BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – The Bryan ISD Education Foundation is awarding more than $130,000 in grants to dozens of district teachers.
Some of these educators expressed surprise at the news at a pep rally at Bonham Elementary School Thursday morning.
The Education Foundation began accepting applications for the grant in August. Teachers in the district then had about eight weeks to submit their applications anonymously.
Teacher Grants Committee Chair Leah Vernon said it was a very competitive process and the committee has seen some of the best grants submitted so far this year.
“Teachers are bringing new and innovative things into the classroom. Even if they have an idea, they may not have the funding for it or they may not be able to generate it directly from their own pocket, but they bring it to the classroom every year. We want to be able to use it. Sometimes it’s technology, sometimes it’s the school garden, redoing the library, new books in the library,” Vernon suggested.
On Thursday, more than 50 grants were distributed to employees across the district, including Monica Thompson, a kindergarten teacher at Bonham Elementary School. She said she applied because she wanted to help meet all of the children’s needs.
In her grant application, Thompson wrote about several goals she had for her classroom, including supporting student writing.
“When it comes to kindergarten, some kids go to kindergarten, some kids go to daycare, and some kids haven’t yet,” Thompson explained. “Writing is one of the tools and areas that most children struggle with fine motor skills, so we wrote a grant to support some activities that can make writing fun.”
In East, the grant was awarded to one teacher at each campus in the district.
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