43
Poland Schools Foundation to honor outstanding educator, alumnus
POLAND
As is customary and traditional, the Poland Schools Foundation for Educational Excellence will honor an educator and an alumnus at its annual banquet next week.
The 2016 Outstanding Educator is Susan Flasco, a 1977 Poland Seminary High School graduate.
Flasco began her teaching career in Torrance, Calif., then moved back to Poland in 1990 to fill a substitute teaching position at Dobbins Elementary. She was hired as a full-time first-grade teacher in 1996 at Poland Union, where she continues to teach.
Flasco is a former president of the Poland Education Association, high-school swim coach, water safety, first aid and canoe instructor for the American Red Cross, and waterfront director at Camp Sugarbush.
This year’s Outstanding Alumnus is Franklin S. Bennett, who graduated from PSHS in 1972. After graduating from Case Western Reserve University’s School of Law, Bennett joined the Manchester, Bennett, Powers & Ullman law firm.
In 1998, Bennett joined Butler, Wick & Co., which in 2008 became part of Stifel Financial Corp.
He boasts a lengthy record of community service, having served in various capacities for numerous organizations. Those include Poland Presbyterian Church, Youngstown State University’s board of trustees, the Butler Institute of American Art, the Western Reserve Joint Fire District, and the Youngstown Foundation, among others.
The schools foundation banquet, which takes place Tuesday at Avion on the Water in Canfield, will also feature a tribute to the late Carmella Smallhoover, a longtime Poland schools administrator and educator.
As the foundation celebrates individual achievements, it also marks a milestone of its own: its 25th anniversary.
“You look at the history of Poland, and it’s really cool to see the number of organizations that have been around a lot longer,” said foundation President Luke Politsky. “Now here we are. It really shows that the community has supported us and our mission to support the schools.”
To date, the foundation has raised approximately $300,000 in support of students.
Elinor Zedaker, member of both the foundation and school boards, credits former schools Superintendent Robert L. Zorn with helping to start the foundation.
“It was his leadership and vision that brought community leaders together to start this nonprofit foundation,” she said.
Now, as the organization looks back on its first 25 years, Politsky, a 25-year-old PSHS alumnus, is focused on the future and what he calls a “renewal effort.”
One goal is to get the word out about what the foundation does.
“We raise money. All of our money raised goes back to support the schools,” Politsky said.
That includes administering scholarships, raising money for capital projects, targeting funds to specific causes that donors want to support, and awarding grants to teachers, among other things.
Recently, those efforts have paid off in the form of new technology equipment for the high school, and in the establishment of the foundation’s first endowment, courtesy of the PSHS Class of 1954.
Politsky’s personal vision, he said, is to get students involved in the organization.
“In the future, we need to include the community more, and we need to include students, because students become alumni and we know our alumni are successful,” said Politsky.
The foundation is seeking volunteers and people interested in serving on the board, members, and people interested in donating or setting up a fund through the foundation. For additional information, reach the foundation via the board of education office at 330-757-7000.