The Romulus Foundation for Educational Opportunity was established by a group of community leaders, educators and Romulus alumni. These visionaries recognized that the quality of an educational system and the vitality of the community it serves are intertwined.
The stimulus to develop a foundation grew out of the "Romulus @ 60" celebration held in 1998 to celebrate the organization and development of the Romulus Central School District from one-room school houses to it's present structure.
The "Romulus @ 60" group developed a remarkable data base of Romulus graduates and it was felt we could use this information to develop a charitable foundation.
In 1999, then Superintendent Chris Manasari, J. Peter Gregoire and Jim Delia met to explore a shared dream – to create an educational foundation that would attract, house and distribute private gifts of cash and property to and for the exclusive use of the students of theRomulus Central School district.
The Romulus Board of Education hired the McCormick Group, the only nation-wide consulting firm specializing in the creation of educational foundations, to get us started. Our first fund drive was in the fall of 1999 and the first grants were awarded in the spring of 2000.
These grants are intended to provide all Romulus teachers and students with the educational tools and opportunities they so richly deserve, above and beyond the schools regular budgetary abilities. They give our students the “extras” that they need to compete with the larger school districts in New York State. Grants are reviewed and awarded twice a year – fall and spring. To date the Foundation has awarded over 175 grants.
The Romulus Foundation For Educational Opportunity is dedicated to enhancing excellence in education through the development and distribution of private resources for the benefit and enrichment of the Romulus Central School students.
Romulus is, and always has been a very special place. The schools long tradition of individualized attention to its students and its remarkable and dedicated faculty and staff deserve some of the “extras” to help compete in school, in work and in life. We are “the small school with the BIG idea”!