109 Board awards schools

FALMOUTH — At its quarterly meeting March 4, the Pendleton County 109 Board saw presentations from each school in the county on how it used grants for environmentally friendly learning improvements.

The 109 Board awards grants annually for this purpose.

Amy Hurst, teacher at Northern Elementary and Stephanie Prince, Southern Elementary, informed the 109 Board that their schools purchased Lenovo think pad electronic devices.

These computerized devices are distributed to their students on a “one-to-one” ratio. The devices cost $500 each, plus a $30 charger is required for each unit.

These individual units teach students typing skills, navigating a computer, reading and math curriculum, and Microsoft Teams, all while saving paper and resources in the classroom.

Christina Gregg, junior  high school science teacher, and Ethan Wright, high school science/biology teacher, said the middle school and high school both purchased OpenSciEd learning kits for their respective schools.

OpenSciEd is a collaborative effort of leading science researchers and educators, developing “inquiry-based” learning, aligned with the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Their first unit was studying the Serengeti in Africa. The focus was to monitor wildlife such as hyenas, wildebeast, and lions.

They studied the environments and ecosystems and what effected the different animal group populations or lack thereof.

Also, kits were purchased to study sound waves and metabolic reactions. This inquiry-based learning has endless areas of study available to staff and students.

One of the next study models they are looking at questions who gets cancer and why.

Principals from the respective schools were present to support the teachers and provide input.

The presentations were well received by the 109 Board and others in attendance.

After the presentations, the 109 Board unanimously moved to increase the 2024 Grant funding by 25% this year.

Each school in the county was awarded a $5,000 grant and 109 Board said they look forward to learning how those future funds are utilized.