In a heartwarming initiative to support local educators, the Johnson City Public Schools Foundation made rounds on Wednesday, visiting ten schools across the city to surprise 35 teachers with much-needed grants. The total funds distributed amounted to a generous $30,000.

These grants were made possible thanks to the generosity of the Mooneyhan Family Foundation and were channeled through the Johnson City Public Schools Foundation. The process began back in August when teachers were invited to submit their grant applications. A dedicated committee then reviewed these applications anonymously to ensure impartiality.

Once the decisions were made, the foundation embarked on a special mission to personally visit each school and deliver the good news to the deserving teachers. This initiative not only provided financial support but also brought a wave of excitement and appreciation to the educational community.

Expressing the collective joy of the foundation, Tembra Aldridge, the director, shared her enthusiasm about the initiative. “It’s just a fun, exciting day that we get to give money away to all the teachers who need things in their classroom to teach, you know, and educate their students a little better,” Aldridge remarked, underscoring the positive impact of these grants on both teachers and their students.

Tembra Aldridge, director of Johnson City Public Schools Foundation, said it brought them joy to surprise the teachers.

“It’s just a fun, exciting day that we get to give money away to all the teachers who need things in their classroom to teach, you know, and educate their students a little better,” Aldridge said.

Woodland Elementary 5th-grade teacher Glenda Russell was one of the first teachers surprised by being awarded a grant this morning. Russell said she plans to use the grant for a classroom library.

“The reason why I applied for the grant is to have more available resources for chapter books,” Russell said. “For the students to read that could be more easily accessible inside of my classroom.”

Kami Preston, a 4th-grade math teacher at Lake Ridge Elementary School, was shocked when the school foundation knocked on her classroom door. Preston’s grant will fund an outdoor math classroom.

“Today was super exciting. I wrote a grant for an outdoor math classroom,” Preston told News Channel 11. “So, lots of giant jumbo math manipulatives and equipment for us so that we can take the learning outside and we can be as loud as we want.”

Janna Counts, a fourth-grade math teacher at Lake Ridge Elementary School, said she plans to use her grant funds to help ESL (English as a Second Language) students.

“It’s a grant that I wrote called Math Stackers and it’s supposed to help as it’s hands-on manipulatives, and I think it will really help my ESL students that maybe don’t speak fluently in English,” Counts said. “It will also help the kids that are very visual to help with multiplication and division facts in math.”

Russell said while it was her first time applying for a grant, she was fairly surprised and now joyful to put the fund towards the learning of her students.

“It was really nice to know that the hard work of an educator, in writing that grant, has paid off,” Russell said. “More importantly, that it’s paid off for the students.”

The Johnson City Public Schools Foundation is accepting more donations to fund future projects. To donate, click here.