Education Foundation awards $12,800 in grants to teachers

The Flour Bluff ISD Foundation for Educational Excellence, Inc., surprised teachers at four campuses on November 20 when they awarded more than $12,800 in teacher and campus grants. “This is the best part of being a foundation board member,” said Treva Bedwell, foundation board member. “It is so rewarding to be able to grant these monies to teachers to be creative with their students.”

The foundation is in its second year of operation and has raised over $90,000. The Foundation’s mission is to give money to campuses and teachers to promote quality education by establishing, supporting and enhancing programs not otherwise funded by the Flour Bluff Independent School District. Teachers write grant proposals detailing their ideas. A foundation committee then determines which ones will be funded. “This is a wonderful group of individuals who invest their time and efforts to make dreams come true for our teachers and students. This great group of community leaders continue to work hard in their fundraising efforts to allow teachers opportunities to seek additional equipment and curriculum initiatives not funded in the district budget,” said Dr. Julie Carbajal, Superintendent.

Campus grants were awarded in the following amounts: FBISD Junior High PE Department (Nancy Busby) was awarded $3,300 to implement an exercise program through dance moves to students to help combat the childhood obesity problem; Katrina Warren, Pre-K teacher, was awarded $1,500 to help create a structured environment to refine gross motor skills and increase body awareness for Pre-K and Kindergarten students; Crystal Hale, a teacher at the Primary School was awarded $2,000 for Project Interactive White Board which will actively engage inclusion students with hands on technology; FBJH Science Department (Brenda Killen, Pam Shackelford and Bill Prather) was awarded $2,000 to create an active Ecology lab with pond, compost bin, plants and hummingbird habitat to help promote classroom objectives to real life application through environmental education; FBHS teachers Patricia Nieto and Joanne Boudissa were awarded $1,000 for a field trip to the missions in San Antonio; and FBHS History Teachers Patricia Nieto, Melissa Botello, Mark Chester and Margaret Ehman were awarded $3,000 to implement a program called Creating Historical Detectives whereby students learn to explore American history through primary source evidence.