Carrollton City Schools teachers are now awaiting the final word whether they have been awarded classroom grants this year from the Carrollton City Schools Education Foundation while a community campaign to garner other support for the foundation wraps up at the end of this week.
The foundation, in its infancy, awarded its first grants to teachers in 1994 totaling a paltry $2,000 district wide but now, thousands more are awarded each year thanks to the support of the teachers themselves through the Employee-Giving Program.
Laurie Fleck, executive director of the foundation, said more than half of teachers participate in the program which this year plans to award $23,127.50 in grants.
“Over the years, teachers have been so generous to donate a small portion of their salaries to support the foundation and our Instructional Excellence Grants program,” she said. “This has been a sustainable way to fund creative projects and necessary needs for our teachers even during tough economic years. We are excited to be able to continue this program despite the uncertainty we are facing because of the pandemic.”
Fleck said some examples of grants awarded last school year included Merge Cubes, multi-sensory learning devices that allow students to engage with digital content naturally and intuitively using visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile senses; new equipment for Carrollton High School’s JROTC program; a field trip to the Georgia Aquarium to see animal behavior in action; and a “Rock-N-Read” swing for Carrollton Junior High to encourage pleasure reading for literacy growth.
This Friday, the foundation wraps up its annual Golden Giving campaign, an annual effort to grow the foundation’s general endowment that supports a variety of initiatives, including the instructional grants, to promote student success. One is an enrichment initiative that currently provides more field trip experiences for students with a long-term goal to support potential study abroad opportunities in the future.
“Our goal this year is to raise $20,000 for our general endowment through the Golden Giving campaign,” said Fleck. “This is a very reachable goal and we are hopeful our community will help us succeed in this effort, much like how our teachers take personal ownership in supporting the quality of our school system through their contributions.”
Fleck said families can support the campaign by enrolling to give a monthly recurring donation for as little as $10 per month. To learn more, visit https://secure.givelively.org/donate/community-foundation-of-west-georgia/golden-giving . For more information about the Carrollton City Schools Education Foundation, including a review of its annual report, visit https://www.carrolltoncityschools.net/community/foundation.
