Escondido Education Foundation to Host Gala at San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum

The Escondido Education Founda­tion (EEF) invites you to attend its fund-raising event on Friday, April 15 at the San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum, 320 North Broadway in Es­condido.

Proceeds will help support the Dr. Mike Caston Innovation Awards, now in its 12th year. Escondido Union School District teacher Michael de Neve will be the Master of Ceremonies so things will be lively!

Live music will be supplied by Vaughn and Myrna North with many valuable silent auction baskets to bid on. Valet parking will be provided.

Catered food from Intertwined, des­serts from Wedeking’s Bakery, First Republic Bank, and Rita’s Frozen Cus­tard and beverages will be provided.

The highlight of the evening will be conversations with recipients of the Escondido Education Foundation’s Dr. Mike Caston Innovation Awards.

Every year teachers from the Escon­dido Union School District twenty- three schools submit grant proposals to EEF for consideration. Selection is based on the grant applicant’s creativ­ity, clarity, impact and potential repli­cability of their project idea.

For the past several years, the Foun­dation has awarded three different lev­els of grant awards; school-wide grants up to $5,000, team or grade level grants up to $2,500 each, and individual grant awards up to $500 each. The grants are named after EUSD’s late superinten­dent, Dr. Mike Caston, who was a mov­ing force behind the establishment of the Escondido Education Foundation.

Since 2005, the Foundation has fund­ed over 350 EUSD teacher grant awards totaling close to $500,000. Participa­tion in the competitive grant program by teachers is voluntary, and a com­mittee, comprised of both Foundation board members and volunteers from the community, evaluate each proposal without knowing the teacher or school associated with the project.

Over the past eleven years, teachers from each of the district’s 23 schools have won a grant. The grants are funded with dollars raised through Foundation events as well as donations from indi­viduals.

The Escondido Education Founda­tion (EEF) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) cor­poration founded in 2004 by business and community leaders to raise funds to support innovative learning in Escondi­do’s K-8 public schools. Raising funds through donations, grants, and events, the Foundation supports select, inno­vative programs within the Escondido Union School District. To find out more about EEF or to buy tickets and/or do­nate, visit: escondidoeducation.org or escondidoeducation.org/ event-tickets/