Press Release – May 6, 2008
Local Donors Support School District with a $275,000 “Challenge Gift” to Mitigate Anticipated Program Reductions – Designated Gift Preserves K-12 UW Marine Program
Local donors have coordinated together to make a $275,000 “Challenge Gift” to the School District to mitigate anticipated program reductions due to a $600,000 operating fund shortfall projected for 2008-09. Under the leadership of the San Juan Island Community Foundation (San Juan Island's publicly supported philanthropic organization), five local donors are working together to provide a community incentive to raise the additional funds necessary to address the budget shortfall. Charles Anderson, Chair of the San Juan Island Community Foundation Board, said, "These donors are committed to ensuring that our schools will continue to provide an outstanding education on San Juan Island." He is optimistic that other donors will also step forward to preserve our school programs and recognize the importance of education to a healthy community.
Donations include an anonymous gift through the “Fairway Fund”, as well as donations from David McCauley, Cloud Oakes, Scott Boden, and Charles Anderson & Pamela Gross. This collective “challenge gift” anticipates other successful fundraising efforts planned by the community including the “Save Our Schools” phone appeal through the San Juan Public Schools Foundation scheduled for this Thursday evening, 4:00 – 8:00 p.m. Paul LeBaron, President of the Schools Foundation, urged community members wishing to make a contribution that is responsive to the challenge gift to call the Schools Foundation “SOS Hotline” at 370-7925, or to use the “donate now” secure link on the Foundation website, www.sjpsf.org.
Michael Soltman, School Superintendent, expressed gratitude for the generous gift of $10,500 from Carolyn Haugen to preserve the UW Marine Laboratory K-12 Outreach Program. Carolyn helped launch this program while principal at the elementary school. She stated, “I just wanted to do my part to preserve what I believe to be an essential part of our science program. I urge others to step forward as they are able to ensure the continued excellence of all of our school programs.”
Michael Soltman and Boyd Pratt, School Board Chair, expressed thanks to the well coordinated efforts of the San Juan Island Community Foundation, San Juan Public Schools Foundation, and other school support organizations to raise funds to address the shortfall. Boyd said, “We are so encouraged by the response of our community to sustain the quality of our schools. This “Challenge Gift” provides a real opportunity to preserve our academic and co-curricular programs for the next year, however the challenge is huge and requires the full commitment of our community to raise the matching funds to meet it.”