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Mission & History

Our Mission

The Skaneateles Education Foundation (SEF) through its partnership with the community, seeks to enrich the educational experience of every student in the Skaneateles Central School District.

 

Our Vision

SEF fulfills this mission by engaging the community through charitable contributions to supplement state and local funding with the goals of enriching the curriculum, inspiring educational innovation, and creating possibilities for the students of SCS.

 

A Brief History

The organization that was incorporated and granted non-profit status in 2007, and convened its first meeting in November 2008, was called the Skaneateles Extended Learning Fund (SELF), receiving seed funding gifts from the SCS Class of 1951 and its founders. A seed grant from the Allyn Foundation provided funding to employ a part-time Executive Director for the first two years in 2008 and 2009. The original impetus of the fund was to primarily support students demonstrating extenuating circumstances and need. In 2009, changes to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) related to strict de-identified student data made the process of adjudicating student grant requests unmanageable. The foundation board approved new bylaws, a new mission statement, changed its name to Skaneateles Education Foundation, launched a website, and mailed its first Annual Appeal to the community. From this point forward, SEF’s philosophy would be about enabling innovation in our schools, and ensuring educational excellence for every student in our community.