Archive: Around Town

Chuck BrodheadTwo Ithaca Public Education Initiative (IPEI) Red and Gold Grants have been designated in memory of Chuck Brodhead for his many instrumental contributions to IPEI’s growth from its founding until its 15th anniversary year.

John Brooks at Enfield Elementary School received funding for “Co-curricular Thematic Unit about the Revolutionary War”.  All Enfield 4th graders are participating in the historical activities with their classroom teachers and the school’s music and art teachers. They will learn to play the fife and drum for marching which they will demonstrate on their upcoming culminating project trip to Fort Stanwix near Rome, NY, where visitors can engage in period soldiers’ duties.  With the art teacher, they will make flags and rucksacks, from muslin, to carry their lunch and personal belongings during the trip.

The second IPEI Red and Gold Grant in Brodhead’s memory provides funding for  “From Pippi to Ripley: Workshop Day for Middle and High School Students and Teachers” lead by Elizabeth Bleicher, associate professor of English at Ithaca College.    On May 4, she and her colleagues are hosting a one-day program of English Language Arts workshops for middle and high school students and professional development for secondary level English Language Arts teachers. It is an academic conference that is free and open to the public, with scholarship presented by panels of established professors, graduate students and undergraduate scholars. Bus transportation from DeWitt and Boynton Middle Schools and from Ithaca High School is provided.

Red and Gold Grants have been awarded to 67 teachers and others so far this academic year. Red and Gold Grants are awards for one-time projects that strengthen and enrich Ithaca schools. May 6 is the next deadline for Red and Gold Grant application submissions; the awards of up to $500 are announced within two weeks.   

Chuck (aka Charles W. Brodhead), a founding board member of IPEI who continued active participation until his death in 2011, made a bequest to IPEI that now will fund several Red and Gold Grants each school year identified by the grant review committee. Chuck’s bequest is the first estate gift to be actualized to benefit IPEI.  IPEI’s Founders Circle recognizes all who have named IPEI as a beneficiary in their wills.  For more information, contact Development Committee Chair Mary Grainger.

Chuck Brodhead collaborated with Stuart Basefsky and other friends and family members to create the Phyllis B. Brodhead Library Media Technology Grants after her death.  The gifts and his bequest have been combined as the Charles W. and Phyllis B. Brodhead Fund with the two distinct purposes.

Grants in Phyllis’ memory honor her 33 year career as teacher and librarian at Boynton Middle School during which she realized the educational value of technology in school settings. For 2012-13, ICSD Teacher Librarians requested funds to purchase Playaways that will be housed at Boynton and available for loan to other ICSD libraries.  Playaways are digital audio books in a self-contained, portable unit. They offer challenged readers an opportunity to hear a book professionally read aloud while following the text. Listening to text while seeing the book is technically known as “shared reading” and it’s a powerful tool for developing fluency, vocabulary, story sense, and comprehension.

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