Partners for Lancaster Schools Foundation recently welcomed four new directors and an executive director.
These new members were elected at a recent meeting of the foundation’s board of directors. Partners’ on-going mission is to provide affordable rental housing for our community’s teachers, nurses and healthcare, law enforcement, municipal and county employees, reported president William Warren.
The directors represent the community’s diverse public and private education sector that has urged its workforce to become residents of Mercer Place, said Warren. The new directors are Robert Smart, a member of the Lancaster school board; Jessica Davis, principal of Lancaster Middle School; Julie Keesee, head of school (effective July 1, 2017) of Chesapeake Academy; and Jessica Lindberg, Mercer Place resident and Lancaster Middle School teacher.
Ben Burton, a professional engineer with Bay Design Group, was elected to the newly established position of executive director.
“We are very pleased that the new directors and executive director have joined our foundation’s board,” said Warren. “They bring strong diverse backgrounds and will be instrumental in helping the foundation sustain its mission. We look forward to working with them and we welcome their dedication to our community’s workforce persons. And, we are particularly proud that we have been able to provide a home for our community’s public and private school teachers—today there are 16 teachers living at Mercer Place.”
“I look forward to working with the foundation to continue its successful five-year history of providing attractive, affordable rental housing for workforce members in our community,” said Burton. “Also, since I was the professional engineer who designed the site plan for Mercer Place and worked with the foundation’s architect and builder, I am 100% vested in its successful operations as an important community resource as well as an attractive home for our workforce persons.”
“I am excited about the opportunity to work with the foundation in operating its affordable housing initiative,” said Davis. “Mercer Place has proven to be a tremendous asset in enabling our public schools to recruit and retain teachers. Not only does Mercer Place provide much-needed affordable housing for our teachers, but it enables them to enjoy living in a community atmosphere with other teachers and professionals who share their interests and career ambitions. Many of our teachers have expressed their appreciation to both the schools and the foundation for providing them with such an affordable and enjoyable community housing resource.”
