Helena Public Schools acquires tech grant

Helena Public Schools was one of eleven districts chosen in the country to receive a $24,000 tech grant known as the American Federation of Teachers Innovation Fund Grant.

This K-12 grant will impact all participating schools in the district. This upcoming school year, 12 teachers will be chosen to educate themselves and each other on emerging AI and tech that can be utilized for teaching purposes.

They will then be able to utilize some of the grant money to invest in such tech and hope to continue this process in the following years.

Kyla Owen, a kindergarten teacher at Broadwater Elementary, is the one who applied for the grant. She says that through her connections with the Headwaters Tech Hub, leaders there have suggested implementing more of this tech-related learning in the classroom.

“So, how do we develop this next generation of workforce so that they're ready for this kind of technology? And every single one of them has said, robotics and problem solving and creativity in kindergarten through five,” says Owen.