Matthew Burnette, Staff Writer

Pending approval from the Coffee County School Board, the school system’s newly established Innovation Committee discussed a new grant program to fund innovative, creative, and student-centered ideas from district staff at their Oct. 21 meeting.

Members of the Innovation Committee are Director of Schools and Committee Chairman Scott Hargrove, School Board Chairman Thomas Ballard and members Beth Yentsch and Gary Cordell, Director of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction Joahna Sizemore, Excellence Program Director Tonya Garner and Director of 9-12 Curriculum and Instruction Krista Cole, who was absent from the meeting.

Plans were also discussed to add representatives from each school level in the County (Elementary, Middle and High school).

The innovation grants were first introduced in a social media post by Ballard in September as a way to fund innovative ideas for classroom programs that positively impact learning outcomes for students.

“I’m excited to see this program roll out since teachers are really where the rubber meets the road in our school system and they know what motivates their students to learn,” Ballard said in the post. “Giving them the opportunity to experiment with innovative ideas to improve educational outcomes is a great way to support them.”

Programs that are already in operation in Coffee County to help learning outcomes include Third Grade and “Littles” (K-2) tutoring, LETRS Training, ACT Mastery Prep, Edgenuity and Mastery Connect.

The grants would allow for up to $2,500 and are available to all district staff with ideas that fit into the rubric that is being developed by Sizemore and Garner. There will be two grant cycles, one in the Spring and one in the Fall.

If the $50,000 funding pool is approved to come from the schools’ Fund Balance at the November Board meeting, the Committee is aiming to have the grant application available Nov. 10 after the meeting with a deadline for applications being Dec. 11.

Grants will then be evaluated by the Innovation Committee based on the intent of the program and its desired impact on students. Consideration will be given to programs that improve both immediate and lasting student outcomes.

Examples of programs that were given during the meeting were field trips for Pre-K classes, STEM projects such as gardens and greenhouses, mentoring programs, a “Dads on buses” initiative and a system-wide Fine Arts Night among others.