Hollister
– The Baler Education Foundation awarded San Benito High School
teachers $3,000 in cash and materials to support classroom efforts
that the district couldn’t squeeze into the budget.
Hollister – The Baler Education Foundation awarded San Benito High School teachers $3,000 in cash and materials to support classroom efforts that the district couldn’t squeeze into the budget.
“What we hope will happen with these grants is that the teachers will start doing something so great, the administration won’t be able to say no to them next year,” said foundation Past President Ray Rodriguez.
The purpose of the Baler Education Foundation is to support projects at SBHS that are too expensive or too specialized for the district to fund by itself.
“Usually we want to fund projects that work in the classroom that all the students can use,” Rodriguez said. “But occasionally we’ll help with an extracurricular activity.”
Wednesday the foundation presented three teachers with their awards at the Board of Trustees meeting.
The most notable project was that of earth science teacher Jim Ostdick, who asked for $1,000 to purchase materials for a River Keepers club.
“He wants to do more than just have his kids go clean up the river, and that’s pretty neat,” Rodriguez said.
Students will volunteer their time on the weekends to help clean up the San Benito River, and also take specimens of the dirt or plant life to bring back to the classroom.
“They’ll study the specimens in the classroom to see how pollution affects our waterways and in turn our groundwater, and in turn our agriculture and drinking water,” Rodriguez said.
The money will be used to purchase bags, protective gear for the students and specimen jars.
Resource English teacher Sara Edison-Stasi was presented with an overhead LCD projector and replacement bulb, which she said her classroom needed.
“Some of the kids she works with have visual problems, and it’s helpful for them to see and visualize the words when they’re working on vocabulary,” Rodriguez said.
The same went to Bev Miller, a biology teacher, who plans to use the projector to incorporate more group work into her classroom lessons.
Rodriguez said he was surprised at how few teachers applied for the grant money. Last year the foundation had 10 grant applicants and ended up funding a mobile science lab and a collection of Spanish fiction books for English learner students to encourage them to keep their literacy skills in their native language.
“We’re going to have to work on the timing for this so we can encourage more teachers to apply,” he said.
The foundation is working to establish a $1 million endowment fund by selling 1,000 “Baler Bricks” for $1,000 each. The bricks will one day be installed with the names of the donors or people the donors wished to honor in front of the main building at SBHS.
“We really want to get that fund set up,” he said. “That’s money that keeps on giving forever. Even in a bad economy and with no fundraising efforts, we could give the school $50,000 each year (in interest).”
The goal, Rodriguez said, is to be able to fund several mini-grants each year, like the projects previously mentioned, and also perhaps one big $25,000 effort.
The foundation is also accepting nominations for the ‘Baler Hall of Fame, which honors past or current students, teachers, parents, coaches or other staff who have left an indelible impression on the school community. The Hall of Fame dinner will be held in late April.
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected].
