Theresa Swope
Budget cuts and the economic slump Baldwin County is currently in has made finding funds for school projects, supplies and other needs harder this year. One organization, formed by local residents less than a year ago, aims to help schools do what they need to do: educate students.
The North Baldwin Coalition for Excellence in Education (NBCEE) was formed as an initiative of Bay Minette 2010 (BM 2010) to enhance local education in an effort to graduate better students, and in the process, make Bay Minette and North Baldwin County more attractive to industries and businesses looking to locate in this area.
BM 2010 is a committee of the North Baldwin Chamber of Commerce, the goal of which is to “promote the north Baldwin area in anticipation of the growth that Baldwin County will receive as a result of Thyssenkrup and Europrean Aerospace and Defense Systems,” Leah Ann Overstreet said. Overstreet is principal of Delta Elementary School and one of the founding members of NBCEE.
“The research indicates Baldwin County will receive at least 20 percent of the growth from those two industries, and North Baldwin wants to have as much of that growth as possible,” Overstreet said.
Overstreet said she was asked to serve on the BM 2010 committee, along with Tina Covington, Janice Simon and Phyllis French. She said her group and other residents had long talked of an education foundation to help the schools, but said finding the start-up money had always been an issue.
“Through the BM 2010 project, subcommittees were to be set up to promote the North Baldwin area, including beautification, education, housing and more,” Overstreet said. “At the conclusion of the meeting, Tina and I were talking about the potential that BM 2010 had for the area. Tina said that since there was funding available through the BM 2010 project, now would be a good time to begin an educational foundation.”
Overstreet and Covington contacted Janice Simon, a Baldwin County High School teache; Phyllis French, the elementary school coordinator; Cherry Penn, Baldwin County Board of Education after-school program coordinator; and Chris Norman, Bay Minette city councilman, and presented the idea of an education foundation.
“Of course, everyone was all for it,” Overstreet said, so the foundation was born. “It was just amazing. Everything fell into place. Within a week we had established an executive board, including members at large, developed by-laws, articles of incorporation, developed a mission statement, a logo and a motto - ‘Growing to fulfill the needs of North Baldwin schools.’”
She said Janice Simon, one of the founding members, suggested the name North Baldwin Coalition for Excellence in Education, or NBCEE, and the others adopted it.
Overstreet said the timing couldn’t have been better because the Chamber held its annual banquet shortly after the foundation was developed, and she was asked to give a brief presentation on the foundation.
“I revealed the foundation at that banquet and as I was making my way back to my table I had businessmen telling me to call them, they wanted to donate some money,” she said.
One of those businessmen was an executive with Alabama Power. “Hiram Templeton, who is the manager out at Alabama Power, was accompanied by his boss. His boss told Hiram he had some money left in his charitable account, and told him to call me and give me $2,000,” Overstreet said.
She said that was just the beginning. “Everyone has been so generous.”
The next step was to become incorporated and attain non-profit status. “Bob Wills, an attorney (and school board member) handled the paper work to incorporate the organization, free of charge, and Neal Covington, Tina’s husband and a local accountant, is handling the 501-C3 status,” Overstreet said. “There’s a lot of grant money we can’t access without that 501C-3 tax exempt status.” Actions the foundation is waiting on pending that non-profit status include North Baldwin Utilities including a checkbox on their bill statements so that customers can donate $1 per payment.
The foundation exists to promote awareness of and provide resources for the 10 feeder schools in the north Baldwin county area. Feeder schools, Overstreet said, are the schools that “feed” into the high school, which for North Baldwin is Baldwin County High School.
Those schools include Bay Minette Elementary, Bay Minette Intermediate, Bay Minette Middle, Baldwin County High, Delta Elementary, North Baldwin Center for Technology, Perdido School, Pine Grove Elementary, Stapleton Elementary and Vaughn Elementary.
Now that the foundation was in place, it was time to start looking at goals and raising funds.
“The main thing we want to do is provide any service we can that the schools need and can’t furnish,” Overstreet said. She said that can include professional development programs for teachers, better delivery of services and better enrichment programs during the summer.
“We also plan to eventually offer grants for teachers,” she said.
One of the first items of business was a fundraiser designed to raise awareness of the area schools and some of the things they offer.
“Tony Edwards, teacher and Bay Minette City councilman, offered to assist us with our first fundraiser, a bicycle ride, Riding Toward Excellence, which was a huge success” Overstreet said. She said more than 100 people from Baldwin, Mobile and Monroe counties, participated in the ride.
“The ride began at Baldwin County High School and stopped at six more schools along the route,” Overstreet said. “We were very proud to be able to show off our north Baldwin schools, as well as the beautiful settings of North Baldwin.”
Overstreet said the foundation will sponsor the ride again this year, and said she expects an even greater turnout than last year.
“Tony rides with the Lance Armstrong foundation, LiveStrong, and when they held their ride in Bay Minette in the spring, he told the cyclists about Riding Toward Excellence. This year we anticipate hundreds of cyclists,” she said. “People like this ride, because it is for a charity, and the fee is tax-deductible for riders.
The ride will be held April 24, or the fourth weekend in April, this year and the fourth weekend in April every year after.
“Mount Cheahah is the site of a really large bicycle ride that next weekend and this is a good training ride for that,” she said.
In addition to raising funds for the foundation, Overstreet said the ride raised awareness for the area schools.
“All the schools on the route were open so riders could go in, use the facilities and get some water,” she said. “When they came out, they commented on how nice the schools are and how beautiful the campuses are. There were people who did not know we had so many schools, they thought we only had one school.”
The foundation is currently in the midst of a membership drive, pitting school against school in a friendly competition to see who can bring the most members in.
“Right now, Bay Minette Middle School is in the lead,” she said. Membership comes in varying levels, from a student membership for $5 to a platinum advocate at a donation of $15,000 or more. “We have a way for everyone to be involved,” Overstreet said.
The next event, which again will raise money and awareness, will be Christmasfest.
“We will have a booth at Christmasfest. We have partnered with BMMS’s art department and they are making ornaments for us to sell,” Overstreet said. “We also have some local artists who are making handmade ornaments for us to sell.”
Overstreet said those artists include Sandy Johnson, the reading coach at Delta Elementary School and “a naturally-gifted artist”; Babette deJongh, ballet teacher at Delta’s after-school program; Christi King; Nancy Raia of the Eastern Shore Center, Nancy Self; Brenda Anderson; Kerry Roley, a teacher at Perdido; members of Artists by the Bay; Kristi Ray, registrar at Perdido; Kay Cain, teacher at Perdido; and Carol Jean Barrow, retired teacher from Perdido.
“All are accomplished local artists and dedicated supporters of NBCEE,” Overstreet said.
“We have received funds from the BM 2010 and other organizations and with those funds are first project has been the creation of a CD featuring each of the 10 schools in the North Baldwin feeder pattern,” Overstreet said. “Fifteen Hundred copies of that CD are currently being produced and those will go out into recruiting packets for Thyssenkrup and Europrean Aerospace and Defemse Systems through the North Baldwin Chamber of Commerce recruitment packets.”
The mission of the foundation is to “enhance the educational experience of all the students in the Bay Minette feeder pattern by providing financial support and other resources to supplement district-wide programs and activities,” the mission statement states.
According to the statement, the goals of that mission are to: encourage academic excellence in the Bay Minette Feeder Pattern schools by providing funding which is not available through traditional local, state or federal sources; provide opportunities for teachers and staff to develop innovative projects through grants; invest in programs that have a positive impact on student success; develop a network of former North Baldwin area students and teachers to encourage their continued interest in and support of public education; and seek and cultivate private and corporate funding sources.
Tina Covington, a parent of Baldwin County Schools and one of the founding members of the Coalition, said she wanted to stress that the fundraising and school assistance that the foundation provides is not designed to compete with or take the place of the Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO).
“We have no desire to compete with fundraising done by the PTO,” she said. “We want to complement the things they are doing.”
She said the primary advantage to having the foundation is there are grants that individual schools can not qualify for, but with all schools working together - as a unit - through the foundation, so much more is possible.
“The foundation can apply for national and state grants that schools cannot,” Covington said.
