More than 80 people attended the 7th annual Portsmouth Public Education Foundation (PPEF) annual Fall showcase last night, hearing about great projects from the grant-winning teachers, mingling with other fans of public education, bidding on donated auction items to support the PPEF, and enjoying delicious hors d' oeuvres served up by the Green Valley Country Club.

Community leaders were on hand — I spotted Sen. Chuck Levesque (who was thanked for his help securing legislative grants) and Rep. Amy Rice (who donated an auction item). Jim Seveney and Keith Hamilton were on hand from the Town Council, and Dick Carpender, Sylvia Wedge, Marge Levesque, Cynthia Perrotti, Marilyn King, and Angela Volpicelli represented the School Committee.

l-r Helen Furriel, Joseph Amaral, Cheryl DelSanto, Bob Littlefield, Kevin McCarthy.

In addition to the show-and-tell stations by all the teachers explaining how they used last year's PPEF grants, last night also featured the presentation of the 2009 Teacher of the Year award to Ms. Cheryl DelSanto.

PPEF Board chair Helen Furriel served as master of ceremonies, and NewportFed president and CEO Kevin McCarthy was on hand to present the award, which is sponsored by the bank. Principals Joseph Amaral of the Middle School and Robert Littlefield of Portsmouth High School both received recognition, since Ms. DelSanto transitioned this year.

Full disclosure: I am a board member of PPEF.