Valley View K-8’s recent $20,000 grant award is one of several Mapleton Public Schools receives each year that helps the district continue to innovate and provide additional opportunities to students.
The district on average receives 10-20 grants a year, said Deputy Superintendent Jackie Kapushion.
“Annually, we receive anywhere from $900,000 to $3 million in grant support,” she said. “The Mapleton Education Foundation plays a critical role in raising individual and corporate support for student experiences like field trips (approximately $30,000), innovative teacher-driven programs (approximately $16,500).”
Those grants have helped the district fund such things as preschool, Academic Parent Teacher Teams (APTT), teacher training, dropout prevention, expelled and at-risk student services and playground renovations and upgrades.
Valley View received $20,000 from the Foundations for Great Schools for outstanding academic growth, school culture and instructional effectiveness. The school will use the money to provide resources and materials to support literacy standards.
This is the third time the foundation has award Valley View a grant. It first received money in the 2010-11 school year to fund book room material and additional teacher laptops; and in the 2011-12 school year, it used money to purchase materials for teaching science and social studies through reading with the majority of the funds invested in the book room which included sets of literature on CDs.
“Our teachers, our parents and our students are dedicated to building a culture of excellence, and it is an exciting opportunity to be recognized for the achievements realized in our classrooms every day,” Valley View’s Director Eileen Harder said.
The foundation rewards schools serving high proportions of at-risk students. Valley View has 483 students, 80 percent of which are eligible for the free and reduced lunch program and 36 percent are English language learners.
Valley View is among 24 Denver metro area schools that received a grant in 2014.
“Each school can point to its own unique combination of success strategies that have not only helped the schools overcome a variety of challenges, but also to achieve very strong results in academic growth and performance,” said Tom Kaesemeyer, spokesperson for Foundations for Great Schools, in a statement.
