The East Fund Approves Three New Grant Requests

December 10, 2004

The East Fund is funding three new ideas to enhance learning for East students. These three join two requests funded in October.

An Idea for the Arts with a Technology Focus
Fine (Visual) Arts Upgrade

• Proposed by Ms. Glenda Flanagan and Ms. Shelly Trewolla.
• $2,738.51 for Canon PowerShot G5 digital camera, NEC VT 660K projector and one replacement lamp.
• 1,924 students will be impacted during the 04-05 school year. Approximately the same number of students will be impacted in future years.
• Fine (Visual) Arts will be impacted.

Slide projectors are obsolete and unsupported by the companies that manufacture them. The cost of slide film and development is prohibitive, costing over $20 to purchase and develop one roll of film. As a result, this grant request seeks to provide both student and teacher access to digital technology. This will allow current presentations to be upgraded, the variety of presentations available to be expanded because of decreased expense, and flexibility of presentations as a result of speed of creation to be increased. Students will be able to learn the new technology, keep a record of their progress over time, create and present digital portfolios and to create visual presentations of works of artists, or themes with their oral presentations and will not be limited by expense in including images in their presentations. The results will be measured by the continuity of use and the application across the board within the department. The frequency of student use will be monitored. Presentations created with this technology will be presented during the Showcase of the Arts in May.

A Student Program with a Technology Focus
A Passkey to Success

• Proposed by Mr. Wolgast, Associate Principal.
• $6,000 for the purchase of 200 individual student licenses for the PassKey learning system to assist at-risk students at SME who are enrolled in East for Excellence, Reading Skills and/or Math 1 who need additional support.
• This project will impact 200 at-risk students at Shawnee Mission East
• PassKey is a modular computer-based program providing instruction in math, reading, writing, science and social studies.

The PassKey learning system provides additional academic support for students who would benefit from an alternative to traditional classroom instruction. The PassKey learning system is computer based and has the following features:

1. Outstanding lesson design with a unique lesson structure that includes a pretest, tutorial, guided practice, and posttest to maximize learning.
2. Built-in correlations to state standards that allow teachers the ability to assign lessons that match state proficiency tests, making it easy to assist students as they prepare for the Kansas Assessment test.
3. Automatic diagnostic feature that provides online diagnostics so teachers can develop an individualized learning/tutoring program for each student.

The PassKey learning system evaluates itself. It provides immediate feedback for the teacher and the student as they master a particular skill. It allows the teacher to set standards to be met before students can advance on to other skills. In addition, students will be able to access PassKey from any computer, whether at school or home. The impact and success of this program will be evaluated based on comparison of standardized test scores, local performance assessments, and general evaluative tools used by the individual teachers involved in the program. If PassKey proves to be successful, future funding will be pursued through district and building level resources on an annual basis.

A Student Program: SHARE

• Proposed by Bev Timmons (Founder), Linda Johnson and Ann Isenberg (Parent Executive Board).
• $5,000 annually for the next three years. Funds to be used to support staff and operations during a restructuring period.
• SHARE impacts 1,800 students annually and countless children and families in the metropolitan area.
• SHARE develops and nurtures numerous leadership and life skills by providing students opportunities to learn through volunteerism.

SHARE is the largest organization at SME with 1,800 students participating during the 2004-2005 school year. SHARE offers all students the opportunity to learn through volunteer experiences, to develop leadership skills and to become better prepared for life’s real challenges. SHARE is dedicated to starting students on a life long path of giving back to their community through service. SHARE has had to respond to changing times and events. For the past 16 years it has been run by the school nurse, Bev Timmons. Her time and commitment were voluntary and she was not compensated by the organization. With her retirement in 2003, a new structure had to be implemented. As a result, paid staff has been hired to assure that the program continues to be professionally administrated and accessible during school hours for students at SME. SHARE has received impressive funding commitments from many foundations in the Kansas City Community as well as the SME PTA. SHARES’ annual operating budget is $127,500 (includes Habitat for Humanity house), which requires a major amount of fundraising each year. During the next three years, the SHARE organization will be evaluating its funding needs and structure. SHARES’ goal is to become self-supporting and less reliant on external fundraising sources. SHARE is asking for a three year financial commitment of support from The East Fund. Funds will be used to offset operating costs and to help provide financial continuity over the next three years.

Grant Application