Jackson foundation awards $37K in grants

More than 50 Jackson R-2 School District teachers received a surprise Thursday at the district's back-to-school breakfast.

Fifty-three teachers received teaching and learning grants. An overall total of $37,898 was given by the Jackson R-2 Foundation, an independent not-for-profit that provides supplemental resources for the Jackson R-2 School District.

Jackson School District's director of communications, Meredith Pobst, serves as the foundation's executive director.

The grants help provide teachers with extra materials to enhance students' education, according to Pobst.

"Teachers have such great vision," Pobst said. "They're so creative in all of the things that they want to do. ... A lot of times, what they want to do may be beyond what would be regularly budgeted for the district."

The grants the foundation gave Thursday will go toward a variety of learning materials and subjects, including STEM, electricity lessons, music, media center learning, virtual reality glasses and mathematics.

Pobst said the foundation hosts fundraising events to raise money throughout the year. A large portion of the money the foundation raises finances the teaching and learning grants.

In the past, the grants have afforded 3D printers, digital tablets, field trips and supplies for elementary-age students to create a garden.

The program grows each year, according to Jackson Foundation's website. It normally gives $25,000 in teaching and learning grants each year.