Grants help district staff's innovative projects take shape

 

The Worthington Educational Foundation recently awarded $7,644 in staff grants for projects designed to enrich learning experiences for students attending Worthington City Schools.

Susan Petrick, trustee and grant chairwoman, said the grant committee likely will approve $20,000 from its general fund to go toward staff grants this year.

"We have four regular grant cycles, with a fifth one reserved for special project funds," she said.

The foundation is a community organization that raises funds specifically to award grants to district staff members, Petrick said.

Its major fundraiser is the Breakfast to Support Excellence each spring, which usually brings in about $10,000 to $15,000, she said.

Other funds come through events such as the house raffle, which was held for two consecutive years, and memorial funds in honor of staff members who have died, such as the Donna Kelley Memorial Fund and the Fran Dean Fund.

"Some of the memorial funds are limited as to how they can used," Petrick said. "The Fran Dean Fund is for grant requests by classified employees."

Not every staff member can be awarded a grant, though, because funds are limited.

"When we review grant requests, we love things that are creative, innovative, new and different," Petrick said, "or if not new, it might be a different approach. If someone puts in a grant to buy books, they might be doing something different with the books, or delivering the regular curriculum in a different way."

The next deadline for staff members' grant requests is Jan. 10.

Petrick said the foundation often is confused with the Worthington Education Association, which is the district's teachers union.

"We are a separate community group, and even though we exist for the benefit of the kids, we are not funded by the district in any way," she said. "We'd like people to know we are always looking for good ideas to raise money, and we will have a Web site up soon if anyone is interested in finding out more about the foundation or has some good ideas for us."

Grants given out at the end of October are for projects that ranged from Smartboards to projectors to an Ultra Mobile Personal Computer. Grant recipients are:

* Sue Bair and Petra Putnam of Brookside Elementary School, who were awarded $848 to support a Junior Achievement Exchange City experience for all the fifth-grade students. Students learn basic economic concepts in a 10,000-square-foot hands-on learning site;

* Thomas DeVore and Jason Cervenec of Thomas Worthington High School, who received $725 to purchase a computer projector to be used with Smartboard technology, which allows students to interact electronically with concepts being presented in the classroom;

* Todd Korn of Granby Elementary School, who received $789 to purchase an Epson Powerlite 82C projector to enhance classroom instruction of the Everyday Math program;

* Travis Cox, Bev Drexel and Shannon Howman of Worthington Park Elementary School, who received $584 to support an Exchange City experience for sixth-grade students;

* Jeff Boulware, Stephanie Frederick, Nicole Moritz and Patti Schlaegel of Liberty Elementary School, who were awarded $2,800 to purchase manipulatives, multiple copies of a reading program's leveled book sets, to create Learning Centers in each of the first-grade classrooms;

* Nicolette Grohovsky of from Worthington Hills Elementary School, who received $500 to purchase a variety of "just right" books to enable students to build independent literacy skills;

* Michele Spradlin of Brookside and Colonial Hills elementary schools, who was awarded $498 to purchase components of the Wilson Reading Program to be used by the intervention specialist to help students make gains in phonemic awareness and overall reading ability; and

* Emily Lazar and Kelly Kist, who were awarded $500 to purchase the Ultra Mobile Personal Computer, which will allow the Herbi Writer Program to be downloaded to help improve the handwriting of students with special needs. Lazar and Kist work at seven district elementary schools.

"When we review grant requests, we love things that are creative, innovative, new and different."

--Susan Petrick