Community Corner

Schools Consider Seeking Grants For Techonology, Language Enrichment Opportunities

With a grant writer who could acquire money for opportunities not funded in the annual budget, the school district considers best areas to enrich opportunities for local students.

The recent acquisition of a part-time grant writer could soon bring additional opportunities to Southington schools and on Thursday afternoon, School Superintendent Joseph V. Erardi Jr. put parents to work to figure out the best way to utilize any new funding.

Erardi turned his usual brown bag lunch into a brainstorming session as the board seeks to continue improving opportunities for the town’s students and providing them with the skills needed to succeed beyond their high school career.

“We are exploring areas where we could benefit through grants and expand what we offer,” Erardi said “There are many ways we could benefit from this.”

During the program, which is held from noon to 1 p.m. at the Board of Education offices once per month, parents, school leaders and administrators were asked to select the most important areas to focus on out of a list of five categories.

Categories included technology upgrades for classrooms, expanded K-12 after school programs, expanded K-12 world language experience, expanded K-12 Project Discovery program and summer enrichment and enhancement programs.

In almost every case, technology and language were ranked as the most important programs to focus attention on in order to prepare students for an expanding global market.

“As a parent, I have always been about putting a teacher in front of students so I was almost shocked when I found myself putting technology first,” said Colleen Clark, parent and member of the Board of Education. “It’s an important investment right now.”

Parent Dean Chasse agreed with Clark and said when he first saw an email from Erardi this week asking participants to begin brainstorming, he first likened the topics to talking about a rear defrost system of heated seats when buying a car.

“It’s a good luxury to have but I’m more concerned with what’s happening 8 to 3, inside the engine,” Chasse said. “Technology is a component, however, that I see being an evermore important component of education.”

Not everyone put technology at the top of the list, however. Several parents like Beth Hosmer felt that with the increasingly diverse global market, having more opportunities to learn foreign languages would give Southington students an advantage over competition in the global marketplace.

“We are living in an increasingly diverse global society. Not only do our students need opportunities to learn the romance languages but a chance to learn Chinese or Arabic,” she said. “These languages will not only prepare them for work in the private sector, but also for opportunities within the military.”


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