Teachers given funds for 104 new programs

Deirdre Newman

NEWPORT-MESA -- The innovative ideas of district teachers were richly

rewarded Thursday night when the Newport-Mesa Schools Foundation

presented more than $270,000 in grants.

Twenty-eight major donors showed their generosity by awarding grants

for programs ranging from A to Z . . . I Can Read, a reading instruction

program, to Technology-To-Go, which offers special education students

access to portable laptop-style keyboards.

The grants translate into 104 new programs for students.

This year’s grants were handed out three months early, allowing

teachers to put the programs on the fast-track.

Pat McLaughlin, a third-grade teacher at Mariners Elementary School

who received a $985 grant, didn’t waste time, putting her order in Friday

for supplies. Her grant, titled Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Listen and Learn,

promotes reading fluency as students listen to read-alongs by popular

authors.

“The grant is making it possible for me to get quite a nice selection

of books with tapes that go along with it, so that when boys and girls

hear the written word, they see the book at the same time they’re hearing

it read to them. It helps build literacy,” McLaughlin said.

The foundation approved about 40% of the 261 grant applications it

received. Each grant was evaluated by at least four community members who

then selected the recipients.Newport-Mesa Unified School District Supt.

Robert Barbot said students throughout the district ultimately benefit

from the grants because the creative programs written by teachers at one

school can be used as models for other schools.

Barbot said he was also impressed with the community’s generosity.

The companies that donated the grant money are not only helping the

district, but also themselves, said Kim Farthing, the foundation’s

director of fund-raising.

“They have to realize these [students] are their future employees,”

Farthing said.

Newport-Mesa’s 29 teachers of the year from each school were also

honored for excellence, each receiving $2,500 from an anonymous donor.

“This is the most amazing compliment I’ve ever received,” said Maria

Avitia Freeman, a fifth-year science teacher at Costa Mesa High School.