Wilmette Residents Raise $85K Toward Romona School Renovations

For the past three years, Wilmette residents and parents of Romona Elementary School have been fundraising for renovations at the school and have collected $85,000 toward the $325,000 project, Chicago Tribune reported.

Tracy Kearney, a past PTA president at Romona, says the project is a good example of how private dollars are spent in a public school system, “It's a nice opportunity to show our community that even though we have public funding in a public school, we go above and beyond those taxpayer dollars and give back to our community every day,” she told the newspaper.

The school requested the mounted projection system because the old LCD system was taking up seating for students.

For the past two years, the Parent Teacher Association and the Lights Camera Auditorium Committee, a group of Romona parents dedicated to raising money for the projector and lighting upgrades, has been working with the school, on fundraising campaigns.

“District 39 will take care of the renovation (seating, carpet and painting) and our PTA will take care of the innovation (projector system and theater lighting,” according to the PTA website.

The PTA dedicated one of its major galas in 2011 and raised $15,000 toward the upgrade. Other campaigns included, Take a Seat, Leave Your Legacy, which encourages alums and teachers to purchase a seat with a personalized brass plate in the auditorium. So far the campaign has raised $10,000 according to Kearney.

For many of the parents who volunteer their time, it was a way to thank the school.

“All three of my children are having a fantastic experience at school, their needs are met they are taught, too, and I’m just really thrilled with it so this is just a way to give back,” Kearney, chair of the Lights Camera Auditorium Committee, told Patch in a previous interview.