Annual fundraiser to provide grant money for NISD teachers

NEDERLAND — Teachers throughout the Nederland Independent School District have been training in new technology and educational programs all summer, preparing themselves for the beginning of school on Aug. 24.

Many of the educators bringing in new devices and implementing new programs this school year received their funding through grants from the Nederland Educational Foundation, which provides a permanent endowment to support and enhance academic achievement in the district.

Gail Krohn, Nederland Educational Foundation president and former NISD superintendent, said the foundation couldn’t support its grant program without periodic fundraising events — the biggest of which is the annual benefit breakfast, scheduled for Tuesday morning at Casa Olé.

“Our benefit breakfast is our main fundraising event for the entire year,” Krohn said Wednesday afternoon. “Without it, we wouldn’t be able to provide all the technology and supplemental instruction materials we award every year, though our teachers’ grant program.”

Catherine Baker, a pre-calculus and calculus teacher for Nederland High School juniors and seniors will kick off the 2015-16 school year with her new Nspire Calculator’s Navigator System — a wireless router with “cradles” that attach to the students’ Texas Instruments calculators — which will allow her to monitor students’ progress and create interactive content from her classroom computer.

Krohn said Baker’s winning proposal earned her a special $2,500 Educational Foundation grant this spring. Baker was one of 56 teachers to receive a grant from the foundation during the 2014-15 school year.

Krohn said the 56 teachers awarded grants in the 2014-15 school year received a combined total of $11,103.11.

“Technology has been a huge request from our teachers these past few years, so many of our grants now go toward purchasing new interactive equipment for our classrooms,” Krohn said. “When we first started the foundation in 1997, televisions were the most frequent request we had, so technology has always been on our teachers’ minds.

“In addition to that, we always get requests for different reading, math and science supplementary materials — whatever the teachers can get their hands on that will aid them in classroom instruction. Our grants provide great tools and supplementary materials that the teachers are asking for but the district may not be able to go out and purchase on its own.”

Krohn said the Nederland Educational Foundation benefit breakfast, set for 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Tuesday at Casa Olé inside Central Mall, is one of the easiest — and filling — ways for the community to get involved in the foundation’s efforts to close the gap between classroom needs and a school district’s budget.

“We had 200 people attend last year, and we’re hoping for an even bigger crowd this year,” Krohn said. “It’s a wonderful breakfast and a good fellowship event for the community.”

Tickets to the Nederland Educational Foundation benefit breakfast are $12 and can be purchased from any member of the Educational Foundation board of directors, at the Nederland ISD Administration Building on North 17^th Street or at Casa Olé Tuesday morning.

For more information, call Krohn at (409) 722-6558.

Twitter: @crhenderson90