FARMINGTON – A collaboration between Mt. Blue Regional School District administrators and the Franklin County Children’s Task Force has borne fruit, securing $1.5 million in grant funding to create a comprehensive after school program in local schools.
The Century 21 grant, administered by the Maine Department of Education, will provide for the creation of all-inclusive after school programs headquartered at W.G. Mallett School and Academy Hill School. The funds would provide for the hiring of personnel, materials and food, and, perhaps most importantly according to Principal Tracy Williams, transportation for students. The after school programs will range from academics centered around the so-called STEAM disciplines–science, technology, education, arts and math–but will also feature physical fitness opportunities. The program would be all inclusive, Williams said; students would not pick and choose between the academic, physical fitness and life enrichment components, but experience all three.
The fiscal agent for the grant will be the Children’s Task Force. The grant application required collaboration between a school district and nonprofit community organization, Williams noted.
The program is designed to assist at-risk elementary students, Williams said, but several slots will also be available to the general student population.
Geographically, the grant was unable to directly impact Cape Cod Hill School. However, district funds that would have supported programming in Farmington and Wilton will be freed up to go toward the New Sharon school during the school year. During the summer, New Sharon students will be bused to the Farmington or Wilton schools.
The transportation piece is significant, Williams noted. Providing shuttle bus transportation allows students to attend programming that would otherwise be unavailable to them. That was the grant’s primary purpose, Williams said: providing opportunities for students that would otherwise be unable to benefit from after school programming. Per the grant’s requirements, the funds cannot be used to supplant programs previously funded through the school budget process.
“It’s really to take down barriers for kids to take advantage of these programs,” Williams said.
Superintendent Thomas Ward noted that the programs would also tie together with the district and local organizations’ focus on poverty and its impact on the student population.
