Monday's Internet Edition, October 13, 2008.
|
News editor - The Copperas Cove Independent School District recently approved proposed expenditures for federal grants for the 2003-04 school year. The approval gives administrators the authority to spend the money acquired through grants on various CCISD programs.
Money from grants under Title I, Part A will go towards improving the academic achievement of the disadvantaged, said Linda Roberts, CCISD programs coordinator. She said addition in personnel will include two HOSTS teachers, five itinerant teachers and five teachers to fulfill the requirements of Title I class size reduction.
The district will also add 20 instructional aides, 10 parent liaisons, one programs coordinator, one programs secretary, one part-time assistant homeless liaison and substitutes, said Roberts. The grants also provide extra duty pay for tutorials and summer school.
Programs funded under Title I, Part A grants include parent involvement, HOSTS and services for homeless children on non-Title I campuses, including tutorials, clothes, supplies, health care, counseling and dental care, Roberts said.
Roberts said, “Five percent of the grant funds must be set aside for staff development or college tuition, fees or books to help personnel become highly qualified.” Other grant money under Title I, Part A will pay for an expansion of technology, software, instructional supplies, field trips for students and Texas Educational Consultative Services fees, Roberts said.
Grant funds under Title II, Part A will be used in preparing, training and recruiting high quality teachers and principals, including providing staff development and substitutes for attending teachers, she said.
Roberts said money would also be spent on employing seven teachers to reduce the size of classes at the elementary level and three Target teachers in grades 5-8. “Funds will be set aside to assist those teachers and paraprofessionals deemed to be less than highly qualified under the new requirements of the No Child Left Behind definition,” she said.
Funds from Title II, Part D grants will provide for enhanced education through technology, with 25 percents of funds required for staff development related to the integration of technology into instruction, said Roberts.
She said Title II, Part D funds will also be used to set up a wireless laptop lab for C.R. Clements and introduce the TaskStream pilot program for teachers at J.L. Williams, Copperas Cove High School and C.R. Clements.
With the program, teachers can develop curriculum and quickly prepare assessments; easily reference and track their implementation of standards; create, organize and publish their professional work; manage and distribute course materials; and collaborate online, Roberts said.
The programs coordinator said grant funds under Title IV, Part A will be used to provide safe and drug-free schools with staff development to include Capturing Kids’ Hearts. Shelley Brown, Roberts’ secretary, said the program gives training that will help teachers cope with students in a more positive way, and parent involvement training.
Other expenditures under Title IV, Part A include character education materials, replacement programs for Drug Abuse Resistance Education if it is discontinued at the intermediate schools and a Primary Focus presentation for students on three campuses. The program is an assembly that follows Character Counts teachings, Brown said.
Roberts said money from the Title IV grant will also be spent on curriculum materials for the Teen Leadership program and security equipment, including eight two-way radios with rechargeable bases for C.R. Clements and J.L. Williams, a surveillance camera system for C.R. Clements, cell phones for campuses who request them and a buzzer activated system that will allow access to the front entry at C.R. Clements only if activated by office personnel.
Title IV money will also be used in gaining a SmartTrack license, which will give students the opportunity to take the annual Safe and Drug-Free survey online and will provide summary reports, she said.
Roberts said the Title V, Part A grant money will be used to develop innovative strategies, such as purchasing a license to participate in the Virtual High School and creating a mobile staff development lab which will allow staff development to be delivered on campus during conference periods.
Roberts said, “Should any proposal fail to meet the No Child Left Behind requirement of being scientifically research based, that proposal will not be implemented and further research will have to be done to meet the identified need through other means.”
She also said if sufficient funds aren’t received, some of the proposals will be eliminated or modified.