PAFE gives $118,723 to local educators

SANDPOINT — The Panhandle Alliance for Education awarded more than $118,000 to local educators on Thursday in support of programs that enrich the lives of students in the Lake Pend Oreille School District.

Since PAFE’s inception in 2003, we have contributed almost $1.8 million into the classrooms through this teacher grant program,” said PAFE president Geraldine Lewis. “In addition to that, we have put almost $3 million in to district-wide strategic programs over the years ... It is a community-wide investment into public education and into the future of every one of the students here.”

Each year, PAFE celebrates local educators with a Teacher Grant Awards night, featuring stories from select awardees. The first grant story this year was by Northside Elementary librarian Jamie Parnell, who was awarded $1,328 to allow students access to the school library throughout the summer to promote summer reading. Parnell said she opens the library every summer to the students and their families, but through the PAFE grant, in combination with another grant she received, Parnell will be offering a STEM course this year as well.

“I am hoping to not only encourage and foster the love for education and reading, but to spark the innovative thinkers and problem solvers,” Parnell said.

Krista Jones, a teacher at Southside Elementary, was awarded $1,800 to expand the Bal-A-Vis-X exercise program at the school. Bal-A-Vis-X is an acronym for balance/auditory/vision exercises, which are of varied complexity and rooted in rhythm. Exercises are done with sand-filled bags and racquetballs, sometimes while standing on a balance board.

“It has a long-term effect and within the small group that I’ve seen, the boys especially who are doing it right now, they are so focused on it and what they don’t realize is what’s taking place in the brain and their body, then when they get into the classroom how that is applied,” she said. “I’m really excited about seeing it grow throughout the school and how it could become, in the STEM class, a school-wide program that we can use.”

Also from Southside, principal Jacque Johnson took to the podium to talk about the $2,031 she was awarded on Thursday.

“I am so excited about Swamp Rock Fiddle Camp,” Johnson said, before playing an example tune on her computer.

The grant will allow students to take part in a string teaching residency focused on acquiring the skills to perform a three-cord fiddle tune with a guitar accompaniment.

The final story of the evening came from Nicole Huguenin of Farmin-Stidwell Elementary. Huguenin was awarded a $5,500 grant titled, “Makerspace: Final Frontier.” Last year, Huguenin said the school received a grant for the “mission control center for the starship Farmin-Stidwell.” The new grant will give students the tools and supplies needed to create a makerspace, where they can practice design thinking — empathize, define the problem, ideate, prototype and test.

Huguenin also expressed gratitude to PAFE for their support of such programs.

“Getting a PAFE grant feels like getting a big check on the ‘Ellen DeGeneres show,’” Huguenin said. “It allows us as teachers to dream … you wonderful donors and PAFE give us the money to help these students — It changes their lives.”

The four who shared their stories were also the recipients of four special awards for music and arts, math and science, innovation and literacy.

LPOSD Superintendent Shawn Woodward addressed all of the educators in the room when he said, “You are the magic that makes the school district so wonderful.”

“The fact that community members are willing to invest in you says an awful lot year in and year out,” Woodward said. “I couldn’t be more proud as a superintendent of the work that you all are doing on behalf of kids. Thank you so much.”

A full list of those receiving PAFE grants can be found online at bonnercountydailybee.com.