Story by Candy Johnson, Education Foundation

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Today, January 9th the first full day back for students and teachers in Clarksville Montgomery County Schools, 13 teachers were surprised by the Clarksville Montgomery County Education Foundation Director, Candy Johnson and Foundation assistant, Rebecca Dyer with grant awards benefitting their classrooms.

Nearly 750 students in the district will be impacted by the grants awarded. Grant proposals were submitted for up to $1,000 per applicant before the Holiday break from nearly 25 teachers. The Great Idea Grants have been a tradition and program of the foundation for over a decade.

This year, because of the support of Foundation sponsors, almost $10,000 was given to support these “Great Ideas” submitted from teachers.
Grants provided support for schools such as; new technology for classroom instruction, STEM classroom expansion, expanded online classroom libraries, after school program support, at-risk intervention program support, robotics club technology, gifted program support as well as special needs equipment for the classroom (see project titles and award winners below).

Johnson, Foundation Executive Director mentioned that the Foundation board is working to continue building their assets through fundraising and fully funding their endowment to be able to award larger dollar amounts to teachers in the future.

“Awards like this along with other programs we offer for students and teachers would not be possible without the generous support of our community.” The teachers receiving the grants were extremely grateful and some students present even cheered that they would receive more technology and apps for their classes, said Johnson. This is actually the best part of my job!”

Montgomery Central Middle School…(1) $769
Jacqueline Lemon Montgomery Central Middle Proprioceptive Therapy (6-8th grade)

West Creek Middle School…(3) $508
Robin Pollard West Creek Middle Reading Intervention (7th & 8th)
Belinda Martin West Creek Middle ELA Differentiated Instruction for at Risk Groups
(7th Grade)
Angelia Dees West Creek Middle ELA Differentiated Instruction for at Risk Groups
(8th Grade)

St. Bethlehem Elementary School…(1) $950
Bonnie Conn St. B. Elementary Audio Classroom Library
(2nd grade) 20 students

Northeast Middle School…(2) $2,000
Polly Kopp Northeast Middle School NEMS Robotics Expansion Program
(6th, 7th, 8th )
Whitney Joyner Northeast Middle School NEMS National History Day Program

New Providence Middle School…(1) $1,000
Abraham Wolfe New Providence Middle School Lego Robotics at New Providence
(6th, 7th, 8th)

Sango Elementary School…(5) $ 4,247
Emily Clark Sango Elementary Problem Based Learning
Cynthia Delgado Sango Elementary Icame, Isaw, Iconquered. Using Ipad’s
for academic and behavior success in BSP
Erin Godsave Sango Elementary Third Grade Ipad Intergration
Stacy McDonald Sango Elementary Using Technology to Maximize inclusion;
Homebound students can be presented
in the classroom daily
Patricia Saunders Sango Elementary 3rd Grade STEM Technology Integration