2 districts, 2 charters share $185,478 to support rural education

Providence Creek Academy, pictured above, is one of four grant recipients in Delaware to support rural education.

Four educational entities in Delaware are receiving thousands of dollars to support rural education.

The federal Rural and Low Income Schools Program grant to provide rural districts and schools with financial assistance for initiatives aimed at improving student achievement.

“This additional funding allows our school to provide much-needed support to meet the social-emotional needs of our students, and to connect with our families to ensure we are supporting the needs of the whole child,” said Denise Stouffer, head of school at Providence Creek Academy, one of the grant recipients.

The non-competitive grant and eligibility are determined by statute, and awards are issued annually to state agencies, which make sub grants available to all districts and charter schools that meet the applicable requirements.

To be eligible for the grant, districts and charters must have at least 20 percent of the children they serve come from families with incomes below the poverty line and be located in a rural area.

“Monies from the grant have allowed us to and will continue to help, implement summer programs to aid high school students in credit recovery, continue a Family Literacy Project which focuses on parents’ involvement in learning to read, and will continue to fund the mentor coordinator position that oversees our 200 plus volunteer mentors throughout our district,” said LouAnn Hudson, director of teaching and learning for Cape Henlopen School District, another grant recipient.

The funds need to be used for any of the following four categories: improving basic programs operated by local education agencies, supporting effective instruction, language instruction for English learners and immigrant students, and student support and academic enrichment.

Hudson said the previous grant funds – being that this is the third year the district was awarded –have also sponsored outreach events to help support the district’s multilingual students and families and helped with transportation costs for after-school events.

“We look forward to utilizing the Rural Funds Grant to continue the work we have started over the previous few years,” she said.

Here’s how the grants were allocated:

• Cape Henlopen School District – $100,494
• Polytech School District – $44,132
• Providence Creek Academy – $26,866
• Sussex Montessori School – $13,986

“We are thankful for the grant award as the funds will continue to assist with supporting and preparing our students for successful educational experiences and outcomes,” said Kevin Dickerson, superintendent of Polytech. “These funds will be used to enhance instructional technology help-desk services and responsiveness to support 1-to-1 technology access for all POLYTECH High School students, the instructional technology needs of our students, and the expansion of technology schoolwide.”