The Shamong Township School District has been awarded multiple grants from the Shamong Foundation for Educational Excellence.
The foundation is a non-profit organization that collects, houses and distributes funds from the private sector. Its mission is to award grants for innovative and creative projects that will benefit the Shamong School District that would not be otherwise funded from any other source.
The foundation recently approved 11 grants, totaling $87,000, according to Nancy Thomas, chairperson of the foundation.
Linda Cleveland, a sixth-grade social studies teacher, received a grant that will enable her students to have chrome books that will now enhance her students with internet access to Discover.com, cameras, video, still pictures and research for primary and secondary sources.
Cleveland’s class will be developing their own website over the course of two years.
“My students will be looking at problems of other civilizations in Greece, Rome, China, Japan, up to and including the Middle Ages. They will be making similar connections to our world today,” Cleveland said.
“Teachers go out of their way to apply. They go above and beyond to impact their students. They are to be commended for the work and what they are doing. They are not just doing the everyday lessons,” Principal Timothy Carroll said. “I am excited for my music teacher to use the iPADs in her music classroom. Technology lends itself to the arts, and to her already strong program.”
Sixth-grade students will be learning how to plant a garden.
Carroll is very excited to see the community garden, something the school has never had before. The garden will be located behind the maintenance shop near the back of the school.
“We are so appreciative and excited about the approved grants from the Shamong Foundation for Educational Excellence,” said Melissa Ciliberti, the school board president.
Staff members who applied for the grants really deserve all of the credit for their great project ideas, she said.
Applications can be submitted to the Shamong Foundation for Excellence three times a year, according to Thomas.
Applications are reviewed by a subcommittee or peer review committee that is made up of two staff members, two teachers from each school, one administrator from the district and two to three foundation trustees, according to Thomas.
The peer review committee make recommendations to the Shamong Foundation for Educational Excellence for approval or rejection. The foundation is not obligated to take the advice of the peer review committee, but they almost always do, Thomas said.
“Beat the Winter Blues,” a very successful fundraiser for the Shamong Foundation for Educational Excellence in the past, is a dance and auction that will be held again this upcoming year, Thomas said.
According to Thomas, there is a payroll deduction campaign where the school staff contributes. The Shamong Foundation for Educational Excellence has a holiday staff tribute and end-of-year staff tribute, where families make donations in honor of a staff member.
To apply for a grant, the
application has to be submitted, and the board of education
has to accept the funds, Thomas said.
“How fortunate we are to have the dedicated and creative staff member who are willing to go through the application process,” Thomas said.
