SCHENECTADY — Schenectady teachers will take children on historic field trips and bolster their classrooms with new learning initiatives, due to grants awarded by the Schenectady City School District Educational Foundation.
The foundation awarded 32 grants this month totaling $67,483 for the 2023-2024 school year, the highest dollar total the group has distributed since it began awarding the grants in 2006.
Under the organization’s process, Schenectady teachers detail how they would use the grant funding to improve their classrooms or take their pupils on field trips to destinations including MiSci or city historic sites.
“Almost all of the money that we give out is done through teacher grants,” Educational Foundation President William Schultz said on Friday. “We have an application form that we send out to the teachers in the fall. Teachers individually apply for grants and it’s a fairly rigorous process.”
The requests are reviewed by a foundation committee and dispersed throughout the district, with a focus on literacy, arts and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) projects.
The organization has awarded over 400 grants worth $502,483 in the last two decades.
According to the foundation, the 2023 grants are going to initiatives including classroom libraries, a sensory area for special needs students, science labs, literacy programs and community service projects run by the students.
The foundation will hold its annual Education Celebration gala on April 11 at Proctors, where it will highlight the recipients of the 2023-2024 grants and honor distinguished Schenectady alum and the district’s teacher of the year, Colleen Keough, a second grade teacher at Hamilton Elementary School.
The fundraising event will feature food prepared and served by district culinary arts students, with music provided by students from Schenectady High School.
“Our No. 1 source of income is the Education Celebration,” Schultz said.
The organization also accepts donations from local residents and philanthropists.