Millstone Elementary School teacher (center) Michelle Uffer reacts with delighted surprise after Nicole Pyhel (l) of the Millstone Township Foundation for Educational Excellence presents her with a grant from the organization. Superintendent of Schools Scott Feder looks on. PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff MILLSTONE — The Millstone Township Foundation for Educational Excellence (MTFEE) has done it again.
Given that the MTFEE has provided more than $423,000 in grants to district schools since its inception in 1995, administrators and teachers aren’t surprised when the organization comes through each year with money to enhance the district’s educational experiences.
Still, when members of the MTFEE paid visits to the district’s three schools to present this year’s grants, ringing cowbells and carrying balloons, they were greeted with equal exuberance from staff and students alike.
“I was so thrilled when they walked in this morning,” Middle School Principal Karen Barry said.
Millstone Primary School teacher Marsha Pineles is surprised with a grant from the Millstone Township Foundation for Educational Excellence on April 5. According to Dr. Stephen Wisniewski, principal at the elementary school, the excitement from teachers and students over the grants was matched by the look of joy on the foundation members’ faces as they presented them.
“I didn’t know which part of the day was more exciting,” he said.
New to the district this year, Wisniewski has served as a teacher and principal in other districts.
“How often, as a principal, does someone come in and hand you $6,000,” Wisniewski said. “In my years in education, I’ve never been a part of an educational foundation that was so aggressively supporting the school at this level.”
Millstone Elementary School teacher Doreen Laskiewicz is surprised with a grant from the Millstone Township Foundation for Educational Excellence on April 5. The grants, presented at the primary, elementary and middle schools, totaled $22,405. Each school received iPad mobile labs equipped with 15 iPads, along with Apple gift cards for purchasing educational apps.
In addition, teachers from each school received funding to attend workshops this summer at Columbia University’s Teachers College Reading & Writing Project.
District administrators are seeking to incorporate the project’s lessons into the schools’ curricula over time, with several teachers who have already attended workshops sharing their newfound knowledge with others.
Barry said it is a boon to be able to send reading specialist Sara Stofik to the reader’s workshop this summer.
“She will turnkey all her training to all of the language arts teachers in the building,” Barry said. “So just her going has a huge impact.”
In addition, the MTFEE has made a tremendous impact on the schools in terms of keeping them up to date with the latest technologies, according to Barry.
“I let the kids know that if it was not for this organization, we wouldn’t have most of the technology that we have,” she said, also praising the PTSA for helping to provide technology for the schools.
Primary School Principal Trish Bogusz said the iPads open up endless possibilities for students.
“The teachers are very excited,” she said, adding, “We’re always really supported by our PTO and MTFEE.”
The mobile iPad labs will augment the iPads slated for purchase by the district for classrooms, helping to ensure that each student has one to use during classroom activities, Wisniewski explained.
“This is the most current technology that’s out there,” he said, adding, “Frankly, I think this generation of students expects it.”
Barry agreed, saying that students seem to have an innate ability to use the technol- ogy and have been pushing for its arrival in the classrooms.
In fact, she said, of the middle school’s seventh-graders who had to write persuasive essays, 10 chose to write about why iPads are needed in the classroom.
“We told the whole sixth grade in the cafeteria, and the cheering was unbelievable,” she said. “This is our first set of iPads coming into the middle school … so the kids are beyond thrilled.”
The elementary school received 15 iPads from the MTFEE last year, and teachers have since been using free apps to enhance the classroom experience, according to Wisniewski.
“It’s amazing to see how well the students and the teachers have integrated them into the curriculum already,” he said, citing learning exercises and games in all subjects. “The skills are hidden in these games, and the students are very excited about participating in it.”
The students are not just working in a vacuum with the iPads, he explained. Teachers can do assessments of the students’ iPad activities on their own devices, and then identify students who may need more work in a particular area.
Barry pointed out that the MTFEE affords the district opportunities to obtain things that would have otherwise been out of reach due to budgetary constraints.
“I can’t even believe something like this exists,” she said. “They’re an amazing group.”
For more information on the MTFEE or to donate, visit www.mtfee.org.