top of page

The Grafton Education Foundation awards grants to employees of the School District of Grafton who demonstrate a desire to provide innovative, enriching educational experiences for students in the public schools of Grafton.  The grants support initiatives that are beyond the scope of the current operating budget of the School District of Grafton.  Past grants have provided IPads, camera equipment, heart rate monitors, and supported various reading programs.

 

Click on the grants links to see past awarded grants.  

 

If you are an Grafton School District employee who would like to apply for a grant click on the application link.

 

Below is a story the Newsgraphic published about the Grafton Education Foundation and a past grant.

 

 

Grafton helping students transition to new schools

 

By Melanie Boyung

 

News Graphic Staff

 

GRAFTON — The Grafton School District is looking to build stronger ties between its students by planning a mentorship program to help students transitioning between schools.

 

To aid in the effort, the Grafton Education Foundation recently awarded a $15,520 donation to the district to fund the establishment of Web Crew and Link Crew.

 

Both are transition programs developed by the Boomerang Project. The programs – being instituted at John Long Middle School and Grafton High School, respectively – involve setting up a structure for older students to mentor and help younger students with the challenges of shifting to a new school building.

 

“We were really looking for a districtwide initiative that could impact a lot of students,” said Julia McNally, president of the GEF.

 

In WEB, which stands for Where Everybody Belongs, eighth-grade students are paired to sixthgrade students. In Link, upperclassmen are paired with freshmen. The older mentor students participate in orientation, helping to guide the new students, and then dofollow-up activities. The mentors do academic follow-ups to see how their partners are doing, plan social activities in the school and conduct personal follow ups on their own.

 

According to the Boomerang Project’s website, the organization is “built on the belief that students can help students succeed.”

 

The money donated by GEF to the school will largely fund the training of educators to lead the program. The grant application showed that $13,720 of the money will go to the training program through the Boomerang Project. The amount will cover six educators, three at each GHS and JLMS. These educators will be coordinators of the transition programs, organizing the students involved as well as the events done through the program.

 

Training the educators is a one-time cost. According to the grant application, funding will only be needed for one year; once several educators in each building are trained, the program will be selfsustaining as those coordinators continue theprogram in later years and more educators learn the process through involvement. The only remaining costs will be limited to supplies and incidentals that are used during program events.

 

The grant application also included statistics from other schools across the country who have implemented Link programs. While there was not complete data from every school, the data showed the trend of tardies, absences and failing courses declining among ninth graders after the implementation of Link Crew. The data also showed a significant drop – an average of 33 percent – in the number of disciplinary referrals for ninth-grade students.

 

The money the GEF donated was outside of its normal grant program, which awards funds during the spring; McNally said it was largely due to a high level of direct donations made over the past year.

 

“We’ve had a really good year with our Seeds to Harvest campaign,” McNally said, referring to the foundation’s direct mailing solicitation campaign.

 

The application for the grant – made by a group of educators at both GHS and JLMS – included letters of support from JLMS principal Liz Kayzar, who said in her letter that she had previous positive experience with the programs, and GHS principal Ken McCormick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grants In Action

bottom of page