$103,616 Awarded to Teachers and Schools for Innovative Projects
On June 16, Foundation Directors and District educators met to review 97 grant applications from teachers and staff across the District. By the end of the afternoon, 23 innovative projects totaling $103,616 were selected to be funded for the 2009-2010 school year.
Each year, the Foundation raises dollars for the “Classroom and School Grant Program” which supports innovative and creative programs that help students improve academically and personally. According to Mike Flynn, Foundation Chairperson, “the Foundation received requests for projects totaling $562,222. This is an increase of 17% or an additional $100,000 over last year. I believe this reflects the tight budget issues that Clovis Unified schools, and all schools, are facing in these tough economic times. When all of us on the review teams read the projects that teachers want to implement in their classrooms and at their schools, it made each of us more determined to take their stories to the community and ask for more support.”
Grants funded include a unique handwriting program for kindergarten (Fancher Creek Elementary), a plant-renting enterprise to teach students business and marketing skills (Clovis East High School), and a campus TV/radio broadcasting system to teach students video and audio technology (Alta Sierra Intermediate).
(See below for complete list of projects funded.)