Christmas may be a month away, but the season of giving was in full swing for the Roslyn Board of Education on Thursday.
Roslyn’s Educational Advancement and Development presented the school district with a check for $25,000 to help fund parts of Roslyn High School’s new Bloomberg Lab.
Roslyn’s Educational Advancement and Development is a non-profit founded in 2011 with the goal of raising funds for the district.
Board President Meryl Waxman Ben-Levy said donor groups will sometimes collaborate with the district on budgeted initiatives that the board has already approved.
“They will fund to absorb some of the cost and that was what their chosen, dedicated contribution was for,” she said. “In this instance, this year, that group wants to help fund pieces of that Bloomberg Lab.”
The financial research lab and trading floor opened this fall. Students can use the room to learn and create equity portfolios as well as analyze risk by researching specific companies and indices.
The funds raised will help secure 30 Bloomberg terminals, an LED ticker display with real-time updates, a world clock and teacher training programs.
Jason Garmise, president of Roslyn’s Educational Advancement and Development, said the COVID-19 pandemic halted the group’s work. But, when they returned, they agreed to raise funds for the Bloomberg Lab.
“It’s always hard to time it because you guys have already agreed on it in the budget,” he said. “In fact, by the time we showed up, it was already mostly built. But we were all very proud of working together on it.”
The group raised a significant amount of money through an outdoor family movie night. Garmise said they sold over 900 tickets and described it as their “most successful” event ever.
“To get back going took a lot of energy and took a lot of cooperation, which has always been the hallmark of this partnership,” he said. “And this year, we didn’t know what to expect, so we came out of the chute pretty hot.”
Waxman Ben-Levy said the vote to accept the funds will be on next month’s meeting agenda. She also thanked the board for their efforts over the years.
“Please keep doing what you’re doing,” she said. “And I hope that for a long, long time, we’ll all be here to support and fight together for the benefit of the greater good.”
Roslyn’s next school board meeting is on Dec. 15.
