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Community Corner

Bill Sonneman, Alameda Education Foundation President

"We're here to serve the community and serve the kids."

Bill Sonneman, 64, is an indefatigable fundraiser for the Alameda Education Foundation. Under his leadership, the foundation has expanded after-school and  for Alameda students. With his cheerful grin, he is an upbeat promoter of Alameda schools.

Born in San Francisco, Sonneman was educated in Catholic schools. He attended St. Ignatius High School and St. Mary’s College, then spent a total of 37 years in public education, beginning as a middle school teacher on Treasure Island. He worked in Union City first as a teacher and later as an assistant principal.

In Alameda, he was first a vice principal at  and then headed to  for six years before becoming principal at . Sonneman and his wife, Lois, who was a speech pathologist for AUSD, both retired in 2007.

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How did you feel about your work as an educator? I loved being a high school principal. It was the best job I ever had. Watching kids develop, seeing them go off to college. I loved helping kids and helping families. Encinal really improved when I was there and I was proud of that. 

My wife and I enjoyed going to the school events. Every year, we’d dress up — I’d wear a tux — and go to the prom.

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How did you get involved with the Alameda Education Foundation? The first year after we retired, I tried to figure out what to do. I didn’t want to sit around. In my heart, I believed I still had something to offer. I look at retirement as a new chapter. You flip the page.

Somebody suggested I get involved with AEF. And I did. Then someone said why don’t you become president of it? So I did that too. It’s a volunteer position. We have very few paid staff. Fortunately for the Foundation, I’m retired and I can give the time. I put in about 25 hours a week.

Why do you put in so much time at AEF? I just can’t stop caring. We’re here to serve the community and serve these kids. We have no hidden agendas. Our goal is to do the best we can for Alameda. We don’t compete with the PTAs but enhance what they do. A strong education foundation enhances a community.

What does AEF do? We’re really trying to raise money for the teachers and the schools in the areas that are getting cut — arts, music, drama. The challenges are even greater now.

Wasn’t passing Measure A enough? passing is like a great weight off our backs. But I think the Foundation’s role will only expand. Even with Measure A, we can’t assume that our music and drama programs will be fully funded.

What are the different ways AEF raises funds? We run the after-school enrichment programs for elementary schools. We’re looking to expand the programs for middle schools. We started at Lincoln this year and I’ve been talking to the principal at Wood about that. That’s the for-profit part which helps us generate some money for staff.

We run the middle school sports program which serves 300-400 kids. We had some grant money at the beginning and we’re trying to keep the program going with participation fees. It’s about a $35,000 operation per year. We pay for the officials and stipends for the coaches. Kids tell me how much they like playing for their school. They may be in other leagues but they like having Lincoln or Wood on their shirts.

What about direct donations? Our other programs include Adopt-A-Classroom, which is overseen by a couple of board members. Donations are $500 a classroom and come from individuals or organizations. For example, gave us $1,500 and adopted three classrooms. We try to get classrooms adopted in schools where they don’t get as much money from PTAs.

This year, we had donations for 77 classrooms, which is up from 44 last year. We’re really pleased with that. I presented 23 awards in two days. It’s a lot, but the kids were so excited and the teachers were just beaming. I always ask the kids what they think the teacher should do with the money. The first graders always want pets and other students always mention field trips. 

We get grants as well. Recently, we received . The award was given at the County Office of Education and I thought I was going to go down there and they were going to tell me how to apply to get money. Then they announced they were giving out funds to everyone. They called us up alphabetically and I ran up saying, “It’s good to be first!”

Do you have a major fundraiser? Yes, our goal with All Together Now is to raise $100,000 this fall. It will be at the on Nov. 10. Last year, we raised and gave $16,000 for arts, music and drama.

What are your hobbies and interests? My wife and I like to travel. We go down to Southern California a lot. I surf and play a little golf. We have season tickets to St. Mary’s basketball. And I’m a Giants fan. I’m an avid reader and now that I’m retired, I have time. When I worked, I was lucky if I had time to read two books a year. Now that I’ve retired I have time. 

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