Gov. Ralph Northam awarded more than $1 million Extended School Year program grants to both Hampton City and Newport News Public Schools district this year, according to a joint statement from the Virginia Department of Education and the governor’s office.
“We support the countless students who thrive in extended-year and year-round school programs which provide consistent and structured learning environments for our students,” Northam said.
Newport News Public Schools received $1,003,308 for programs at Glidersleeve Middle School and the following elementary schools: Carver, Epes, Hidenwood, Jenkins, Lee Hall, McIntosh, Newsome Park, Palmer and Sedgefield, according to the VDOE and the governor’s office.
Michelle Price, director of public information and community involvement for NNPS, said the grant will help fund the Wonderful Extended Learning Enrichment and Advancement Program. WE LEAP aims to increase the students’ “mastery of English, mathematics, history and science” and “promote their love of learning,” according to school district’s 57-page grant application.
“The ESY grant also helps fund a five-week summer program known as SPARK, the Summer Program for Arts, Recreation and Knowledge,” Price wrote in an email.
Hampton City Schools received $1.2 million start-up grants for program funding at Bethel, Hampton, Kecoughtan and Phoebus High Schools, according to the governor’s office.
The grants will be used to implement the new Hands-on Enriching Relevant Opportunities for Success program to help students at all four high schools “identify and attain career goals” and prepare them for college, according to the HCS’s grant application.
The HEROS program will be an offshoot of the Academies of Hampton initiative that is currently in place.
The school district’s four separate grant applications each ranged from 94-97 pages in length.
HCS was notified of the $1.2 million grant award on Aug. 10, said Kellie Goral, executive director of public relations and marketing for the HCS.
“The grant is for July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2020,” Goral wrote in an email.
According to the Virginia Department of Education grant application, the school districts will receive three separate payments, about a third of the grant, over the course of the school year.
The first payment is Oct. 18.
