New Executive Director Farnaz Flechner brings 17+ years nonprofit leadership to MBEF

MBEF is excited to announce the hiring of our new Executive Director Farnaz Golshani Flechner. Most recently, Ms. Flechner was Executive Director of the Los Feliz School of the Arts, a prominent LAUSD charter school with over 500 students. The Harvard Kennedy School and UCLA graduate also held leadership roles at Chrysalis, a workforce development nonprofit, and Tides, a San Francisco nonprofit assisting over 500 nonprofits and philanthropists. Read more about Ms. Flechner here.

Award-Winning Schools backed by Award-Winning People

Forget the Oscars! Lately there's been an award frenzy in our Manhattan Beach schools. Over the past few months, several Manhattan Beach educators and community leaders have been recognized on local, state and national levels, highlighting  the excellence in our schools. Read more about them here.

Summertime Planning: Ideas for MB Kids

Summer is coming. While you might have picked a fabulous family vacation spot or two, you still have eight weeks to fill. To avoid summer learning loss and maintain your own sanity, we have found a few not-so-typical camps you may consider in your summertime planning. Read more here.

Honor Your Teacher This May

May 6 is officially Teacher Appreciation Day, but we appreciate them everyday for all they do for our children. Do you have a powerful story (250 words or less) about your child's teacher?  Share it with MBEF, and your story may be featured in our next newsletter. Click here to submit.

Understanding the MBEF Endowment

Have you ever wondered how MBEF and its Endowment are different? MBEF exists to support quality public education here in Manhattan Beach today, while our Endowment works to ensure that students in our community will benefit from high quality educational programs for years to come. Though the Endowment is a subsidiary of MBEF with a separate board and 501c3 status, we share the same mission and vision for our students - “Great Schools Today” and “Great Schools Forever.” Read more here.

Manhattan Wine Auction June 14

We are pleased to offer you two ticket options for this year’s 20th annual Manhattan Wine Auction. General admission remains $250 per guest to experience all of the amazing wine, local restaurants and music our event has offered for the past 20 years.

For an additional $250 per guest, we are proud to offer a unique 2-hour opportunity to taste some of the most exclusive cult and unattainable “Waiting List” wines in the Napa Valley. This might be the first time vintners of this caliber have assembled under one tent, and it may never happen again! The winemakers from Kosta Browne, Futo, Dana, Realm, Hourglass, Memento Mori, Booker, Arkenstone, Patine, and Fairchild are all scheduled to pour for us, with more being added in the coming weeks. This is a truly unique opportunity to taste some of the incredible wine that you see on the auction block.

Only 250 spots available. Access will be available from 4:30-6:30 and will include hors d’ouvres prepared by the Manhattan Country Club. Tickets will be available online beginning May 1 www.manhattanwineauction.com.  Corporate table guests will need to purchase tickets for this VIP experience separately.

Thank you to all of our Business Sponsors.  Click here for a full list and to learn more.     

About MBEF:  Manhattan Beach Education Foundation is an independent non-profit established by parents and community leaders to financially support the seven public schools of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District.  Since 1983, MBEF has granted much needed funds to supplement state funding and has helped MBUSD continually rank in the Top 1% of school districts in California.  With nearly 3,000 donors and annual grants exceeding $5 million, MBEF is one of the oldest and most successful educational foundations in the state.  Any questions or concerns about this communication should be sent to communications@mbef.org.