FLORENCE SC, (WBTW) – A grant that will be given to Florence School District One will increase the use of technology in classrooms of students as young as kindergarten.
The Florence One Board of Trustees will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, where board members will receive a check for more than $150,000 from The School Foundation, which works closely with FSD1 to improve learning and student involvement within the community.
The goal of the grant is to create innovative, technology-based programs within the schools to help younger children read on a higher level and prepare them for a workforce that relies strongly on technology. FSD1 will match the grant amount to help fund the programs.
“This lab is going to feature a lot of collaboration,” explains Executive Director, The School Foundation Debbie Hyler. “There will be special furniture. The entire lab will be set up where the students can work on their soft skills that employers are always looking for.”Students as early as kindergarten will be working on developing reading skills on a new level with e-books in Briggs and Wilson Elementary Schools.
“Technology used to just support education, now it’s really the way in which we educate children in almost everything we do,” Briggs Elementary Principal Tara Newton. “We are preparing them for a society that we won’t know what it will look when they graduate. Technology will far surpass what we see in our classrooms now and we are trying to prepare them for that.”
The School Foundation grants committee has invested $1.3 million into education since 2003 and they plan to invest more in the future.The check presentation and board meeting will take place in the John T. Sullivan Board Meeting Room of the School Administration Building, which is located at 319 South Dargan Street.
