Teachers await word on grants

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- Across the school district, teachers are itching with

anticipation as they wait to hear tonight which grants the Newport-Mesa

Schools Foundation has chosen to fund.

More than 150 teachers in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District

will be awarded 173 grants, totaling more than $400,000, said Jo

Meredith, a spokeswoman for the foundation.

Just by getting an invitation to tonight’s banquet at the Hyatt

Newporter in Newport Beach, teachers know they have been awarded at least

one grant. But for teachers such as Cara Boyd and Jenny Dory, who wrote

applications for multiple grants, that only heightens the suspense.

“We found out a month ago that one or more grants were awarded, but

that could mean anything to us,” said Boyd, who co-wrote 11 grants with

her fellow teacher.

The two first-grade teachers at Wilson Elementary School co-wrote

grants in all six funding categories this year, which ranged from $200 to

as much as $10,000.

They wrote smaller grants for their own classrooms, mid-level grants

to share between their two rooms and larger grants for the whole grade

level.

The foundation is a private organization that was established in 1981

to enhance education in the district.

Grants will go to teachers from each of the 29 schools in the district

and will pay for programs in a number of areas, including the arts,

science, math, language arts, special education and social studies,

Meredith said.

For some, the suspense is over, leaving them with mere excitement.

Gabriel Del Real, a fourth-grade teacher at Rea Elementary School in

Costa Mesa, wrote one grant, so he is thrilled to know it has been

funded.

“I’m a first-year teacher, so I didn’t have a lot of materials,” Del

Real said. “So this was a good opportunity for me to add to areas I

wanted to build, so I went for language arts, to build centers.”

But if Del Real thinks the excitement is over, he hasn’t heard who’s

coming to dinner.

The Irvine Co. will fund 27 Teacher of Excellence Awards at $7,500

each and three Teacher of the Year Awards at $10,000 each.

Additionally, the Donald Bren Foundation will award a $15,000

Educational Enrichment Grant to each of the nine schools in the Irvine

Ranch communities.