The Lawrence Township Education Foundation has approved 37 grants, totaling $64,000, in its latest round of grant awards that were presented to teachers in the Lawrence Township Public Schools.
Each of the seven schools whose teachers applied for a grant received one – and in some cases, multiple grants were approved for the same school.
A record number of applications were filed for the fall round of grants, Executive Director Karen Fairman told the Lawrence Township Public Schools Board of Education.
“These were by far some of the best grant proposals we have ever had,” Fairman said of the 50 applications that were filed. It was a very difficult decision to cut out any of the grant requests, she said.
Among the grant applications that were approved is one to provide a one-day mental health training session for all school guidance counselors to support students who are developing signs or symptoms of mental illness or an emotional crisis.
At the Lawrenceville Elementary School, grant applications were approved that will provide eight iPads to second grade classrooms and to provide new iPads to replace the existing ones used in the school’s digital music program.
The Eldridge Park School will get classroom sound amplification systems to enhance learning for students.
At the Slackwood Elementary School, one of the approved grants will pay for cultural diverse literature for each grade, allowing students to see themselves and the world around them in books.
And at the Ben Franklin Elementary School, one grant was approved to provide buckets for a new drumming program in the music program and another was approved to that will create a space in each classroom to help students learn self-regulation and calming strategies.
Sixth-graders at the Lawrence Intermediate School will be encouraged to write by allowing them to write short stories that will be published in an anthology, and another grant will allow them to explore the world without leaving their desks through Google Expeditions.
Two new wireless microphones in the Lawrence Middle School auditorium will improve sound quality, while another grant will pay for transportation to a free STEM conference aimed at encouraging students to examine careers and activities in science, technology, engineering and math.
And at Lawrence High School, grants were approved to pay for alternative seating options to help increase students’ focus and cut down on behavioral issues, and to implement a new program that connects character building with athletics so student-athletes can grow, be challenged and have fun while participating in sports.
Amy Davis, the president of the Lawrence Township Education Foundation’s board of trustees, thanked Fairman for her “incredible efforts and for encouraging teachers and staff to apply, apply, apply.”
Davis also thanked the school board members for their service. People often forget that the school board members are volunteers, she said, adding that “I want to thank you – not as a trustee, but as a parent.”
