Haverford Schools Receive Empowerment Grants

The Haverford Township School District Education Foundation recently awarded $10,000 grants to each of the township’s five elementary schools to fund projects of the schools’ choosing for the 2012-2013 school year, School Board President Denis Gray said during a board meeting on Thursday night.

The elementary schools are the recipients of the Education Foundation’s first School Empowerment Grants.

“We really want to thank the foundation for what they do,” Gray said.

Each school was allowed to decide how to spend its $10,000 grant, Gray said.

will use the grant to pay for a year-long, school-wide engineering program, the Development for Robotics Engineering and Enrichment (DREEM), Gray said.

grant will fund a School TV Made Easy package, wiring and training for the school’s “Chat Live!”
broadcasting project, Gray said.

will purchase mounted projectors to enhance the use of SMART boards in the classroom, Gray said.

and elementary schools both decided to use their grant money for interactive SMART board technology in classrooms, Gray said.

“We can’t get enough in the classrooms,” Gray said of SMART boards, which he described as large, interactive computer screens.  “All the teachers use them.”

The Haverford Township School District Education Foundation is a non-profit organization run by a board of directors who are members of the community, teachers, administrators and students, according to the foundation’s web site. 

Although it works closely with the school district, it is an independent organization, which aims to “enhance the school district's curriculum and extra-curricular activities with privately-funded enrichment programs,” the foundation web site states.

The foundation is also independent of the school board, Gray said after the school board meeting.