Home > Lawrenceville.Talk > Archives > 2006 > October > 17
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Willing to spend more for your child’s education?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This week Gwinnett County students will be quietly filling in computer form circles while teachers stand by eagerly and watch.
Third, fifth and eighth graders have to take the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. That’s a whole lot of pressure on the little ones.
How do you make sure your children perform well during these extremely stressful testing times? By giving them as much academic support in and out of the classroom as possible.
Luckily for students in Lawrenceville and Suwanee, a group of parents and concerned citizens cooked up an educational idea that could really grow into a great community initiative.
The Collins Hill Education Foundation (CHEF) has been created to expand and strengthen academics for students attending schools in Gwinnett County’s Collins Hill cluster.
CHEF serves students attending Dyer, McKendree, Rock Springs, Taylor and Walnut Grove elementary schools as well as Creekland Middle and Collins Hill High. They raise money to donate to worthy classroom projects so that students in these schools can gain an educational advantage.
Now serving: extracurricular food for thought.
Last month CHEF began accepting applications for grants that will pay for innovative programs that enrich students’ education.
Teachers in the Collins Hill cluster schools were encouraged to request funding from CHEF. They eagerly responded.
The program will fund specialized academics, extracurricular activities, and fine arts programs. For example, it would pay for special phonics books to hopefully eliminate reading problems.
The grant application process has ended, but CHEF is still accepting donations. If you want to donate, please contact your child’s school.
CHEF would like each parent to give $45 per child.
That’s relatively cheap compared to the cost of a PlayStation new release video game or Barbie’s latest dream house. But academics is a hard sell that’s not supported by million-dollar commercials airing on Nickelodeon and pop-ups on disney.com.
I received a letter from my child’s school asking for a contribution. I think it’s a good idea and I plan to help.
Would you? Do you think most family households spend more money on extracurricular stuff like games and toys and cell phones? Or is an equal amount of money spent on supporting the classroom?
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Jacqueline Bullard
