LAEF Leadership MESSAGE
To our volunteers and supporters,
Who would have guessed that starting the school year in 2020, we would feel nostalgic for fall 2019? The first day of school jitters quelled by teacher hugs, a friendly art docent smile during an in-class lesson, hands-on school-wide STEM challenges, high fives between student peers, or meeting teachers and fellow parents during back-to-school night.
The 2019-20 school year will forever be remembered because of the disruption to in-person learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, but it started out like any other. When we look back on the 2019-20 school year, we remember the “regular,” extraordinary learning that engaged LASD students for the fall and winter, as well as the difficult and uncertain spring. Spring 2020, with its new distance-learning requirements, along with the varied health, logistical, and financial concerns of families in our district, was a challenging time for all of us. We are grateful for the tremendous effort that our LAEF funded teachers and staff put forth to educate our students in new ways throughout the spring.
LAEF could not do what we do without the unwavering support from parents and community members like you. On behalf of the LAEF Board of Directors and staff, thank you for your generous donations which benefitted every student in LASD’s seven elementary and two junior high schools this past year. Your donations enabled LAEF to contribute $3 million to LASD for the 2019-20 school year, funding teachers and staff for STEM, Wellness, Literacy, and Arts.
In this annual report, we highlight how your generosity has positively impacted the educational experience of every child in our district. Whether it was the new computer science curriculum for elementary school children, the music instruction for grades 4-6, the wide range of electives offered in the junior highs, or the beloved physical education teachers who helped all students be active, LAEF funded teachers enriched our student’s experiences. These teachers and the programs they taught made our students' education extraordinary and demonstrated the enormous difference your donations made.
In these uncertain times, it is difficult to anticipate how the pandemic will affect the entire 2020-21 school year. Your support for LAEF remains vital to funding the teachers and staff who provide instruction and services to LASD students for STEM, wellness, literacy, and arts, and will give LASD the flexibility to make this school year extraordinary, both virtually and in-person. We look forward to partnering with you again for the 2020-21 school year. Thank you for making LAEF a part of your charitable giving.
With gratitude,
Sarah Daniels, 2019-20 LAEF Board President, LASD Parent
Heather Macdonald, LAEF Executive Director
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