Farwell Schools secure $200k technology grant
Superintendent Dave Peterson and Principal Dee Yarger announced at Monday night’s Board of Education meeting that Farwell High School had been successful in obtaining a $200,000 Enhancing Education through Technology grant from the 21st Century Learning Environments initiative. Yarger and the team of high school teachers who worked on the grant had applied for $300,000, so the smaller award means that several of the requested items and projects will have to be scaled back.
Some of the technological improvements discussed at Monday night’s meeting were classroom laptops, smart boards, clickers for instant quiz results, an interactive computer program, video conferencing, and professional development for teachers to learn how to operate and apply the new technology. The grant also requested that Farwell participate in Project Lead the Way, which would end up giving students more advanced training – and possible college credit — in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Because the grant was long and complicated to write, Yarger commented she was aware of no other districts in the area that applied for it. “There were a lot of hoops we had to jump through,” Yarger told the Board.
Principal Yarger credited the teachers and Deb Snyder from the Clare-Gladwin RESD for Farwell’s success in obtaining the grant, but one of the teachers who worked with Yarger during the grant writing process told the Board, “Don’t let her [Yarger] kid you. She would like to push off credit to everyone else, but she is seriously a driving force and there’s no backing out or getting away from it once she decides that’s what we’re doing.”
The Board and audience at the meeting applauded the high school staff’s efforts, and their success at obtaining such a large grant.
Other financial good news came in the form of several donations that Farwell schools received in the month of November. The Kiwanis Project Fund contributed $250 towards the Science Olympiad Team, the United Methodist Women from the Farwell United Methodist Church donated $250 towards the Children’s Emergency Fund, Hawk Electric donated $100 to the Touchdown Club, the Michigan Fitness Foundation granted $1,000 to the Middle School for MS Healthy Schools, Fachting Counseling Service gave $200 to the National Honor Society for their Gifts From the Heart program, and All State Lock donated $100 towards the purchase of t-shirts for Middle School students.
Additionally, Rodgers Athletics donated padding for the 6-foot by 60-foot wall in the wrestling room, estimated to be worth, according to Superintendent Peterson, “well over $1,000.”
Assistant Principal Rick Smith announced the Farwell High School Students of the Month for December 2009. They are: Nick Saupe, freshman; Morgan Coney, sophomore; Andrew Price, junior; and Megan McIntosh, senior.
In Superintendent Peterson’s comments to the Board, he reminded them that the board office will be moving to the old high school office between the Christmas and New Years holidays. Peterson also said that he had just finished employee meetings with all the schools’ staff.
“This is a very difficult year for our staff emotionally, because in one breath there’s talk about the great things that are happening and the progress we’re making, and in the very next breath we’ve got to talk about the economy,” Peterson said, adding, “So whether it’s five dollars or five hundred dollars or five thousand dollars, all their suggestions are welcome. That’s the purpose of having the meetings.” “The staff has been fantastic,” Peterson remarked.
Peterson also spoke about upcoming business the Board will need to address at their next few meetings. In order to have a Q-ZAB loan in place by March 15th, Peterson said the requests for proposals on performance contracts must go out before the end of the year. He suggested the Board could discuss the matter at the February Committee of the Whole meeting to decide if they want to proceed with a contract that will address the schools’ inefficient heating and guarantees the district energy savings.
As Michigan’s Legislature races to change regulations that stand in the way of qualifying the state for federal Race to the Top money, the memorandum of understanding each district must sign with the State has been a topic of concern at every Board meeting.
In order to participate, Farwell’s Board must sign the agreement with the State by their January 4th meeting. Peterson said that he received clarification from the State Superintendent last Friday.
“He said because definitions are not known, that if a local Board of Education or local teachers’ union signed this and then at a later time the clarification came and it’s not what we thought it was, they would let us out of that – they would not bind us to that,” Peterson told the Board.
Peterson estimated that, should Michigan be one of the handful of states awarded Race to the Top funding, Farwell will receive between 1.2 and 1.5 million dollars, considering both the Re-Imagine Grant and the funding granted to schools receiving Title I money.
In other business, the Board voted unanimously to approve the amended 2009-’10 budget that was presented by Superintendent Peterson and Business Manager Carl Seiter at their last meeting.
Seiter commented that Farwell schools would stand to gain $190,644 if the State restored the $127 per pupil funding cut that the governor put a hold on implementing. Most districts assume that the $127 cut will eventually be reinstated, and the State may even need to implement additional cuts before the 2009-’10 school year ends.
Also at Monday night’s meeting, the Farwell Area Schools Board of Education:
* approved operational invoices for the month of November 2009 in the amount of $283,251.65.
* went into Closed Session at 8:29 p.m. in order to discuss negotiations, property, and the superintendent’s quarterly evaluation.
