BOE Accepts Additional $90k Donation for Research Lab

The Babylon Board of Education accepted a $90,000 donation from the Teresa Patnode Santmann Foundation, Inc. to go towards Junior-Senior High School's new science research center at a board meeting on Monday evening.

The foundation had to the Babylon Board of Education back in June of this year, where the district announced it would go towards the gutting and redesign of a classroom at Babylon Junior-Senior High School into a science research facility unlike anything seen on Long Island before.

The lab was slated to have been operational by October, but project cost and additional construction have delayed its completion. With the new classroom hanging in the balance, Santmann offered the school district additional funds from her foundation to help.

"She stepped up," said Board President Dominic Bencivenga of Santmann, a well-known health care adovcate and entrepreneur and Babylon native. "It's an extraordinary gift from an extraordinary woman... it's very exciting."

The board announced the research center is now slated to be ready for student-use by Janaury 2013.

The additional $90,000 brings the total donation costs to $290,000 – however, a clause in the passed motion notes any left over funds from the project will be returned to Santmann's Foundation.

"The Board of Education acknowledges the genorosity of the donor and accepts said gift with appreciation for the expression of care and concern for District youth."