Community News

DCSF hands out $50,000 in classroom grants

Coty Geohagan’s class at Demopolis Middle School is excited to receive 30 tablet computers.

Students and teachers all across the Demopolis City School system were surprised when “The Prize Patrol” visited their classrooms this week to award $50,000 in 2013 Classroom Grants – funding everything from iPads to library books, sheet music to wireless headphones. “This is the best day of the year for the Foundation. We get to see all of the hard work from the past year rewarded when the students and teachers show so much enthusiasm for these projects,” shared Board Member Jennifer Tate who visited US Jones Elementary to award the grants.

At the beginning of the school year, teachers were encouraged to apply for a classroom grant to support excellence in the classroom. The Foundation received 39 grants requesting over $153,000 in support. The seven member Grants Committee reviewed each application and after significant discussion and consideration, made recommendations for funding to the Board of Directors.

John Northcutt, President of the Foundation and Kim Townsend, Vice President of the Foundation present Heather Kennedy with a Fall 2013 Classroom Grant for the new choral program at Demopolis High School.

The Demopolis City Schools Foundation is an independent nonprofit established in 1993 to encourage private charitable support of the Demopolis public school system. Governed by a 32-member Board of Directors, the Foundation has provided over $950,000 in classroom grants since its inception.

“These Classroom Grants are one of the things that makes the Demopolis school system so successful,” shares Amanda Barnes, Executive Director of the Foundation. “The funds to support the Foundation are raised through our year-round membership campaign as well as fundraisers we hold throughout the year – SchoolFest, a turkey sale, and a pancake supper. For a community of our size to be able to put an extra $50,000 of materials into the classrooms each year shows just how much we all believe in the importance of quality public education.”

Laura Holley, counselor at US Jones shares the good news about her grant with some students.

This year Demopolis Middle School received $22,694 in grants, Demopolis High School received $8,498, Westside Elementary (K-2) received $9,943, and US Jones Elementary (3-5) received $9,177.

Complete List of Fall 2013 Classroom Grants

Demopolis High School

Cynthia Whitlock, $2,000 for ebooks at the high school library
Heather Kennedy, $948 for a digital piano and choral sheet music to support the choral program
Kim Browder, $1,320 for document based activities for the high school history department
Stacy Cyd Boland, $4,230 for a set of 30 graphing calculators for use in the Geometry classroom

Demopolis Middle School

Ashley M. Brock, $645 for robotic equipment in the 7th and 8th grade robotics class
Coty Geohagan, $7,319 for 30 Google Nexus tablets to be used in the middle school language arts program
Deborah McAfee, $1,257 for an interactive response system to connect to the Smartboard
Ginger Godwin, $2,000 for ebooks at the middle school library
Lisa McHugh, $6,412 for a SMART table for the 6-12th grade special education classroom
Mesha Smith, $359 for a set of classroom atlases for use in the 6th grade social science classroom
Susan Browder, $4,700 for 25 Kindle Fires for use in the 6th grade math and science classrooms

US Jones Elementary School

Amy Ramer, $329 for a rhythm band set for the 4th grade
Beth Lindsay, $908 for four sets of classroom novels by Andrew Clements for the 4th grade
Emily Windham, $3,500 for hardback books and ebooks at the US Jones library
Jennifer Bedsole, $2,480 for seven iPad minis for use in two 4th grade classrooms
Julie Harrison, $1,389 for four iPad minis for use in the 3rd grade
Laura P. Holley, $569 for counseling curriculum at US Jones

Westside Elementary School