I'm Patrick Malley, Superintendent of Haslett Public Schools, and you're listening to Haslett Voices. In this episode, I sit down with Meghan Block. She's the president and chair of the Foundation for Haslett Schools. The foundation, as you'll hear, is guided by a simple, straightforward mission of funding beyond the fundamentals. They're all about supporting experiences and opportunities that make school even more meaningful for kids from classroom grants and field trips to scholarships that help students take their next steps beyond Haslett.
Meghan's leadership has been a big part of that work. She's thoughtful, collaborative, and deeply committed to the idea that the foundation's work is a community effort. She does a great job bringing people together, elevating the strengths of the foundation board, and building strong partnerships between our foundation, our schools, and the broader Haslett community. What stands out most about my conversation with Meghan is her humility and her optimism. She has an appreciation for the generosity of this community and a belief that the foundation can continue to grow its impact by staying aligned with the real needs of our teachers and students.
In our brief conversation, we talk about what the foundation does, why its work matters, how it supports students and staff across the district, and where Meghan hopes to see it heading in the years ahead. In general, for somebody who may be listening who doesn't have a lot of background in foundation work, what is the foundation for Haslett Schools in terms of mission and the types of things that y'all are trying to fund?
You know, our mission is to fund beyond the fundamentals. So we can provide materials or experiences in the district that are beyond the fundamentals that the district would provide resources for to the schools. I've heard of some people describe the foundation as sort of like the overarching PTO, because our mission is really to support the work of all the different schools and programs. And so I think we have a unique position in that way in that, you know, we consider grants proposals from teachers and staff at any of the schools, and we also can support any of the programs. We've been able to sponsor the proud sponsor programs and thinking about giving money to these big field trip experiences.
So they are experiences that really give the children and when we think about motivation and engagement, it makes those are the experiences that kids are remembering and that we can provide the students in our district that extend beyond the work that they're doing in the classroom.
I really like that simple tagline or motto of funding beyond the fundamentals. Right? Because I, you know, I know, just at the last foundation board meeting, we had this dialogue about where that line is between a request from a teacher for curricular resources versus something that might be extra. And I think it's just a great conversation to have at a foundation meeting of, and I'll use the Chromebook example. If there are families in need of Chromebooks to be able to do schoolwork at home in the district, the the district could use funds to to provide for that, but it would remain the district's device, and we would collect at the end of the year, and it doesn't have the same impact, whereas the foundation can step in and say, there's a need in the home for a Chromebook, you know, let's work together, and we can just provide that family a Chromebook, and we don't need to have those same strings attached.
And the family can use it for all their children, so on and so forth. So I think that there's just an interesting dynamic of conversation of, like, how do we meet these needs beyond the fundamentals, right, to make sure that we're we're doing this work. And the easiest to point at are the the field trips, the guest speakers, the experiences that I know a lot of teachers, ask for some help on of of how do we make this place even more special by funding these things that perhaps might be a little bit extra that we know that that the teachers want. The teachers have the vision for it.
Yeah. Like at Wilkeshire, where missus Batten's doing the kindness field trips. And so the kids are thinking outside of themselves and thinking about how they can spread kindness, whether it's taking you know, visiting the food bank or going to the local restaurant and giving little messages to people and just be or sticking, messages in the library book. So it's giving those opportunities that are enriching to our children and helping to build that, you know, total child, total student.
Shortly before I became the superintendent, you became the president of the Foundation for Haslett Schools. You wanna talk a little bit about what that decision to take that on? Because that's a big shoes to step into.
I was approached by the, at that time, the current president or chair of the foundation to consider a more leadership role, I was, you know, admittedly nervous to say yes. In true fashion, I don't usually say no. So I accepted it and just thought about the ways that I could contribute. But my whole goal and, you know, when I was first approached, I was really adamant that I wanted my role, my leadership role, to be to help elevate other board members' strengths as well, that I would sort of lead or facilitate the work of our foundation through the strengths of others. I think we are starting to accomplish that.
You know? I there was a lot of things I was worried about that I didn't know. Like, I'm I was taught kindergarten, first, second grade, and now I work in the university. And so I do a ton of leadership, but not necessarily in the way of organizing people and especially organizing people around raising funds and have that sort of knowledge. But we have a lot of really brilliant people who do have that experience on the board and have really stepped up to support our work.
So I think of myself as a leader among leaders, and I really like that way that the foundation is working in that capacity as we're all sort of leading this work forward.
Yeah. I'm glad to hear you say that because, you know, obviously, as superintendent, I've got a seat on that board, but I'm not in the weeds with y'all. And and I but it has felt over the last year, you know, I mean, just getting to know you to start. You know, I know that the the foundation has been going through some some different transitions. I think the biggest of which was that, you know, with the the retirement of of the former superintendent Steve Cook and his executive assistant that the the the foundation, has taken on a a lot of their own kind of self management.
And and to your team's credit, I mean, you've got a group of volunteer board members who who really have picked up the mantle of leading this, and I think it's good to hear you say that spreading the leadership between the the other board members is part of your goal because it's evident. Right? You've got some phenomenal people there that are doing hard work to to manage fundraising and, and gift giving and committee, leadership as a part of that. There's a lot that goes into it that I don't think a lot of people
see. So Yes. It it is time intensive, and it does sometimes feel like a second job, but, also, it's so rewarding. And it's so for me, I just find so much inspiration and passion in working among different parents and community members on the foundation around our central mission. And I've learned a ton about fundraising, about the treasury work and the finance, but just about working with people.
And, you know, somebody has an idea, and somebody else is there to help support that idea, and the work just takes off. And so, you know, it's just that time and effort feels so rewarding. And then when we see it, the fruits of all of that working out in the schools where they're getting the books or the experiences or, you know, the club or whatever it might be.
One of the other things that the foundation does in addition to grants is is scholarships. Do you wanna talk a little bit about, the scholarships that y'all, manage or give out?
Yeah. So we have three scholarships right now that we give out through the foundation. So those are the Foundation for Haslet Public School scholarships, and there's an application process for that. And then we as the foundation, we have a scholarship committee. So the committee then meets, and we read over the applications.
We blind all the applications so we don't see names, and then we select from that pool, and then we award students the scholarship. We also run the Herbie Award geared for students who, like Herbie, maybe didn't start out with the strongest academics in high school or maybe faced some sort of adversity or some sort of challenge and that they've worked really hard throughout their high school career to maybe not overcome it, but they've performed well in spite of whatever challenge that they may have been faced with. And the scholarship is meant for students who don't necessarily have the four point o GPA, but they have such a drive and passion to do their work that they've been inspired by in high school to take that beyond and whether it's a four year institution or trade school or work at a community college. And so that also is an application process, and we have awarded that to six students a year. And then recently, we just met with Rod Hagenboo, who's Herbie's brother, and we talked about increasing the amount of that award.
So this year, we will be increasing that scholarship amount. So we'll still be offering six scholarships, but, we've doubled the award amount.
Back to grants, I know, we had just recently connected the the chair of the the grants committee to to Nick Hamilton, our new associate superintendent for for greater coordination between the the foundation and the school district around some of those those asks and some of those needs. Anything you wanna add to just kinda how the foundation views the importance of that the interaction between the district and the the foundation to be able to to work successfully.
Sometimes just understanding the context of what this is looking like or the process that even led the person to make the grant request. And sometimes that just a little additional knowledge is really helpful in our decision making when we're awarding the money and to really understand the work and impacts that the particular grant would have.
Let's let's shift gears a little bit and just talk about fundraising. What do you think people should know about current fundraising efforts or future fundraising regarding the approach that the foundation is taking to raising funds for supporting some of these needs?
Yeah. So we've spent a lot of time evaluating what we've done in the past and sort of thinking about what we know that people are looking for now and what's our best approach to fundraising. And so I'm excited for this year because we're still having conversations around how we might reimagine some of our fundraising efforts. Our goal is that we need to raise the funds. And so now we wanna think about how we can best do that.
And, you know, like I mentioned earlier, we have people that come up with ideas. So we recently had the blanket sales, and it was overwhelmingly successful. We sold out in just a couple of weeks with the blankets and made over $2,000 in that and then had requests that we reopen it for holiday sales for people who might wanna participate in that. So that was one thing we tried. We have typically done an individual donor campaign where we send out letters asking to just individuals in the district asking for donations, and that's been successful. This year, they're exploring maybe some other opportunities, maybe a community event of sorts that can get the community involved. We've heard, like, the five k has been really popular. And so just looking at some ways in which that we might be able to raise funds, but also maybe support the community in an event or a gathering where people can come together. We have another part of our fundraising is a business owner campaign where we reach out to businesses.
We provide them with an overview of the work that we've done, the projects that we've been able to sponsor. We in return, we put their logos out on our social media and honor them. And that way, we have different levels of sponsorship and then different promises that we make with those different levels. But what's really helpful is that when we, you know, have an idea of maybe either some big initiatives that the district would want or some recurring things because a lot of times the businesses like to fund something specific or know a very specific project that they're working toward. And so we were looking at and reevaluating how we might better get that information and how we might look at business sponsorship in that sort of way.
But we've just been so grateful for the generosity of both those who have contributed through the individual donor campaign and those who have contributed through the business donor campaign. And we have some who have very generously contributed through both as an individual and then also as part of their business.
That speaks to the partnership importance as well. Like, there may be larger requests that we get for from teachers about, you know, for example, you know, an art teacher that wants to do a larger art show in order to do the art show needs specific supplies for it. And if we could find a business partner that wants to fund that and be a part of that, that's a a pretty good match in terms of, yeah, matching a particular donor with a particular cause. And I so I think it's important for us, as a district to try to help curate that list of wants and needs for our from our teachers. So that way when when these matches potentially can come up, we all can work together to connect those dots.
Because I think there's so many people in this community that are willing to to give and want to give. It's just a matter of making sure that we're aligning all of that, and I think that's a really important role that the foundation serves, they're just trying to help do that. Right?
Yeah. I was recently talking or in conversations with a business who is ready to do that but looking for one of our initiatives that they might be able to directly support. And so that that's really helpful, and it seems to be becoming more popular with what some of the business owners are looking for. So we look forward to continuing to explore that and continuing to be able to write grants to other businesses and foundations that can support our missions as well when we have a match.
Little different model of, like, trying to be the alignment group, but, know, I think as a that nonprofit just trying to maintain your mission
Yes.
You know, working with the the community in terms of what they wanna fund, but also the teachers and what their needs are. So
Right. So we wanna take a both end approach. We wanna be able to we wanna be open to all the different ways in which we can bring funds in in order to support the work happening in our schools.
Has anything surprised you since taking on this role or joining the foundation? Anything that you've learned about the community or the foundation that you think somebody might find interesting?
I'm just humbled by the generosity of people. You know, when I came to this, fundraising was definitely not my in my skill set, and I'm still learning about fundraising. We're going out and asking for money. I just felt like that was not something I could do. But one, with the support of others on the foundation, I found that I could do that.
And but then reaching out and having somebody say, you know, a business will just say, yeah. We'd like to fund, you know, $1,500 this year. I was just so humbled by their generosity, their quick responses. I'm always surprised by, you know, all the work that we do to get the foundation out there. And then sometimes we are still finding that some people still haven't heard about the foundation.
So that's another thing we're just working on, that marketing and communication so we can get everyone involved. By and large, I would say, you know, when I think about the foundation and I think about what, you know, stands out, it's just the community's desire to support the teachers, the school, the staff, and the projects that they want to do for the students in Haslet. And that comes in all different ways.
I wonder, as we wrap up, where you hope the foundation's heading? How do what does success look like in the next few years from from your perspective?
Success for me looks like continuing to do the work. But building even those stronger relationships between the district and the foundation. That we can do even more work, that we can support more things.
Sure.
And secondary, but equally as important, is that the foundation can serve as a way to unite the community behind our biggest asset, right, is our children and our schools. I look forward to the foundation to continue its role, but maybe even enhance its role and maybe elevate the role that the foundation has in serving that purpose. Funding beyond the fundamentals is feeling even more important these days, right, with different limits on the money that schools have available for these extra things. And so I'm just really grateful that we have this opportunity to be able to serve in that capacity to fill the needs of the teachers and the desires for these big projects and ways to get our students out into the community and support their learning.
Before I let you go, I do wanna do, like, a lightning round of questions that I'm asking everybody that I interview, the same five simple questions, and you can just give me the first thing that comes to mind. They're pretty simple.
Okay.
Okay? So first one is what's your favorite season and why?
My favorite season is definitely summer because I love the sun and warmth.
Okay. What's your go to restaurant or food spot in the area and what's your order?
Well, I do love People's Kitchen, but the reason I like People's Kitchen is because I can order something different because their menus change.
You're the second person to recommend People's Kitchen, so I'll I'll be there. I heard brunch is really good.
Oh, yeah. Brunch is there. It's good. Yes. I recently took my high school there, and he loved it
too. Okay. That's that's an endorsement I'll have to take, so that's pretty good. Morning person or night owl?
Well, these days I feel like both. So
Burning the candle both. Yes. Gotcha. Okay. Beach vacation or mountain getaway?
Oh my gosh. This is one reason why Hawaii was one of my favorite places because I could do both. You can go hike in the mountains during the day in the morning, and you can hang out at the beach in the afternoon. So I gotta say them both on that.
Okay. What's your favorite way to spend a Saturday?
I love to spend Saturdays with my family, which usually means watching my kids play soccer, baseball, swimming, and then, you know, throw in flag football, and sometimes we go to the Michigan games.
Sure.
My weekends revolve around sports. Yeah. But I think at the heart of it is just making memories and doing those things with my kids, getting them out into the world, and watching them do the things that they're passionate about.
Well, thank you. I really appreciate your willingness to do this and, you know, just share a little bit of yourself and the work of the foundation and your professional work. Thanks for being here.
Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.