Letter to Editor: Seaford Schools Should Apply for More Grants

In today’s economic climate it just seems slightly problematic to me that the Seaford School District doesn’t  seem to aggressively and proactively seek grants and financial assistance from the myriad of public and private opportunities that exist.

When I brought this to Superintendent Brian Conboy attention several weeks ago he mentioned he had a “book” that lists grants available. However he is under the impression we do not qualify for most of the monies available due to the wealth of the district.  Being the skeptic that I am I did a rather simple Google Search and was surprised to find a wealth of information pertaining to grants and financial assistance for kindergarten-12th grade education, which I emailed him.

Some of the reoccurring themes in each of the grants was creativity and the ability of the educator to think out of the box to challenge and change the current paradigm in order to  motivate and stimulate the students , district wealth was not a major factor. Additionally there are grants for our teachers to expand their education, even attain National Teaching Certification. There are grants for Technology, Math, Science Language Arts, Music, Art, Foreign Language.

 To me,  grants would be the coupons for education. They are out there and it takes some work and it takes some planning and dedication on the part of the educator  and possibly even the student .

Why aren’t we taking advantage of these opportunities? Why aren’t we aggressively and repeatedly applying for as many grants as possible.Why aren’t the PTA’s and parent groups actively looking for grants.  Why aren’t our resident retired teachers called upon to step up to the plate to offer assistance and possibly even guidance as a volunteer group. Why isn’t the United Teachers of Seaford making it a mantra that their members expand and grow their own horizons in order to become better educators? Why aren’t we challenging the students to actively seek grants and be involved in applying for them? 

If you apply for 20 grants and receive one, it’s a win! Additionally the more you apply to the more you get the feel for what these foundations are looking for, the more successful you will be. There are even organizations where teachers state a need for their classroom and donors will support the cause. 

Granted it takes work, time, dedication, to research and apply. We don’t need to dedicate an individual  to seek and apply for grants, that is a waste of money, What we do need is to instill in our teachers and students the need  to proactively  seek opportunities for funding that supports ,enhances and expands  the educational experience of the student in their classroom.

Grants accomplish several key things. The first is obvious, funding, secondly, it empowers teachers and students to take ownership, to invest time in expanding the educational horizons, challenges them to establish goals  and it enforces creativity, making them think, which will  hopefully support a level of education that we might not be able to afford otherwise.

Most importantly success should not only be measured by whether the grants were won. By taking the initiative and creativity to apply, we will have won on so many different levels. 

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Lorraine DeVita

Seaford