The Sedona Educational Foundation, modeled from the strategic plan of Sedona-Oak Creek School District Superintendent Dennis Dearden, saw success in drawing donors even before it received finishing touches and filed the last bits of paperwork.
In December, William and Cheryl Geffon donated $20,000 as a seed to start their vision, the John McCain Memorial Scholarship, named for the late Arizona senator, which will award $5,000 each year to two district students whose academic performance and integrity outside the classroom are in line with McCain’s legacy.
Not long after, Mary Lalli and Bill Stankey donated $200,000 to the foundation, also for the purpose of providing district scholarships.
Now, equipped with a newly appointed board, the foundation is seeking to further engage the community in efforts to honor high achieving students, provide support for teachers, mitigate classroom expenses and introduce new programs that will help make SOCSD more attractive to parents and students.
Dearden and SOCSD Governing Board President Randy Hawley represent the district on the foundation’s board.
Jennette Bill, Club Youth Services director for Sedona Rotary, was chosen by the other members to be the Foundation Board president. Jake Weber, former owner of Weber’s IGA grocery store in the Village of Oak Creek, was chosen to be board vice president.
To round out the group, Marc Sterling, of Sterling Accounting & Tax, who taught business at Sedona Red Rock High School and served seven months on Sedona City Council, was chosen as the board treasurer.
“I needed people from around the community who are well-respected, not necessarily for them to go out and do everything but for them to be the thinkers behind this, to drive the energy,” Dearden said, stressing this Educational fate of inaction and dissolution of similar foundations in the past.
“If we’re going to do this, like with anything in the strategic plan, we’re going to be successful at this and make something great happen,” he said. “I couldn’t have picked a better group of people, I love meeting with them and some great ideas come out of this room.”
“All of the things that we’ve had happen in the district, as a full umbrella, the closing of Big Park, the reduction of staff, the shrinking of enrollment and the expansion of some of the charter schools … this [foundation], I saw as an effort to strengthen the district,” Weber said.
Bill, whose record of collaboration in Sedona earned her the role as board president, said, “We need to bring the community into this to have that positive feel in the community, and I think the way to do that is to bring all the nonprofits or all the service organizations together to maybe make a big event happen to celebrate and come behind the schools and turn around this slump we’ve been in.”
An official logo has been created for the foundation, which is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. According to Dearden, a mission statement, along with foundation objectives, will be released soon.
Hawley, who spent most of his career in education as a principal and superintendent, said that educational foundations often take significant pressure off of districts.
“The school I graduated high school from is pretty economically depressed right now, but they have a very active foundation, and they raise up to $100,000 a year to give back to the schools and a lot of it they get from alums,” he said.
“I think that could really lead to providing the district with a good shot in the arm in terms of providing resources for teachers and for classrooms and at the same time bringing the community together and showing the staff that the community is behind them.” Sterling added that part of the reason he was eager to join the foundation’s board is because he attributes his son’s academic and social flourishing to SOCSD teachers and resources.
“The teachers care so much,” he said. “They are teachers here because they want to be here. It’s not just something they show up to and get a check. This is a destination for them.”
Corey Oldenhuis can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 126, or by email to coldenhuis@larsonnewspapers.com
