HAMPTON — Teachers in Hampton City Schools each year are given the chance to apply for grants to fund programs within their classrooms.
The grants come from the Hampton Education Foundation which was started in 2007.
The primary purpose is to fund programs that teachers would normally have to buy out-of-pocket, said Arial Jones, the foundation’s executive director.
Money is collected each year via donations from partnerships with United Way, Give Local 757 and individual donors, Jones said.
Teachers have to fill out an application, recently moved online, explaining why they need the money and for what program.
Jones said the teachers’ projects must line up with SOL requirements and must be innovative.
The foundation was designed to encourage teachers to think outside the box and focus on projects and programs that would enrich a student’s learning experience, she said.
The foundation has two different types of grants a teacher can apply for: an innovative grant and a mini grant.
There were 14 innovate grants, which are funded up to $1,000, awarded for the 2017-2018 school year.
Their were 32 mini grants, funded up to $500, Jones said.
Last year there was a total of $26,000 given in grants to the teachers.
Examples from teachers
Teachers who put in applications for the grants want to solve classroom problems or teach the curriculum in a new and innovative way.
For example, Ross Neal is a Language Arts teacher at Cesar Tarrant Middle School and he wanted a way for his 8th graders to learn the reading and writing skills required for the SOL.
He put in an innovative grant application for $1,000 and received the funding to buy the “I Excel Program,” a computer based program that allows the students to learn at their own pace and target problem areas on their own.
Neal enjoyed the fact the students could work collaboratively or on their own with this computer program and he saw improvement in his students’ language arts abilities.
He will be applying for the same grant for the 2018-2019 school year.
Michelle Bowers, a kindergarten teacher last year and first grade teacher this year at Armstrong School for the Arts, funded two projects last year totaling $558 in mini grant funds.
The Brag Tag Program she funded was used to decrease behavioral problems in her classroom by giving out tags to students when they did something good in class such as help a friend, or wait in line.
The program created a sense of community in her classroom because the students wanted to work together to get more brag tags.
She also got a Garden Grant to create a small garden for her students to grow food that they then could use when cooking on Fridays.
Without money for the programs she and Neal would have had to pay out-of-pocket or not do the programs at all.
Hampton City Schools does not have a stipend program for classroom costs so it’s up to teachers to fund their classrooms.
Jones said The Hampton Education Foundation, school supply drives and donations help offset those costs and give teachers a chance to innovate in their classrooms.
To learn more about the Hampton Education Foundation and donate, click here.
