Welcome to the San Leandro Education Foundation!

On Sept. 13th, SLED celebrated its fifth anniversary of providing critical support to San Leandro schools with our premiere Gala, "An Evening Under the Stars". Over 300 were on hand in support of our schools! To commemorate our anniversary, Senator Loni Hancock, Senator Ellen Corbett, and Assemblymember Rob Bonta co-authored a resolution in support of SLED.

 

Event photos will be posted on our Facebook page by the end of next week. Stay tuned!

 

The success of the gala was due largely to the generous support of our event sponsors:

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SLED Seeks Executive Director!

Thanks to the support of the community, SLED now has the capacity to hire a part-time Executive Director to expand its initiatives for the 2013-2014 school year and beyond.

The Executive Director will be responsible for the planning, development, administration, supervision and implementation of a comprehensive development program that will complement and enhance the academic mission of the San Leandro Unified School District. In addition, the Executive Director will be responsible for managing operations, including providing progress reports and financial data to the Board of Directors. Position is currently budgeted as .5 FTE. Salary will be dependent on the successful candidate’s experience. For a full description of the position, please click here. 

Applicants: please submit via e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. a cover letter, résumé with three professional references, and a one-page writing sample on your understanding of the San Leandro community. Hiring process may take 6-12 weeks. No inquiries or phone calls, please.

Please click here for the full job description.

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SLED Donates over $50,000 to Schools for Enrichment Programs!

SLED announced this week its donations to the San Leandro Unified School District for the 2013-2014 year. Thanks to the support of the community and local businesses, SLED will contribute more than $50,000 towards school enrichment at the elementary, middle, and high school levels across 12 school sites. The donations include: 

• $40 per every Fourth Grader to attend an outdoor education field trip.

• $125 per every Third Grade classroom for field trips to the San Leandro History Museum.*

• $5,000 to Bancroft Middle School for approved enrichment programs.

• $5,000 to John Muir Middle School for approved enrichment programs.

• $1,500 to Lincoln Continuation High School for approved enrichment programs.

• $10,000 to San Leandro High School for the SLAM Academy, Art Department, and Physical Education Department.

“We are excited to enrich the educational experiences for students across the district and thank everyone who donated in order to make these programs a reality,” said SLED President Deborah Cox.

Superintendent Mike McLaughlin states, “I want to thank the SLED Foundation for again providing necessary funding for programs for students in our schools. This year’s donation will have a direct impact on our students’ educational programs district-wide and we all need to recognize SLED’s dedication to the students in the San Leandro Unified School District."

*Due to some City of San Leandro staffing needs to accommodate every SLUSD third grade classroom, SLED is looking to fundraise another $5,700 to make this program available. Visit www.sledfund.org/donate to help!

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SLED Helps Make Summer School Count with New Attendance Incentive Program

The San Leandro Education Foundation (SLED) announced this week that students at San Leandro High’s summer school will pick up rewards and prizes for their perfect attendance, thanks to an incentive program made possible by community donations to SLED. SLED will donate four $5 gift cards to each summer school classroom to be used in a weekly raffle. Students who were present and on time to each class will be eligible for prizes at the end of every week. SLED's attendance raffles are valued at $3,120.

Summer School Principal Guillermo Morales states, "Students attending summer school are some of the District's children most in need of support. Once again, SLED has stepped up to the plate and hit a home run by supporting these students. We are very excited about their generous and creative contributions in the form of gift cards for the summer session.”

Pictured from left to right: Principal Jonathon Ferrer, Attendance Raffle Winner Nigel Carter, Attendance Raffle Winner Veronica Ostria, SLED President Deborah Cox, and Associate Principal Valentin Del Rio

SLED’s Board of Directors voted to fund the incentive program at its June board meeting after considering the need to support all students all year round, even after the regular school year ended. According to the California Department of Education, many children lose ground academically over the summer if they are not engaged in academic related activities. SLED considered "summer learning loss", which disproportionately affects the lowest-income children. The phenomenon is also cumulative, so every summer a child suffers from these setbacks, the further and further they potentially fall behind. Several studies have concluded that attendance incentives have proven to be successful in increasing student participation in school.

“Since the announcement, students have repeatedly approached staff to tell us that they have been on time to their classes each week and hope their name is selected for the gift cards,” Morales said. “Teachers have also been excited about the gift cards and constantly remind students of their attendance and encourage them to continue arriving to class, on time, so their names may be called the following week. SLED's partnership with the District is helping drive the agenda of summer school to support the children most in need of our collaborative efforts.”

SLED hopes to continue offering this program on an annual basis. Please join SLED and donate to support programs like these.

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Last Friday evening, 168 graduating San Leandro High School seniors received recognition and scholarships for their academic achievement. Thanks to the support of teachers, staff and the community, local graduates will be heading off to such prestigious institutions as Brown University, M.I.T., Boston University, University of Oregon, and all of the campuses in the UC system. Among the $166,000 in scholarships and grants that were awarded, $3,000 was presented by SLED! 

 

Wells Fargo Foundation awarded SLED three $1,000 scholarships, and SLED selected three worthy recipients who had volunteered many hours to help raise resources for the school district. The SLED awardees and their respective college of choice include Han Chen, UCLA; Emilie Shen, UC Berkeley; and Oliver Stanley, University of Washington. 

 

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SLED Secures $50,000 from Lowe's for School Beautification Day Projects!

SLED has successfully obtained $50,000 in grants for school improvements. $5,000 from Lowe’s will go to 10 San Leandro schools to benefit projects from gardens to new paint, to outdoor seating and sports field upgrades.
 

“Thank you to SLED on behalf of our students, our schools and the district.” said Superintendent Cindy Cathey. “Thanks to these funds, our school sites can address a long list of projects that help enrich our students’ educational experience and make their schools inviting places to learn.”
 

A bulk of the projects will be completed by community and parent volunteers on the School District’s Beautification Day this fall. The $50,000 in grants is made possible by Lowe’s philanthropic “Toolbox for Education®” foundation.
 

Garry Grotke, Principal of Madison Elementary School, stated, “Funds benefitting our school will work to improve access to our garden for our differently abled students. SLED is awesome and we are so thankful for the support!”
 

Recipients and their respective school improvement projects include:
 

Garfield Elementary School will install cubbies and shelves in the hallways for rotating educational exhibits and create an outdoor California natives garden.

Madison Elementary School will refurbish its current garden by fixing planters, adding accessible walkways and installing irrigation.
McKinley Elementary School will install additional seating and plants around their portables.

Monroe Elementary School will replace an outdoor bulletin board and railings, as well as add beautiful planter boxes and a new outdoor bench to the front of the school.

Roosevelt Elementary School will fix two field backstops and enhance its well- used garden by adding an irrigation system and improving the planter boxes.

Wilson Elementary School will upgrade its garden into a “Salsa Garden” by replacing old plants with salsa ingredient plants as well as adding walkways, irrigation, and benches.

Bancroft Middle School will re-paint door swing outlines in the hallways and maintain old planter boxes as well as add new planters.

John Muir Middle School will landscape one of its breezeways by installing a border area, mulch, plants, bushes, and walking pavers.

Lincoln Continuation High School will install additional seating and plants to invite students to use outdoor spaces.

San Leandro High School will also install additional seating and plants to encourage the use of outdoor areas.
 

For more information or to volunteer on “Beautification Day,” please contact Tessa Atkinson-Adams at 510/703-3300 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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Drake's Brewing First Friday Event Raises $3,288 for SLED!

On the First Friday of each month, San Leandro's Drake's Brewing holds a fundraiser for a local nonprofit or school group - and in August SLED was the beneficiary. Drake's patrons were asked for a voluntary donation at the door and in total gave $3,288! This amount does not include money raised from beer sales. SLED wishes to thank First Friday participants for their generosity, the wonderful volunteers who helped make the event a success and the staff at Drake's Brewing for their ongoing commitment to supporting public education in our community. 

Foundation Recruiting Founding Funders for SLED 100

The SLED 100 is an exclusive group of local residents, government representatives and business leaders who understand the importance of educating today's youth to create a strong, robust community and workforce. Founding funders who participate in the new program have committed themselves to an annual donation of at least $1,000 for three years.

SLED is incredibly grateful to the following for their commitment to join the SLED 100:

Silver Star Level ($10,000+):

• Westlake Development Partners

Star Patron Level ($1,000+):

• Bayfair Center / Madison Marquette

• Stephen Cassidy, San Leandro mayor

• Phyllis and Dr. Steven Gee

• John Gooding, owner, Quadric Group

• Tricia and Fred Reichert

• Polina and Martin Vitz, SLED board member

• Mike Weisner, owner, Paradiso

“Their support demonstrates the degree to which our community values enriching public education at a time when California ranks near the bottom of per-pupil funding and SLUSD grapples with preventing additional class size increases and cuts to music and sports programs in 2012-13,” said Deborah Cox, SLED President.

The new state budget continues the trend of cuts to K-12 education. Under the spending plan, the District alone would lose an additional $2.54 million next January if voters reject Governor Jerry Brown's tax measures in November.

Commitments by new SLED 100 members are in addition to notable contributions of $1,000 or more received during the 2011-12 fiscal year from the following: Alameda County Waste Management Authority, Leticia Alvarez, Boulevard Burger, Drake’s Brewing, The Englander, Mary Gregory, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Kathie and Jack Longinotti, Wing an Ling Mok, OSIsoft, Inc., Nancy and Mike Pretto, Jill Raimondi and Jason Proctor, Paradiso, Emily and Rob Rich, and the Wells Fargo Foundation.

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SLED Wins Third Place in Energize for the Prize Contest

SLED has tied for Third Place in Energy Upgrade California's Energize for the Prize Contest, winning $2,300 thanks to Alameda County residents who made home energy improvements through the program in the last school year and designated SLED as their school organization of choice.

"The money awarded to SLED through Energize for the Prize will go directly toward funding much-needed enrichments in our public schools. We are grateful for the opportunity we were given to participate in the program this year and are looking forward to building on our success in the future by continuing to spread the word about home energy upgrades in our community," SLED President Deborah Cox said.

Energy Upgrade California is sponsored at the local level by StopWaste.org in conjunction with local governments and utilities companies including PG&E to help residents reduce their energy consumption by making their homes more insulated and energy efficient. Participants receive rebates through the program and lower their monthly energy bills.

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SLHS Senior Takes Top Honors for Rotary Speech Contest

San Leandro High School senior Osa Aihie took top honors at the April 4 finals for Rotary District 5170's Richard D. King Annual Youth Speech Contest, taking home the $1,000 grand prize. Previously Osa won three qualifying rounds to make it to the final leg of the competition. He was mentored by SLED Board Member Chris Crow. » READ MORE

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