Date: November 12, 2004
Contact: Irene Cromer
703-791-8720

SCHOOL DIVISION GRANTS EXCEED A MILLION DOLLARS

Prince William County Public Schools has received several grants totaling nearly 1.3 million dollars.

The Department of Information Technology has been awarded a five-year cumulative total grant of $1,045,000 from CampusEAI, a non-profit consortium providing software and services. The first-year grant award total is $291,000. The ongoing support cost on a yearly basis is $39,500. The grant is designed to cover the cost of software, hardware, and services associated with the implementation of CampusEAI’s Oracle Portal System, an intranet portal that integrates online learning, administrative computing, and student services systems. Steve George, director of the Department of Information Technology, and Susan Dooley, supervisor of computer applications, submitted the grant application.

The Adult Education Office received a grant for $1,000 from Wal-Mart Good Works to promote “Race to GED,” a Virginia Department of Education initiative to help adults raise their educational level. The manager of the Streamwalk Lane store in Manassas presented the check to Bette Sneed, adult education coordinator, who submitted the grant.

The Virginia Department of Education has awarded a grant in the amount of $216,435 to the school division to help implement the Standards of Learning assessment system through the
purchase of new scientific and graphing calculators, the repair of non-functioning calculators, and the purchase of necessary batteries for calculators. The grant amount is based upon a proportion of a school division’s enrollment in middle school (grades six to eight) mathematics and science, Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry in grades eight to ten. Carol Knight, supervisor for mathematics, is responsible for this grant.

Forest Park High School received two grant awards from the WIN-WIN Strategies Foundation. The first, in the amount of $18,000, provides for one faculty member to become the Learn and Serve Project Coordinator for the school’s technology pyramid during the 2004-2005 academic year. The second grant was for an amount equal to all expenses incurred for several teachers, students, and administrators to attend the National Education Computing Conference.

Forest Park High School has also been awarded a grant from the Northern Virginia Technology Educational Consortium in the amount of $1,376 to support its List Key Parallel Processing System Project in the advanced computer science class under the direction of teacher Rachelle Carlson. Grant funds will be used to purchase parts and materials needed to construct a Linux-based cluster of computers for a parallel processing software, hardware, and networking development system.

Myrna Thurnher, a Special Education teacher at Woodbridge Senior High School, was selected as the Sam’s Club Teacher of the Year for her work as teacher liaison to the Academic Boosters Club and as a special education teacher. Thurnher was one of the founders of the Academic Boosters Club, the only such club in county schools. She has been the club liaison since 1997. Thurnher received a certificate, a check for $1000 for the school, and a red “Teacher of the Year” vest from Sam’s Club. The Teacher of the Year Program is designed to recognize outstanding teachers throughout the U.S. and in areas where Sam’s Clubs are in operation. One teacher is selected per club to receive a $1,000 award, a Teacher of the Year vest, and a certificate of recognition.

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