Jeff and Rachael welcome Winter PSEA-PACE Grand Prize winner Erik Huebner alongside North Penn School District Educational Foundation Executive Director Christine Liberaski to discuss advocacy, educational philanthropy, and student success. They share how the foundation supports innovative programs and opportunities for students, and why strong partnerships between educators, schools, and communities make a lasting difference.
Jeff and Rachael welcome Winter PSEA-PACE Grand Prize winner Erik Huebner alongside North Penn School District Educational Foundation Executive Director Christine Liberaski to discuss advocacy, educational philanthropy, and student success. They share how the foundation supports innovative programs and opportunities for students, and why strong partnerships between educators, schools, and communities make a lasting difference.
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Voiceover:
Welcome to Duty Free Lunch, the official podcast of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Join us as we unpack the issues that matter most to you. From cutting-edge classroom strategies to thought-provoking policy discussions, if it impacts PSEA members, it's on the menu.
Jeff Ney:
Hey, Rachael.
Rachael West:
Yes, Jeff?
Jeff Ney:
Hey, guess what I got?
Rachael West:
Keys to something?
Jeff Ney:
I got the keys to the podcast studio.
Rachael West:
Are we going to do a podcast all by ourselves?
Jeff Ney:
I think we are going to do one without Aaron. It's going to be great.
Rachael West:
Let's go.
Jeff Ney:
Hey, friends, and welcome to Duty Free Lunch. I am your PSEA Vice President, Jeff Ney, and I am here today with PSEA Treasurer, Rachael West. Hey, Rachael. How are you doing today?
Rachael West:
I'm spectacular. How are you?
Jeff Ney:
I am doing fantastic. Aaron is not able to be with us today. He is on the road doing some other presidential stuff, so he gave us the keys to the podcast studio to do this one all by ourselves.
Rachael West:
I feel like a big kid now.
Jeff Ney:
I know. Second one, we must have done something right the first time, so...
Rachael West:
They let us do it again.
Jeff Ney:
They let us do it again, and it is a very special episode that we have here today. We have a special guest today. We are going to talk about the kind of work that doesn't always make the headlines, but absolutely should, a creative, community-driven investment happening right inside the North Penn School District that is in our Mid East region for all of you listeners out there. Our guests today are Eric Huebner, a North Penn Elementary teacher, PSEA member, and Rach, believe this, February's PACE grand prize winner.
Rachael West:
That's so awesome. I love that we do different kinds of prizes every time.
Jeff Ney:
Yes. Eric, how are we doing today?
Eric Huebner:
Very well. Thank you for having me today.
Jeff Ney:
You said you'd rather stay out of the spotlight, so we generally appreciate that you are here, and we also asked to join him today is Christine Liberaski, the executive director of the North Penn School District Education Foundation, which is the recipient of Eric's charitable PACE donation, which is awful nice, one of the perks of being that grand prize winner. Christine, thanks for joining us today.
Christine Liberaski:
Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.
Jeff Ney:
Yeah, we can't wait to dig into everything this foundation has been up to, so let's get right into it. Eric, I'm going to start with you. You come from a family of educators and PSEA members. Was teaching always in the cards for you growing up?
Eric Huebner:
Well, yes it was, and no, it wasn't. I actually thought I was going to end up in a career in politics or something political. Abington High School is my alma mater, another Mid East region school district. I had an internship my senior year that had me working for a state representative. I really thought my trajectory as I went into college was in politics and international things, but I spent my life around educators.
My mother was an educator in Cheltenham School District, and that sort of always made me interested in the job of educating young people, and what has come around has gone around. My wife is a librarian in Methacton School District, and we have all manner of educators in our family. My sister-in-law worked in Cheltenham School District, aunt-in-law in Abington School District. I think that it was meant to be, and 33 years now into my career only in North Penn School District, it has been a blessing for sure.
Rachael West:
That's spectacular. Politics, elementary education. It's an interesting leap, but we're glad that that's the career path you chose and that you're here with us today.
Eric Huebner:
Thank you.
Rachael West:
I'd like to ask you about your PACE contributions that won you this grand prize. Can you tell us what's behind the PACE contributions and why you feel like it's important for educators to pay attention to our politics?
Eric Huebner:
I give a lot of credit for the donations to our local leaders in the North Penn Education Association, our UniServ Representative. They communicate regularly and actively to us about the importance of looking at how political action influences public education. The big picture to me is that I think that if you're not having a voice and demonstrating some degree of agency, then you can't complain. So it's extremely important to me to continue to develop and sustain relationships, to be engaged in political things, whether that's through supporting all manner of politicians who believe in our public education system as well as ultimately to advocate for the importance of public education in the State of Pennsylvania and in Montgomery County particularly.
Rachael West:
I guess you did make a connection there between education and politics after all, so we're really thankful for you to be here.
Eric Huebner:
Thank you.
Rachael West:
Christine, I'm going to ask you, how do you find yourself at the helm of an educational foundation and what does the North Penn School District Educational Foundation do, for those of us who haven't heard of your foundation? If you can just give us a little background.
Christine Liberaski:
Sure. Unlike Eric, I don't come from a long line of educators. I think Jeff and his wife, my cousin, are the only educators in my family. Maybe that'll change. Maybe one of my daughters will become a teacher and I'm so proud of her. Anyway, I am a communicator and I have always worked in journalism. I actually know Jeff's sisters that way, small world, and in public relations. I came to North Penn School District in 1998 as their director of school and community engagement. I came here all excited to help spread the word of what is happening in our schools. Little did I know I would be in charge of the foundation.
It's actually a passion of mine now. It's one of the favorite parts of my job. This job is very different than the communication hat that I wear, but I see them very tight because in both roles, I'm just really supporting and trying to enhance what we have in North Penn. At our core, the foundation, we're here to turn great ideas into real incredible opportunities for students and for staff. By partnering together, one hand working in the district, one hand working in the foundation, I can work together with the community and with people, contributors and donors and supporters like Eric, to make those dreams happen. We are a 501(c)(3) organization, so we're separate from the school district, but like I said, we're closely, closely connected. I think without that close connection, none of this would be possible.
Jeff Ney:
It was funny, Rachael, when I was able to give Eric a call saying that he won the grand prize and we started talking and he goes, "Hey, you know what? You really should talk to the executive director of the foundation." I said, "Oh, okay. Who was that?" and when he said Christine Liberaski, I'm like, "Wait a minute, I know her." So yes, my wife is cousins with her family and they grew up together, went to a lot of college games. Then I find out it's North Penn, where my niece and nephew graduated from, and Christine and my sister had a lot of run-ins because she was journalism at the time before she moved out of the area.
I had to read up about this foundation of all the great things that they were doing, and I'm finding out you guys do some pretty ambitious projects. A $60,000 planetarium projector, a robotics program, aquaponics, big excited to find out about that, AEDs in every building. Christine, how do you decide which one of those rises to the top in order to fund?
Christine Liberaski:
Well, it gets tricky because each year I believe the innovation grows and our staff are asking for bigger and better ideas, and combined with that, the needs of our schools increased so much since 1988 when the foundation started in '98 when I joined here, so there are more demands on us. I will say, fundamentally we look at the innovative classroom ideas and we really want to support that because that's where the magic happens. That's where our students are really thriving when we can inspire them, but then also we're looking at supporting students and families in need. Although we used to only be innovation and it had to be going above and beyond, we know now that schools also have to provide the basics and we have to provide to all levels of academics. Both of those things, we'll prioritize innovation, but then let's make sure everybody have what they need.
I don't sit in a room by myself and decide what we're going to fund. Very lucky here we have our trustees who have input, of course, but then the school district, we have representatives from administration. A lot of times we'll look at, say there's 60 requests on the list. 20 of those we knock right off the bat because we say, "You know what? North Penn should be providing that. You need to talk to your principal or talk to your curriculum supervisor. We know we already have those resources." Then we also have that verification that what our staff is asking for, what the teachers want to do in their classroom aligns with the district's mission, visions, values, where we want to go curriculum-wise. So nothing is decided without input from school district administration.
Jeff Ney:
I just want to clarify, all of these grant applications are done by the members of the North Pocono School-
Rachael West:
North Penn.
Jeff Ney:
I'm sorry. What did I say? North Pocono, did I? North Penn School District. All of the educators that are within the walls of the North Penn School District, all of these are part of their grant requests, correct?
Christine Liberaski:
Yes. If we get 60 requests, 59 of them are our teachers. We have expanded it to support staff, and I'm really proud of that. For example, we have a janitor at one of our middle schools who has created a program for one of our at-risk students to paint rocks and create a garden at their school. We've really over the years opened it up, but yes, you have to be part of the North Penn School District. We will partner with our home and school associations because they give a lot to our schools as well, so sometimes if we work together, we can make that project even bigger and better.
Rachael West:
That's awesome. So Eric, I'm going to go to you now. Your family supports this foundation through the Huebner Family Memorial Fund. Can you tell us about that? Who does it honor? What does that giving mean to your family? If you could just tell us a little bit?
Eric Huebner:
Yeah, the Huebner Family Memorial Fund is a more recent iteration. We've been supporting the foundation for many years, and great big thanks to Christine for her support and advocacy of our family philanthropy. Both my daughters graduated from North Penn School District, Bridget and Erin, and we utilize foundation as an opportunity to recognize incredible educators who really made the experiences and opportunities rich at North Penn Elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. It started as staff recognition.
Then, my wife and I have always used the foundation as an opportunity to give celebrations, to honor people on their retirements and sadly to recognize losses that are experienced by my colleagues as well. That's what resulted in the Huebner Family Memorial Fund. Unfortunately, my family lost my mother, again, an educator, last year and it was the decision of our family to have all of the recognitions to my mother go to the North Penn Educational Foundation. At this stage of the game, we have a target. We're supporting a media lab in the new renovations to North Penn High School. Honestly, the honoring part is to honor my parents. They're the ones who taught me that to whom much is given of much is required, and as a result, we've utilized the foundation as a vehicle to model that model for our children.
Jeff Ney:
Eric, North Penn is not a small school. For our listeners who may not be familiar with North Penn on the east side of the state, it's not a small school district by any stretch of the imagination, right?
Eric Huebner:
No, not at all. We have 13 elementary schools, three middle schools, our high school, and then also a credit recovery school, so 13,000-plus students.
Jeff Ney:
Wow. Wow. Christine, that long-term family commitment that the Huebner Fund means, what does that mean for the actual foundation? How does that kind of sustained investment shape what you are able to do for your district?
Christine Liberaski:
Sure. I do want to say, though, what Eric said is really inspiring and he and their family's not only given us financial support through the years, but their family commitment, it's way more than that. For example, he's very humble, but his daughters, Erin and Bridget, they were both student liaisons for the foundation. In fact, Erin was one of the originators of being a student liaison. It goes much deeper just than just the funding. He wants to make sure that we have everything we need here, not just to sustain financially, but in the long run that we're meeting our mission and our vision.
But when it comes to the funding that his family has supported us with all through these years, I believe that it helps us, a rather small foundation, because we are small in terms of when you look at foundations across the country. It allows us to continue with our smaller classroom grants that really are the inspiration for our teachers to go beyond what they're available to give in the classroom. It helps stabilize us so that we can do the bigger project, but also continue on that classroom level, which I don't think without the classroom-level projects, the foundation could continue. That is what motivates our teachers to go above and beyond and that is what gets our students doing more. So that stabilization has been critical. I don't have to say no, really, to anything that doesn't meet our criteria.
Jeff Ney:
That's wonderful.
Rachael West:
That's amazing. I'm going to switch gears just a little bit here. Eric, we talked about the fact that you thought you were going to go into politics and ended up in elementary teaching, but you also made another interesting career move. You were a principal-
Eric Huebner:
I was.
Rachael West:
... and you left that role and went back into the classroom. Could you explain to us what motivated you to make that change back to the classroom?
Eric Huebner:
Yes. I spent many years as a fourth, fifth and sixth grade teacher in North Penn School District and then had the privilege to be a teacher on special assignment before becoming an elementary principal. I was an elementary principal for 10 years. Family and my own health and the fact that I like sports analogies in some ways and Andy Reed once said, "Don't stay too long that you lose your locker room," and I think it was time after 10 years for the school community to grow further with a different vision and a different approach to leadership, so I went looking for people who could make me better, and I knew that place was the classroom.
So that sort of describes my journey. The district all along has been incredibly supportive. I'm incredibly grateful also to association officers who took an ex-administrator and welcomed him back into membership in our local. That was incredibly meaningful, and to this day, I'm just very thankful for that. It's been a rollercoaster kind of journey, but all throughout, I've tried to find those opportunities to learn.
Rachael West:
That's spectacular. We don't often get people who want to be back in the classroom, so your students are very lucky to have an educator that feels that passionately about it. Now we're going to switch gears a little bit to your colleagues. If you have a colleague come to you and they have a great idea but they're talking themselves out of pursuing it, maybe it feels too ambitious or they're not sure if they'd qualify, what would you say to them? What kind of advice would you offer?
Eric Huebner:
Yeah, I'm from the Fred Rogers School. I think Christine would agree. My first question would be, how can I help? I think that oftentimes time is a barrier more than anything else. I think that the application process for a grant or for an opportunity for alternative sources of revenue get in the way. But I think we have to keep the focus on students, and that's where I think the colleagues that I have who see these as opportunities, they recognize it's about the students. It's about getting our English language learners out into a community that they need to see. It's about supporting special education students attending Special Olympics. It's about supporting students who need other community-based opportunities. The foundation is so generous in its support of educator time, of equipment and of, as Christine said, just about anything that seems possible that's innovative, and I love their tagline as igniting student success.
Jeff Ney:
Oh, that's great.
Eric Huebner:
So I think it's very much focused on doing what we as educators see will open up opportunities for our students and enrich their education as well as their lives.
Jeff Ney:
Rachael and I have had the opportunity to be part of PSEA's own education foundation where we try to help out our own members who are running through difficult time. Christine, what advice would you give to somebody from another school district who wanted to start a similar charitable foundation? Because I know from our own experience, it's not the easiest thing in the world. Where would they go to just get started on this whole process?
Christine Liberaski:
I was thinking about that because we don't have... I belong to the National Association of Education Foundations, but there isn't a state chapter of that. We had one in years past, but it no longer exists, but that's something I would love to see up and running. I'm here, I've worked with a handful of other school districts, whether they were starting one or whether they really need to light a little fire in the one that they have. I'm more than happy. I'm not the expert, but it's always nice to talk to someone who has some experience in it. I'm always open to help.
I think the first place to start, though, is with the leadership, the top leadership, the superintendent. I think that you have to have a very good relationship with that person, open, clear communication, and both have the same goals. It's very difficult to start a foundation when you're a separate entity without support from the school district itself.
Rachael West:
Okay, great. What I'm going to say as well, if you want help with this, if you reach out to us, we will put you in contact with Christine and have her give you a little piece of advice or two. We really appreciate that you have that knowledge. Thank you so much.
I have a question that both of you can answer. What does it look like when a school district, a foundation and its educators are all rowing in the same direction? What's the version of this that you're both working toward? If anybody has an answer first, if you make eye contact, I'm using my teacher skills here, make eye contact, I know you want to answer.
Christine Liberaski:
Eric is so much more eloquent than me because he's a teacher, so I'll go first so that I don't have to follow him, if that's okay, Eric. When I think of that, I think, in that kind of perfect world where we're all rowing together, our teachers feel supported and safe to bring up innovative ideas and know that they will have support for it, and in that same version, the district is going to ensure that it aligns with where we want to go and what our vision and our mission is so that we're all again rowing in the same direction.
Then the foundation is just really there to make sure that we can make those ideas, those concepts come to life and already has the partnerships with the community organizations, with donors, with the fundraising events that we have that are also supporting the boat as we're going along these ways in that direction. So I think it's a combination of all of those things, and then in the end, it's our students who now have the opportunity to go above and beyond and be inspired and try and do things that they may not have had the opportunity.
Eric Huebner:
You took the words right out of my mouth, Christine. I think I want to leave everybody with just a verse. This is a verse my parents used all the time when I was younger. It's, "Do all the good you can by all the means you can and all the ways you can and all the places you can at all the times you can to all the people you can as long as ever you can." To me, that's really what the foundation is all about. It's a together-we-can moment where all different parts of the organization have the opportunity to really do what's in the best interests of educators, the community, and most importantly, the students.
Jeff Ney:
Chapin's going to kick himself for not being on this podcast.
Rachael West:
Right.
Jeff Ney:
So hey, Rachael, guess what time it is?
Rachael West:
Is it pop quiz time?
Jeff Ney:
It is pop quiz time.
Rachael West:
I promise it's not a super complicated pop quiz, but is a short answer as you can. We'll make Eric go first this time since Christine did last time. What is the most memorable grant that you can remember the Ed Foundation?
Eric Huebner:
For me, the most powerful and memorable memorable grant is our original family grant where we added automatic defibrillators to multiple schools that did not have more than one after a dear family member passed from a sudden cardiac event. That, I think, was a door opening, Christine, right, for us seeing how the foundation could be a powerful vehicle for our giving.
Rachael West:
Awesome. All right, Christine?
Christine Liberaski:
There's so many that I could list and I would automatically go to those big number ones, those ones that I gave the big check for, but the ones that always stay in my heart and keep me going are the little grants I think, especially with our ELL families and students, and when we take them places that I think a lot of people take for granted like the zoo or the farm, and they write me handwritten notes thanking me. Those are the ones that really inspire me to keep doing what I'm doing. So it's not one in general, but it's maybe a compilation of all those little ones that really make a difference in the lives of the students.
Jeff Ney:
Oh, that's awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for coming in today. Unfortunately, Rachael, we're out of time, so that is our show. Thank you for Eric Huebner and Christine Liberaski for being our guests today. Thanks a lot for coming in.
Eric Huebner:
Thank you both.
Christine Liberaski:
Thank you so much.
Jeff Ney:
And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in. We always want to hear from you. Maybe you want advice from Christine and Eric on how to start your foundation.
Rachael West:
Yeah, or they have a question for Aaron.
Jeff Ney:
Yeah. Ask Chapin some questions now that he's not-
Rachael West:
Yeah. He's not here, so he has to [inaudible 00:25:40] the answers.
Jeff Ney:
You know how to do it. Send us an email at podcast@psea.org. Thanks for listening, everybody. I'm Jeff Ney.
Rachael West:
And I'm Rachael West.
Jeff Ney:
And this has been Duty Free Lunch. Take care, everybody.
Voiceover:
... listening to Duty Free Lunch with the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Visit psa.org/podcast to learn more, and don't forget to subscribe and share. Paid for by the Pennsylvania State Education Association.