Looking back on its inaugural year of providing supplemental funding and services to public school classrooms, Forsyth County Education Foundation board members are poised to expand their grant offerings next year.
Starting in April 2016 with a $10,000 check from RBM of Alpharetta, the foundation broke that money into five grants after receiving a proposal from each of Forsyth County Schools’ 37 principals.
In its first year, the Forsyth County Education Foundation awarded $10,000 worth of grants to five schools.
Chattahoochee Elementary
- $1,000
- iChangers: Building Students Leaders Through Service
Cumming Elementary
- $2,500
- Principal’s Book of the Month
Vickery Creek Elementary
- $2,000
- Aligning Academies: Staff Training as Part of the Leader in Me Process
Lakeside Middle
- $2,500
- Seven Mindsets Program
Otwell Middle
- $2,000
- Environmental Science: Planting the Seeds for STEM Certification
“I can’t say any one was well above the other requests,” said District 1 foundation member Brad Collins.
An overall theme the board noticed in the requests, which they relayed to the Board of Education at its June meeting, was a need for increased support of social emotional learning.
The foundation was created – each BOE member nominated one person to represent their district – to fund resources “not ordinarily provided by the district’s operating budget that foster innovation for increased student achievement.”
Since the initial donation from RBM of Alpharetta, Beaver Toyota wrote a check for $100,000, and a handful of other businesses and individuals gave a combined $36,000.
Principals received funding to implement or expand a specific program or classroom initiative.
“Literacy is at the heart of everything we do, and through the foundation’s generosity, we were able to purchase books every month for each classroom that our school read as a community,” said Lee Anne Rice, principal at Cumming Elementary School and a grant recipient. “Each book focused on a character word like perseverance or kindness, and our staff and students were able to connect what we read together to our lives at school and at home.”
Moving on from its first year of operation, board members said they set a goal to receive $1 million in three years and $5 million in 10 years for more grants that are based on specific needs and aligned to the district’s Learner Profile and social emotional learning standards.
Principals can apply through Aug. 4 for a portion of a total of $30,000 in funding for the 2017-18 school year.
For more information about the Forsyth County Education Foundation, visit Forsyth.k12.ga.us/page/48250.