Foundation announces school grants
Project grants for 30 North Idaho schools were announced today by the Panhandle Alliance for Education, a foundation for public school programs in the Pend Oreille School District in Bonner County.
In all, this year’s grants, totaling $72,000, doubled last year’s awards.
A grant committee reviewed more than 50 proposals totaling $187,000.
Each proposal was evaluated on a point system including project goals, student involvement, teacher collaboration, evaluation plans and cost-benefit ratio, according to an alliance press release.
The largest grant awarded was $9,710 for a print shop at Sandpoint High School, part of the school’s journalism program. Among the 30 awards were:
• A $5,000 grant for Accelerated Writer Software for classes at Clark Fork Jr./Sr. High School. The software is designed to improve communication skills through lessons, feedback and progress reports in grades 7 to 12.
• A $3,200 grant for a mathematics lab at Farmin Stidwell Elementary that will supply math materials for 14 teachers and more than 300 students in grades 4 to 6.
• A $3,000 grant for the Academic Decathlon at Sandpoint High School to cover academic team competitions that provide opportunities for students to qualify for state and national competitions.
• A $2,300 grant for a human brain study program at Sandpoint Middle School. The grant will allow an adolescent brain study unit started last year to continue with 320 seventh-graders.
• A $1,000 grant for arts and crafts for people with emotional problems.
• A $1,000 grant for Robots over Sandpoint, an after-school program where middle-school students learn robot design and programming.
• A $987 grant for a new Trucker Buddies program at Farmin Stidwell Elementary. The program will partner 75 fourth-grade students with Litehouse long-haul truckers to learn U.S. geography through map routes and letters to truckers.
• A $700 Literacy Bag Program at Sagle Elementary to buy bags and books for kindergarteners’ home use with their parents.