The Board of Friends of CRLS (FOCRLS) is proud to announce the hiring of its first Executive Director, Elaine Schear.
The hiring of an Executive Director is the latest step in the implementation of FOCRLS strategic plan. Said Jamie Sabino, FOCRLS Acting President, who has been a key person in the development of the FOCRLS strategic plan, “For the first seven years of its life, FOCRLS ran solely on volunteer effort. During that time, due to the warm support of the Cambridge community, our organization and its programs have grown – six core programs, supported in FY2014 by over $115,000 in funds raised. But the needs of the student body at CRLS are even greater, and for FOCRLS to be able to sustain and grow its programs, it became clear that a staff structure was needed to leverage the efforts of FOCRLS volunteers and assure the organization’s sustainability, and we are pleased to be able to take the important step of hiring an Executive Director.”
The FOCRLS Executive Director search, carried out by an ad hoc committee of the organization’s Board, was a vigorous process which considered many candidates in a two-tiered interview process, the latter part of which included both FOCRLS Board members and members of the wider Cambridge community.
Schear, one of FOCRLS co-founders, who has served as the organization’s Treasurer and President, has been deeply involved in all aspects of FOCRLS organizational development to-date, including program development, community outreach and fundraising. In her new role as Executive Director, her work will be particularly focused on further strengthening the FOCRLS donor base, building community investment in our high school and its students.
Said Neil Rosenburg, Board member and chair of the FOCRLS Scholarship Committee, “We are excited to move forward with Elaine leading the organization in this next stage of its development. Last year we doubled the amount of scholarships offered by FOCRLS to our CRLS students, and we hope to be able to significantly increase that in the future. Elaine’s efforts have been key to FOCRLS’ growth as an organization, and we are very pleased to be able to have her focusing her energies on building the organization’s resources and donor base.”
Schear, an Ed.D. from the Harvard School of Education, has had a career in the field of education spanning faculty positions in teacher education programs at Emmanuel and Wheelock Colleges and instruction in writing at UMass Boston, Harvard University, Bunker Hill Community College, and Roxbury Community College; program administration as Director of Roxbury Community College’s Teaching-Learning Center; teaching at both the middle and high school level; and social work and program development in juvenile services at Roxbury District Court. She is a volunteer tutor of writing skills at the CRLS Tutoring Center and a recipient of the Cambridge School Volunteers Mack Davis Award for excellence in tutoring. She is the parent of two CRLS graduates (Class of 2010 and 2014).
Said Schear, “It's been a joy to take part in the growth of Friends of CRLS, to see first-hand the difference our programs can make in building our students' growth, self-confidence, and leadership. What a privilege to be taking this next step as first Executive Director of FOCRLS! I plan to do a lot of listening in the days ahead, engaging all sectors of Cambridge in the most important investment we can make: supporting healthy, vibrant, successful futures for all of our students!”
The mission of the Friends of Cambridge Rindge and Latin School is to develop, support, and enrich the academic and social development programs at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and to support the alumni of CRLS and its predecessor schools. In so doing, FOCRLS promotes achievement and a greater community investment in the future of CRLS, its current students, and its graduates. In addition to scholarships, its programs include Faculty Innovation Grants, Student Travel Fellowships, Unsung Heroes Awards , Faculty Distinction Awards, and the “It Takes A Village” (ITAV) College Success Program.
For more information about FOCRLS, its programs, how to donate, or how to get involved, please
see our website,
email us, or call us at 857.235.9290.