Sachem Educational Foundation awards $25,000 in teacher grants; district plans wider publicity

The Sachem Educational Foundation raised $25,000 at its inaugural gala and awarded eight grants for classroom or building projects, district officials said Wednesday.

Superintendent Trombetta introduced the presentation and invited Chris Vaccaro to the dais. Vaccaro described the foundation’s rapid development, the creation of a grant committee and the gala that produced the funding. "We raised $25,000 with one event," Vaccaro said, adding that the foundation hopes future events will raise larger sums.

Vaccaro said eight grant recipients were selected from roughly a dozen applicants and that awards support projects across grade levels and disciplines — art, music, physical education and other school‑level innovations. "These are projects that touch all buildings or just the secondary or individual buildings," Vaccaro said, noting the grant committee prioritized projects that could not be funded through other sources.

The district said the money has been deposited and that grant winners were present for photographs. Vaccaro and district leaders told the board they will publicize the projects and seek to grow the foundation’s fundraising targets to $50,000 or more in future years.

This was a celebratory report; no board action was required. Board members praised the foundation’s community support and asked staff to work with the foundation on outreach and publicity ahead of the second‑annual gala planned for April.