School for the students of Uniontown Elementary may be a lot more fun in coming days. This is due to the presentation of a $5,000 grant from the State of Alabama’s Educational Endowment fund.

Albert Turner, a Perry County Commissioner and District 72 hopeful, was on hand to present the school with the grant Friday afternoon. Turner said there were a lot of helpful hands pitching in to make the grant possible.

“This is an Educational Endowment Grant that we were able to secure with the help of the state of Alabama,” Turner said. “We had a lot of help from State Representative Bobby Singleton.”

The school has a heavy population of students. However, when break time rolls around they have very little to do. Turner said they hope to use the grant to get playground equipment for the children to enjoy in their down time.

“There are 535 students at Uniontown Elementary School,” Turner said. “Unfortunately, the school has no playground equipment. We hope to be able to use this grant to do that.”

While playground equipment is the immediate plan, Turner said the school has a lot more on their mind for improvements. Uniontown Elementary School has been searching for a program that will allow them to get to students in the classroom as early as possible. Turner said their hopes are to add another younger group of students to the mix to jumpstart the educational process and get them ahead of the game. Turner said local schools were also a large part of his motivation to seek the District 72 seat in the upcoming election.

“This is also part of our efforts to get a pre-k program here at the school,” Turner said. “That is one of the things I want to work on as a member of the Alabama House of Representatives. The state wants you to have playground equipment to have a pre-k program.”

Pre-K programs as growing more and more important every day. Students are being given more and more information at an earlier age making it very important to get in school as early as possible. Children who have the advantage of a pre-k program tend to advance far faster than those whose first experiences with school are five year old kindergarten.

On top of this, a pre-k program gives students knowledge of the basics such as social skills and an understanding of how to behave in the classroom before they enter regular classes.

Pre-k programs also fall in line with the higher standards teachers have under No Child Left Behind.

Turner said local leader plan to continue their hard work to do whatever it takes to improve their local schools.