East Longmeadow schools receive $10,000 grant for speaker series on equity, Black experience Updated Dec 19, 2020; EAST LONGMEADOW — A $10,000 grant promises to open up the new year with a series of conversations on equity, diversity and the Black experience. Birchland Park Middle School and East Longmeadow High School were awarded the Educators for Black Lives Rapid Response grant by Quincy-based Nellie Mae Education Foundation. The idea to apply for the grant came from a parent in the community, according to Birchland Park Middle School Principal Dr. Timothy Allen. Together, Allen; Heather Brown, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment; Edward Polk, social studies department chair at the high school; Frank Paige, high school principal; Connor Martin, assistant principal at Birchland; and Yanira Cintron-Cordova, library media specialist at Birchland, worked wrote a grant proposal to fund a speaker series.