Friday, January 22, 2016

Stuart Basefsky was a founding member of the Ithaca Public Education Initiative (IPEI)

Below you will find answers to a questionnaire that I filled out for Mary Grainger and sent to her via email on 4/25/2011. This is followed by references to news articles about Stuart Basefsky that appeared in the Ithaca Journal.


A. Were you part of the strategic plan committee that recommended a group like IPEI begin? Or did your personal donation to Boynton coincide with that report?  How would you describe how IPEI was born?

My wife, Claire Germain and I, were the catalysts for the formation of what would become IPEI. We made a $2000 donation to the Boynton Middle School in  April 1994. $1,000 was for the teachers to use in any way they saw fit for the improvement of education at Boynton. The other $1,000 was to establish the first donation toward the formation of an unrestricted, pooled endowment for the school for future needs. This was documented by Margaret Claiborne, a journalist for the Ithaca Journal, in a story on Wednesday, April 20, 1994.  Prior to the actual donation, I did not  know how to proceed or to whom to make out a check, so I went to talk with Phyllis Brodhead, the librarian at Boynton, who directed me to the Principal, Joe Stone.

As it turned out, the ICSD –not known then or now to be an agile organization—did not know what to do with the money even though the intention was clearly stated. Joe Stone presented this monetary dilemma to the ICSD School Board with me in tow. The School Board subsequently asked that this notion be included on the agenda of its strategic plan committee. The committee directed that a task force be set up to come up with some proposals for establishing something akin to a school foundation so that donations like ours could be utilized effectively.

Henry W., Theisen (of Adams, Theisen & May law firm) was appointed the Chair of the Task Force. He solicited several people to be on the task force including myself. He went looking for a good mix of talents and occupations. His own talent as a lawyer got IPEI registered as a 501 (3) C organization with the State of New York so that donations could be tax deductible.


B. Why was it named Ithaca Public Education Initiative? Who named it?

There was much discussion on the task force about what to call itself and the organization that it was supposed to establish. Everyone agreed that it should focus on the importance of the concept of public education and its impact on Ithaca. I believe that Melissa Seigel (then Executive Director of United Way of Tompkins County and a member of the task force) came up with the name—mainly as a prototype. The intention was to have a name that clearly indicated what the organization was concerned about. Later on it was decided to keep the name. From the outset, it was important that our message to the community be clear and tidy. We were a group established to support public education for Ithaca. The word “initiative” was commonly used in public policy at the time. We did not want to explain to volunteers and donors what we were committed to. The name should say it even if it might appear to be awkward.

C. Why did it make sense to have Adult Spelling Bees as the first fundraiser, and why "Teacher Grants" as the way to allocate those first funds?

Members of the task force were assigned to research how successful school foundations were operating. Melissa Seigel found that successful foundations in Pennsylvania were making great progress with mini-grants for teachers. This fit with our intention to create an atmosphere where teachers could be entrepreneurial. This was fully supported by Susan Mittler (Ithaca Teachers Association) also a member of the task force.

The idea of the Adult Spelling Bee was the initiative of Ralph Jones. He found that this kind of community gathering was successful in several communities. Met with initial skepticism, the IPEI followed Ralph’s lead. From the outset, it was clear that this would be successful. Why?  Because Chuck Brodhead (of The Communications Support Group, Inc.) was a member of IPEI. He knew how to communicate with the community, It was his execution that brought in the right people to support this event and to sustain it over the years. It was this “simple fun,” identified by Ralph Jones, that engaged parents’ memories of their early education—the loved and often dreaded “spelling bee.” They gave money to participate or they gave money so that they would not have to participate depending on their early experiences.

D. Who else was influential in the "initiating" of IPEI in the early years?  in the intervening years?

Everyone who served on the task force and IPEI had some major impact. This was a result of an early strategic decision by Henry Theisen and followed by Stuart Basefsky and Terry Byrnes. We sought  members of IPEI who were
(1) passionate about education and public education in particular,
(2) energetic doers—not just talkers,
(3) possessed of special talents and/or skills not held by the other members,
(4) committed to the community and with numerous contacts and networks within the community, and
(5) capable of organizing and executing what they said they were going to do.

In addition to those mentioned earlier--

Jennifer Engel, for example, made the first Adult Spelling Bee happen. It was her energy and organizational skills that overcame some initial chaos and gave some structure to the event without which things might have fallen apart. She took charge of this event for the first few years.

Linda Daybell (Chamber of Commerce) engaged business support and good will. She made IPEI the “talk” of the community.

Roy Dexheimer (Superintendent, BOCES) kept communications with the school board on track.

William Scoones (Ithaca College) engaged student volunteers and other supporters from Ithaca College.

Patricia Foster Haines (Cornell Development) gave guidance on proper fund-raising.

Thomas B. Colbert kept up the interests of key businesses and families in Ithaca. He made this organization a topic of conversation for many.

Kathryn (Katie) Pearce raised the enthusiasm of teachers and planned and executed numerous events.

Jennifer Shea got the PTAs involved.

When people left the organization, we sought exactly the same kind of passionate, energetic, efficient organizer. Early on, this is how we got Terry Byrnes involved. Doers know doers. We waited a long time to get just the right people including you, Mary. Everyone knows you as the premier volunteer organizer who is,  luckily  for IPEI, committed to public education.

E. What do you think of the recent growth, and what do you envision as the next stage of growth (from your perspective as former prez and loyal donor and fan)?

Key from the outset of IPEI was convincing Ithaca that this was a worthy, sustainable organization. This is not an easy thing to do in a skeptical community where transient events, people and organizations are the norm. Consequently, the early years and recent years forced us to demonstrate that nearly 100% of our funds would go to the support of students and their teachers. The organization was dependent on continual recruitment of volunteer “doers” who had the time, energy, and means to do what should be administrative tasks. This made it impossible to fundraise adequately or develop innovative programs. There were no paid administrators with assigned tasks. It is now time to find paid personnel to carry out some key elements of maintaining this worthwhile organization. We hope that Ithaca will now understand that if a small percentage of the funds go to administrative needs, it is for long-term sustainability. We hope IPEI has gained the trust of the community to continue its good work on behalf of our students, teachers, and community.



The following news articles can be found in

 Ithaca journal (Ithaca, N.Y. : 1934)   View Terms of Use
      
from 1999 to present in Gannett Newsstand

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