Spring Branch ISD Featured News

 

$171,776 awarded to projects for SBISD students and teachers

At its June 3 Board meeting, Spring Branch Education Foundation (SBEF) approved $171,776 in grants to fund 25 innovative education-enhancing projects throughout Spring Branch Independent School District.

The Foundation annually calls for grant applications, up to $5,000 each, from any of its 46 school campuses. District-wide and departmental projects are eligible for larger grants. 

“Each year, we ask our faculty and volunteers to dream big,” said Donnie Roseman, a member of the SBEF Board of Directors and chair of the Program and Assessment Committee. “We know we can expect to see great ideas, and we are never disappointed. Our community donors make these grants possible.”

“I’m astounded by the fact that we could fund every grant request in full,” said Cece Thompson, SBEF executive director. “This, in a year when every fundraiser event was compromised by pandemic restrictions and a winter storm! I am so proud of this community!”

The Foundation awarded five district-wide grants: 

• Altharetta Yeargin Art Museum – The grant will fund Road Shows that take the museum to first-grade classrooms and Study Trips for second graders who travel to the museum. When possible, a third program, Tall Tales and Art, is a community summer reading and art experience led by SBISD art teachers. In 2022, the Museum will host the exhibit Young at Art: A Selection of Caldecott Book Illustrations. All programs are closely coordinated with grade-level curriculum.
• Character Without Question – This program recognizes 49 students whose character cannot be questioned – even when no one is looking. SBEF is the sole sponsor and funder of the program and recognition event.
• J. Landon Short Mini-Grants for Educators – This block grant provides individual grants to SBISD educators who seek transformational ways to enrich the learning environment. The grants provide a small amount of funding to make possible big ideas in classrooms.
• SpringBoard Mentoring Program – More than 300 students on 34 SBISD campuses spend an hour each week with community mentors, thanks to this grant. The relationships help students who are on the brink of success build self-confidence, develop communication and interpersonal skills, discover their passions and find meaningful connections between school and the future. This year, the program will explore evidence-based virtual mentoring curriculums.
• ReadSBISD – The district will provide a Parent Guide to every Pre-K family to help parents support their children’s academic work at home. Literacy is a key district priority.

Two departmental grants will benefit students across the district:

• Advanced Academics – A Junior SAT Boot Camp, between the October PSAT and March SAT school day exams, will help selected juniors from each high school improve their test scores and hit College Readiness Indicators.
• West Support Center – An Assistive Technology in Action lab will foster creativity and problem-solving in students with speech and language impairments, autism spectrum disorders and emotional/behavioral disorders.

Other grants are designated for campus projects:

Bunker Hill Elementary School – The school will build on its reading and writing resources with shelves of new titles for 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th grade classrooms.

Hollibrook Elementary School – Teachers are planning a massive reading practice, which means two books a day for 10 days; a total of 20 books per student every two weeks. This grant will provide the new books.

Hunters Creek Elementary School – Teachers will be trained in the Orton-Gillingham approach to deliver phonological awareness and phonics instruction to primary readers.

The Lion Lane School – Dramatic play furniture in all classrooms will foster creative play and social/emotional skills.

Meadow Wood Elementary School – Participating in the Writers in the Schools program will encourage third-graders to experimentally and creatively explore poetry and prose.

Northbrook and Spring Woods High Schools – Athletes and their parents will learn from a Memorial Hermann nutritionist nourishing eating habits for a healthier lifestyle.

Nottingham Elementary School – Substitute teachers will allow faculty time for purposeful vertical planning sessions to prepare for students to go beyond grade-level expectations. 

Pine Shadows and Terrace Elementary Schools – Vending machines will dispense books for FREE to supplement home libraries, award good behavior and grades, celebrate birthdays or for the sake of a good story!

Ridgecrest Elementary School – All students will have access to beginning audio engineering education with new sound equipment in the stage and cafeteria areas.

Rummel Creek Elementary School – Building on its Action Based Learning program the Health Fitness program will receive additional sensory, movement and balance activities to enhance overall learning.

Spring Branch Academic Institute – Carefully curated study trips and learning visits throughout the Houston area will increase academic growth and build cognitive flexibility.

Spring Forest Middle School – Students will enjoy a choice-based art education with media stations inviting students to explore ideas and experiment with a variety of art media.

Spring Oaks Middle School – The school will increase the number of books in the library and classroom collections so that all students have access to stories that capture their imaginations.

Spring Shadows Elementary School – The school’s Book of the Month Club develops community and character through reading aloud. Students see themselves in stories that reflect diverse experiences and cultures.

Thornwood Elementary School – Teachers, students and parents will work collaboratively to learn phonics and word comprehension.

Wilchester Elementary School – New books throughout the schools will not only promote literacy skills, they will reflect students’ diverse cultures and experiences.

Community members who wish to support a specific program at a designated campus can make a tax-deductible donation to the Foundation and earmark it for that school.

Call 713.251.2381 or visit springbrancheducationfoundation.com for more information.

About Spring Branch Education Foundation:

Spring Branch Education Foundation is committed to supporting SBISD students and educators. It partners with the district and community to fund programs that enhance education and ̅prepare students for the future. In 2016, Caruthers Institute ranked SBEF 42^nd in the nation among 188 K-12 education foundations and in the top 10 of its division of foundations with $1 million to $1,999,999 in revenues. 

Since 1993, the Foundation has donated more than $15 million to the district. SBEF is a 501(c)3 organization; all donations are tax deductible.