DCSF ‘Prize Patrol’ visits teachers
Published 3:39 pm Tuesday, January 27, 2015
The Demopolis City Schools Foundation presented Demopolis High School teacher Tera McCarty with a $3,500 grant to equip the broadcasting studio at DHS. Pictured, left to right, are DHS principal Dr. Tony Speegle, McCarty, and DSCF president Sarah Chandler Hallmark.
Six Demopolis City Schools teachers got a visit from the Prize Patrol on Monday.
But the knock on the door didn’t come from representatives from Publishers Clearing House.
Instead, it came from representatives of the Demopolis City Schools Foundation.
The group, which was established in 1993 to provide support for public schools in Demopolis, awarded $10,070 in grants to the teachers.
According to Amanda Barnes, executive director of the Demopolis City Schools Foundation, the grants will impact 475 students this spring semester.
“Thanks to an unexpected donation and good fiscal management of our funds this year, the Foundation was able to offer a second Classroom Grant Award pool of $10,000 this January,” Barnes said.
Teachers who did not receive a grant in the fall of 2014 were encouraged to apply for the grants.
The Demopolis City Schools Foundation presented Demopolis Middle School teacher Carrie Jackson with a $3,000 grant to purchase 30 graphing calculators for the 8th grade algebra class. Pictured, left to right, are DMS principal Blaine Hathcock, Jackson, and DSCF president Sarah Chandler Hallmark.
Eighteen teachers submitted requests totaling $45,000.
“Over the past several years, the Grants Committee of the Foundation’s Board has discussed the possibility of a second grant round midway through the year, for ideas that our teachers might have during the first semester,” Barnes said. “New ideas don’t always follow our grant timeline, so we are excited to be able to support these teachers’ ideas this spring.”
An eight-member grants committee reviewed each application and made recommendations to the full 32-member board.
Grants were awarded to the following teachers:
•Laura Holley at US Jones Elementary, $300 for a classroom set of the book “Wonder” to be used to start a discussion about bullying in the 5th grade.
•Beth Lindsay at US Jones Elementary, $700 for 90 Recorders and sheet music to begin a music class.
•Carrie Jackson at Demopolis Middle School, $3,000 for 30 graphing calculators for 8th grade Algebra.
•Anne Johnson at Demopolis High School, $1,870 for iPads in the high school special education class.
•Rebecca Pipkins at Demopolis High School, $700 for 100 copies of “The Maze Runner” to be read over the summer by 9th graders.
•Tera McCarty at Demopolis High School, $3,500 to equip a broadcasting studio at the high school.
