$58,273 in grants awarded to Demopolis City Schools

Thanks to generous donors, the Demopolis City Schools Foundation last week announced $58,273 in classroom grants.

More than 250 private donors and businesses in West Alabama donate to the DCSF annually to invest in public education excellence. This year was no exception, and through those gifts and investments, the Foundation was able to award classroom grants totaling more than $1.3 million since its beginning in1993.

The grants this fall will be put to immediate use at all four campuses in the Demopolis City School System.  

“Our grants this year exemplify our strategic approach to grant making within the school system and focus on teacher-led ideas,” said Sarah Chandler Hallmark, president of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

“From expanding MakerSpace activities that will encourage creative thinking to extending the LEGO education program to third graders at U.S. Jones, our teachers are building future problems solvers,” she said.

“We have grants of all sizes this year, too, and they cut across all areas of the school – from introducing archery in the Demopolis Middle School PE Department to tubas and euphoniums for their band program. We want each child in our rural system to have the resources necessary to explore his or her interests and be ultimately be successful citizens.”

Teachers made requests of more than $89,000, said Amanda Barnes, Executive Director of the Foundation. “The committee had to make some hard choices about what projects to move forward,” she said. “We look forward to another round of grants in the Spring.”

The DCSF is an independent nonprofit established to encourage private charitable support of the Demopolis public school system. 

Demopolis High School

• $8,000 to Stacy Chandler for a set of Chromebooks and a cart for the science department
• $680 to Jenn Tate for a potter’s wheel, clay and sculpting tools for the art programs at the middle and high school
• $8,709 to Meggin Mayben in support of the A+ Computer Science Coding and Robotics classroom
• $8,000 to Jill Tutt for a set of Chromebooks and a cart for the English Department
• $3,249 to Lisa Lawrence for books and a Matter and Form 3D Scanner & Printer
• $1,671 to Charles Jones for monitors, keyboards, and mice to turn existing Chromebooks into a workstations for drafting and design

Demopolis Middle School

• $594 to Jackie Tripp for Apple Pencils to be paired with the iPads the DMS math teachers received through the Fall 2018 Classroom Grant process
• $4,094 to Jesse Bell for the purchase of basic archery equipment in order to incorporate archery into the middle school physical education curriculum
• $7,600 to Alaric Castleberry to purchase low brass instruments (tubas and euphoniums)
• $2,000 to Ginger Godwin for hardcover and eBooks for the library

U.S. Jones Elementary School

• $800 to Jannalee Duke for six breakout kits along with access to the Breakout EDU platform
• $6,999 to Julie Harrison to introduce Lego Education at USJ and continue the program from second grade (a 2017 Classroom Grant)
• $2,000 to Emily Windham for funds to purchase technology equipment for checkout by teachers at the library

Westside Elementary School

• $285 to Laurice Thomasson for classroom books to help expand students’ imagination and learning
• $1,592 to Kristina Kallhoff to create a MakerSpace environment for students to engage in science, engineering and exploratory learning
• $2,000 to Andrea Johnson to purchase chapter books for the Westside Library for higher level readers.