By By MaryClaire Foster
Following approval from the Escambia County Board of Education, Rachel Patterson Elementary School will be the newest recipient of a Save the Children grant.
The board voted on Thursday to approve the $51,281.71 grant for the period of July 1 through June 30, 2010.
Rachel Patterson is the fourth school in the state to receive such a grant, which will fund an after- and in-school literacy program as well as an early childhood development program.
Rachel Patterson Elementary School Principal Susan McKenzie said she is “excited” about the grant and “honored” to have been chosen for it.
Amanda Smithson, associate director for the Gulf Coast chapter of Save the Children, said choosing a school in the Escambia County system was due to an earmark of funds for literacy and nutrition programs from Sen. Marc Keahey, who specifically directed them to this county. The grant is a non-matching grant and will provide for the program in full for the two years it is active.
Smithson said Keahey became involved with Save the Children last year when he worked with the group last year to bring programs to Clarke and Washington counties and continued support of the programs this year..
Rachel Patterson was chosen as the grant recipient for several data based reasons as well as for its administration and space available.
Smithson described the set-up of the programs to the school board.
Smithson said the grant will work as a multi-group effort.
Also during the meeting, Superintendent Billy Hines reported on the amount of scholarships received by seniors at each of the high schools, which totaled almost $2.6 million.
Chief Financial Officer Julie Madden gave a report of the budget for May, which is at $10.36 million.
In other business the Board:
Look for the personnel recommendations in Wednesday’s Atmore Advance.