Valley schools receive grants

February 25, 2011 at 12:05a.m.

By Karl Henkel

BOARDMAN

For the past five years, Center Middle School art teacher Sandi Bates and science teachers Jan Harvey and Joe Ignazio have come together to connect geology and art in a much-anticipated semester project.

But during the second semester this year, they couldn’t do the project because they were all out of supplies and money.

This term, though, the project is back after the three received a grant from the Boardman Schools Fund for Educational Excellence, which provided its inaugural teachers’ mini grants earlier this week.

“This has just been a blessing,” Bates said of the $213 grant. “I get all the sixth-graders for art, and they all look forward to it.”

The project, titled “From Rocks and Minerals to Abstract Art,” was one of five that received funding.

The Fund for Educational Excellence, a component of the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, was created in April 2009 to fund educational projects not otherwise covered under the district’s budget. It is overseen by a board of directors consisting of community leaders — such as Judge Mark Belinky of the Mahoning County Probate Court — a school board member, an administrator and a faculty member.

The endowment provided $2,463, which included two $600 grants for elementary literacy programs, a $550 grant for audio books and a $500 grant for math wall-mount screens, both at the high school.

“We live in a time where the taxpayer is stretched,” said Sid Jones, president of the Fund for Educational Excellence. “We’re attempting to do some stuff for the school that the taxpayer cannot do.”

Superintendent Frank Lazzeri said initial grants, which equaled the maximum 4 percent of the monetary amount the group is allowed to give away in a fiscal year, were buoyed by seven or eight donors who contributed approximately $10,000 each. He said the fund is looking for two to three more to round out its inaugural founding donors.

Lazzeri said he expects more grants to be awarded sometime around December, especially if the fund is able to generate more money.

“We’re trying to get a few more, and then we’re going to have a big splash for the community,” Lazzeri said.

Jones said he’s looking to get more alumni involved in the endowment.

“The larger we can build this endowment,” Jones said, “the more we can do for the kids.”