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Bennington district announces $2 million endowment as bond outreach continues ahead of March election
Summary
Bennington Public Schools officials announced a $2 million endowment gift to the district's foundation and outlined ongoing bond informational outreach, including mailings and community meetings, ahead of the March 11 bond election.
Bennington Public Schools officials announced during their February board meeting that Daryl and Kalita Logan donated $2,000,000 to the district's foundation, and staff detailed continuing outreach for the district's bond informational campaign ahead of the March 11 election.
The district said the $2 million will be placed into a foundation endowment expected to generate roughly $100,000 annually, with about $80,000 earmarked for student scholarships and about $20,000 set aside for staff professional development. "This money is going to have a lasting impact not just on our school system but our community for a really, really long time," Superintendent (name not specified) said during the meeting.
Why it matters: The gift creates a recurring funding stream for scholarships and staff development, while the bond campaign seeks voter approval for capital projects. School leaders said they are trying to reach every household in the district with a mix of digital and paper communications ahead of the March 11 vote.
Details from the superintendent's report show a multi-pronged outreach effort: two informational mailings have been sent to about 7,500 households so far, the district website had about 3,000 views to date, and the district posted 10 Facebook items that collectively reached roughly 11,000 people and generated about 30,000 views. The district also said it has produced a digital presentation for families who cannot attend community meetings and has added a public FAQ document on the district website.
District staff said they have held two open community meetings and plan one final informational meeting at Bennington Middle School on February 18. They said they will present to PTOs, HOAs and other local organizations on request. The board was reminded of the bond election date of March 11 and the next regular board meeting on March 10.
Board members and administrators described the communications work as broad and ongoing. The superintendent said the district is seeking to consolidate its current mix of communications vendors into a single platform and that a request for proposals for a communications vendor is due later in the month.
No board action was taken on the donation or the bond informational strategy at the meeting; the donation and outreach plans were presented as information to the board.
Sources and attribution: The donation amount, proposed endowment distribution, outreach statistics, the schedule of community meetings and the March 11 election date were provided in the superintendent's report during the board meeting.
