball coach requested funds to purchase a radar gun to use help the team improve its pitching.

The basketball backboards and hoops were past their useful life and dangerous but the Athletic Department did not have funds in their budget to replace them.  The Foundation was able to help.

This grant purchased a device to feed basketballs to our teams during practice allowing coaches to concentrate on higher-value-added activities during practice.

The grant provided for filming equipment for the Chambers Field Press box for coaches’ use to review action with players and make corrections and suggestions, to use to produce recruiting videos and to tape and later broadcast sporting events.

This grant was submitted by fifth grade students looking for a way to provide a safe, fun, active recess activity for elementary students that multiple students could use at the same time.

HUDL is a high tech athletic scouting system that allows coaches and athletes to get full-team access to video analysis tools from any computer or mobile device. Teams can watch the video and notes their coach’s share with them. Athletes can watch from their mobile devices and create virtual team meetings.

Funded Long Island University graduate education students to intern in Bronxville Elementary School classrooms.  The interns allowed classroom teachers the flexibility to engage in professional development knowing that their classes would be covered by the interns who were familiar with the students and the lesson plans.  After a year of piloting the program successfully, the District budget for substitute teachers was able to absorb the ongoing cost of the program. The program proved helpful in hiring tested teachers.

This professional development opportunity for Bronxville faculty allowed teachers to research, discuss and design curriculum geared toward building the skills and attributes that Bronxville students would need to succeed in college and in the work world of the 21st Century..

The Foundation provided the resources for facutly training and for specialized materials for the mulit-year rollout of Singapore Math in the Elementary School.

Provided funding for an enrichment program and teacher training in the Elementary School.  The program uses theater and drama to engage students in learning English Language Arts and related skills like public speaking and creativity.  Elementary School teachers received training and mentoring in the techniques to continue the program with students after the residency was complete.

Lincoln Center Institute will partner with Elementary School teachers to develop a study of imaginative learning through the arts. This year-long program will include two units: visual arts with a visit to the MET and performing arts with a live performance of music and dance. The program includes hands-on, in-school activities with art and classroom teachers as well as visiting artists. The objective is to deepen the student's ability to view the world through an artist's eye, focusing on vocabulary development, critical thinking and creativity.

Written by the High School Orchestra teacher, this grant provided a special guest teacher for an enrichment program that helps music students working on music compositions in the School’s specialized music computer lab.

SMART document cameras are an educational tool that offers teachers a unique way to display and explore documents including student work and 3-D content. Physical objects are placed under the camera and displayed on a SMART Board interactive whiteboard for in-depth exploration.

The grant provided specialized equipment for the High School media classes and the Bronco TV extracurricular club to use to learn about and produce professional audio and video content.

The Foundation is helping the District roll out Singapore Math in the Elementary School one grade-level at a time.  The grant provides for professional development for teachers as well as special Singapore Math teaching materials

Provided for a High School teacher to attend a conference to learn techniques for incorporating mindfulness practices into classroom learning.  Research into mindfulness practice indicates its ability to reduce stress and improve learning.  High School students learning the techniques worked with Elementary School students to help them start using the skills early in their academic careers.

The grant funded several Middle and High School teachers to attend an annual subject-area conference to keep the Science department abreast of latest developments in Science education and bring back ideas and curriculum to implement at the Bronxville School.

Provided seminars with the "Positive Coaching Alliance" for Bronxville coaches grades 7-12. Coaches learned strategies and techniques to use with their student athletes to help create a positive team environment, improve communication between athletes and coaches, and make student athletes aware of their roles and responsibilities as team members.

iPads are a flexible, lightweight tool allowing coaches to easily track player and team statistics, film and share video for instructive purposes and use a variety of apps to improve management and performance of their teams.

The FitLight trainer is a wireless training system  developed by an Olympic coach to help athletes improve speed, agility and focus.  The FitLight can be configured in a multitude of ways to work on a variety of skills for all sports.  Athlete data is wirelessly saved so that performance improvements can be tracked and analyzed.

With this grant, the soccer team was able to purchase easily portable practice equipment that allowed for flexibility with limited field space.

This grant was written by a team of fifth grade students under the guidance of a parent volunteer.  The students identified the need for clean, updated fountains to replace the old fountains well past their useful life and to reduce the use of bottled water in the school for environmental reasons.

This grant was written by a parent with the K-2 teachers. Parents were assigned to bring in cases of disposable plastic water bottles for snacks and lunch for K-2. With the water filters on the classroom sinks the expensive and environmentally unfriendly bottled water was no longer necessary.

This grant restored two iconic portraits gracing the Rotunda entrance of the Bronxville School.

This grant helped complete the Chambers Field project by providing funds to build a concession stand, add bleachers and a press box to our field facillities.