Berkley foundation hands out thousands in grants to teachers

BERKLEY — Thousands of dollars were handed out to teachers and staff members of the Berkley School District in the form of grants this fall.

The grants given to the educators were innovation grants from the Berkley Education Foundation. The BEF annually hands out $15,000 for its grants, which go toward “project requests, special materials to enhance lessons and educational technology,” the district’s website states. The grants were handed out in October

Jessica Stilger, the BEF’s executive director and the district’s director of communications, said any staff member is eligible to apply for these grants. The fall grants have a maximum amount of $750 and the spring grants have a maximum of $500.

“A committee from the foundation gets together, reviews the grants, along with … the district’s teaching, learning and technology department,” she said. “We either issue the grants in full or in partial every year. Sometimes we find wonderful ideas from staff that we realize are good for all schools, and sometimes the district will pick up the request.”

Four grants were handed out to teachers at Anderson Middle School, five to teachers at Angell Elementary School, two to teachers at Berkley Building Blocks, five to teachers at Berkley High School, one to teachers at Burton Elementary School and one to a teacher at Rogers Elementary School.

A full list of grant winners can be found at berkleyschools.org.

“It’s really a lovely process,” Stilger said. “It’s really exciting to do it twice a year and it really allows our staff members to shine with their creativity, their innovation and really their ability to enhance our students’ experiences in the classroom.”

Heather Roesner and Briana Black, teachers at Anderson Middle School, were awarded two grants for two separate projects, including a life skills cooking class.

Roesner said the life skills class helps students with cooking, work and social skills. Every Friday, the teachers take students to different places in the community as part of the class, such as Elaine’s Bagels or the Royal Oak Public Library.

For this particular grant, the money will be used for the students to go to Crispelli’s Bakery and Pizzeria to learn how to make pizza and dessert.

“It’s an exciting opportunity and we’re with an expert chef who from start to finish shows us how to make the pizza,” she said.

“Our students, a lot of times the basic life skills, cooking, work skills, being able to read a recipe, sometimes that doesn’t come naturally and it needs to be taught in a small setting with a specialized teacher, like a chef,” Roesner continued. “They’re going to get out of it not only how to make a pizza, but even how to order at a restaurant, how to pay for their items when we’re in the community … kind of those social norms that we all take for granted or just adapt that they don’t always know to do on their own.”

Though there might be ways to fund class trips like this without the grant, Roesner wouldn’t want to put that responsibility on the students’ parents.

“Our parents were wonderful and I don’t think they would have an issue paying for this,” she said. “I just don’t want to have to have parents pay every Friday for this expense. So we could still do it, but I would fundraise if we didn’t have this grant.”