Plano Star-courier News
By Kim Nguyen,
knguyen@acnpapers.com

Published: Friday, November 13, 2009 11:44 AM CST

Zipping around the district in six cars provided by Park Place Lexus, Plano Independent School District Education Foundation board members, program sponsors, district staff and parent leaders delivered $68,000 in monetary awards Thursday morning to 46 teachers who had been chosen to receive the Grants to Educators program.

The Plano ISD Education Foundation Grants to Educators program is intended to help Plano ISD educators enhance instruction in schools and classrooms across the district. Earlier in the school year, teachers had the opportunity to complete applications for program grants for their classes, schools or joint programs at multiple schools. Funding for the grants program comes from the following sponsors: Park Place Lexus, Plano ISD Council of PTAs, The Andrea-Mennen Foundation (TAFF) and the Texas Muslim Women’s Foundation.

“The Foundation is pleased to assist our teachers by funding important programs they have planned to enhance student learning in their classrooms,” said Beth Webb, Plano ISD Education Foundation board president. “The Grants to Educators program is one of the best ways that private dollars can support outstanding classroom instruction by educators across Plano ISD.”

The six Prize Patrols made unannounced visits, comparable to the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes, to 32 Plano ISD schools to surprise the 2009 grant recipients.

Jackson Elementary School counselors Kimberlee Speer and Laura Fix received a renewal grant of $1,500 for Breaking the Barrier: Unlocking Language for all Parents.

“We have a very diverse school, with students of different ethnicities and socio-economics,” Speer said. “The problem that we were facing was unifying the community. Parents that didn’t speak much English felt alienated and less apt to get involved with the school and their children’s educations.”

The school launched the program last school year and found much success. Teachers volunteered after school to help parents learn English.

“We had helped the parents increase their language skills and their responses to the school,” Speer said. “They began coming to conferences and evening events and coming through campus doors with smiles on their faces. By their actions, you could see that they were feeling more at home at the school. The results have been truly remarkable.”

Speer said the parents also took a bigger initiative to get involved with their children’s educations in that they were more willing to help with homework and able to better communicate with their children about the school day.

“We feel extremely blessed to have been awarded the grant monies that will help continue the amazing program that we started last year,” she said. “We feel that by continuing to bring parents into school and build bridges, the school can only get better and better. The kids have benefited tremendously.”

Huffman Elementary School math and science teacher Marci Watson was preparing to leave with the fifth graders to the Outdoor Learning Adventure Camp when she was surprised with the Prize Patrol.

“I was so shocked,” she said. “It was very exciting to me because this is the first time I’ve won the grant.”

Watson applied to receive funding for “Family Science Labs in a Bag,” which are hands-on science experiments in a zip-close bag for students to take home to complete with the help of their family or friends.

“All kids love the hands-on aspect of science experiments, but some science kits are expensive,” she said. “This is a simple and inexpensive way to bring learning into the home.”

The school’s third grade students will be used as a “pilot program” for the take-home labs-in-a-bag experiments, which are easy to do and requires little assembly and ingredients.

“I’ve come up with several activities that can be done in the kitchen, like mixing vinegar and baking soda,” Watson said. “Then they have the opportunity to make observations and communicate with their family about what happened. The students will also have to share their observations with the class the next day.”

Watson said she hopes the program with the third grade students is met with success and can be spread to the other grades at Huffman.

“Projects like this bring the family closer and encourage interaction,” she said. “So the kids are not only benefiting in the classroom but at home as well.”

The Andrea-Mennen Family Foundation (TAFF) sponsored a College Prep afterschool program for students at Plano East Senior High School. The program will allow for students to get help with the college application process, receive post-secondary education advice and SAT preparation. Essay-writing, scholarship application and SAT workshops will also be available to students.

Adrian Rodriguez, behavior specialist at Bowman Middle School. He applied for funding to establish a robotics program at the middle school to help students develop experience in the field.

Sponsored by the Plano ISD Council of PTAs and local PTAs, Brinker Elementary’s Buddies program was awarded $350 to help fund the school’s peer interaction program to assist autistic and other developmentally disabled students.

Murphy Middle School will be receiving a grant to fund a reading workshop program for young readers. “Cultivating a Love of Reading,” allows a student to have the freedom to choose novels based on their personal interests to encourage that reading is a “cool” thing to go. After reading each novel, the students are able to respond in writing to their reading and/or have time to share their excitement about their books through book recommendation discussions.

A panel of judges reviewed and scored each of the 125 applicants based on the impact on student learning, how innovative the project is and how detailed the budget plan is, Shortino said.

“It’s a very difficult process because there are so many applications,” she said. “We would love to be able to fund every project, but with limited funds, we’ve really got to be mindful of how we distribute the money.”

Many first-time applicants were awarded this year, and the Education Foundation is glad to be able to provide different avenues for teachers to help their students fully understand the curriculum. And though the teachers get the initial recognition for receiving the award, the students are really the beneficiaries of the grant, Shortino said.

“All the programs ultimately impact the Plano ISD students because the teachers are coming up with innovative projects to help the students further understand the curriculum,” she said. “At the end of the day, the grant monies are helping the student through after-school tutoring or unique projects that the teachers have come up with to engage the students.”

For a complete list of award recipients or information on how to apply for the Grants for Educators program, visit "http://www.pisd.edu/about.us/foundation/grants.shtml"