$10,000 grant awarded to Central Lake schools
Nov. 10—CENTRAL LAKE — A $10,000 grant awarded to Central Lake Public Schools will be used to enhance its classroom libraries.
The Classroom Library Enhancement Grant comes as part of a statewide initiative to increase the quality and diversity of reading materials in Michigan schools.
Materials will be purchased for the kindergarten and first-grade classrooms at Central Lake Elementary, school officials said.
According to a press release from the Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District, the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators, the General Education Leadership Network, and the Michigan Department of Education partnered with ISDs around the state through the initiative to expand libraries by providing the funding to do so.
Central Lake was among four local districts that applied and met eligibility requirements for the grant. The winning district was drawn randomly from the four applicants.
The ISD will assist Central Lake in selecting texts and new materials. Second copies of the reading materials for the classroom will be added to the building's library and media center.
"The opportunity of $10,000 in books for our K-1 classrooms is beyond exciting for our students, staff, and school families," said Monique Dean, Central Lake Public Schools interim superintendent, "We are also fortunate with this grant to be able to utilize 50% of the funds to have a second copy of each picture and trade book to be added to our pre-K-5 access to a wide variety of books and kids choosing their own books."
Dean said the district will first inventory current classroom library text selections and then purchase additional books with a plan to expand both the text levels available to students in the classroom, as well as expanding the genres, such as fiction and nonfiction of books available to students.
