Not every elementary school has a historian-in-residence-but then again, not every elementary school has a foundation dedicated to funding enrichment programs, such as the Essex Elementary School Foundation (EESF).

Started as the answer to a quandary of how to handle funds donated to Essex Elementary, the non-profit foundation last year channeled more than $20,000 to the school. Thanks to the donations of parents, businesses, and other members of the community, the school has in the past hosted an artist-in-residence and a scientist-in-residence in addition to its current historian, Brenda Milkofsky. Founding director and former curator of the Connecticut River Museum, Milkofsky created a local history curriculum for the school. Called Three Villages, Two Rivers, One Town, the three-year program provides a cumulative learning experience for students in grades 4, 5, and 6, who study the Colonial period, the American Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution, respectively. A field trip is part of each experience, from the Bushnell Farm to the Connecticut River Museum and the Ivoryton Library, along with a history walk through each village.

"Each year they build on what they learn the year before," commented Milkofsky. "Without this program, local students would really have little exposure to local history and, because it builds over a three-year period, we think it makes a nice contribution to the social studies curriculum. It would not be available without the support of the community through the foundation."

Bill Jacaruso, the president of the foundation's board of directors, said that founders Doug Jones, Jud Paul, Cynthia Clegg, and Chet Kitchings put in $10 or $20 apiece to start the funding. Since then, the community has provided tremendous support.

"There's a lot of parents who get involved and are very generous, and there are a lot of folks around town and businesses that also help us out," said Jacaruso, who has eight-year-old triplets at the school. "It's really a bit of everybody."

Another big aspect of the foundation is its 3rd-grade Justus W. Paul World Cultures Program, which sponsors world cultural days featuring Haiti, China, and India. The school's recent Haiti Day brought in samples of regional Haitian foods along with a steel drum band.

"The gist of the foundation is we only fund programs that would not normally be part of the budget cycle," Jacaruso emphasized. "We try to do things that are a little different, a little unusual, and always focused on the enrichment aspect of things. If the school likes it, they can continue to fund it."

Recent offerings have included SMART Boards in classrooms plus a mobile iPad Lab. The latter gets rolled from classroom to classroom, seeing use every period of every day in the school.

Last year, teachers were encouraged to write grant proposals to secure funds for classroom projects. A letter-boxing project was one result, in which 5th-grade students researched the colonies, wrote short stories, and cached boxes of hand-made stamps at the Millrace Preserve and the Falls River Preserve.

"People from all over the world find these and leave notes in them. It was a huge hit," said Jacaruso. "The whole class got involved and they made a film of it. They were so excited they showed it to the rest of the school."

Other projects included a series of school-wide mosaic murals; in the future, one possibility is turning the school's courtyard into an outdoor classroom. To continue these programs, every November the foundation sends out an annual appeal to the community: its only fundraiser. Jacaruso describes the appeal as low-key, but the response as anything but. Typically, the foundation is able to gift an average of $20,000 a year to the school. Last year, one generous donor passed away leaving $44,000 to the foundation. She had no kids of her own, only a fondness for what has become an exemplary elementary school.

"The response is usually very good, and has been so far this year," he said, noting, "I can't tell them how to spend the money. It's the teachers and the kids who have to come up with the answers."

For more information or to donate to the Essex Elementary School Foundation, visit www.essexelementaryschoolfoundation.org. Tax-deductible donations can be mailed to: Essex Elementary School Foundation, P.O. Box 882, Essex, CT 06426. Memorial gifts are also welcome.