Community Partnership - in the news!

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP RECEIVES $500 GRANT
TO ENHANCE MILLER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
​OUTDOOR CLASSROOM

     The Community Partnership received a $500 Gro More Good Grassroots Grant in April to enhance the outdoor classroom area at Dr. Joyanne D. Miller Elementary School, which serves more than 1,100 4th and 5th grade students.
     The Gro More Good Grassroots Grant program is part of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation and KidsGardening.org’s commitment to bring the life-enhancing benefits of gardens and green spaces to communities across the United States with the goal of supporting programs that reach ten million youth by 2023. 
     One of 175 school and non-profit organizations across the U.S. to receive the grant, the Community Partnership’s award will assist in providing ‘natural’ seating, a compost area, seedling grow trays, seeds, fertilizer, soil, mulch, and a white board for the already-established outdoor learning lab, where lesson plans are delivered through unconventional teaching methods in the Geometry, Vegetable and Pizza Gardens.
     Miller’s gardens share one pond and cover more than 800 square feet. The Geometry Garden features perennials including black-eyed Susan, tulips, butterfly bushes, azalea, and lambs' ears planted in geometric shapes to promote cross-curricular learning. Growing takes place in equilateral and isosceles triangles, as well as square, rectangular, and trapezoidal shapes. The vegetable garden features eight raised beds that are planted, cared for, and harvested by students. Cabbage, summer squash, sunflowers (for seeds), tomatoes, and other healthy roughage is planted annually. Herbs are grown in what students dubbed the "Pizza Garden." Vegetables and herbs are harvested for an annual ‘Salad Day’ at the school. What isn’t consumed at school is sent home with students.
     The outdoor classroom enables Miller teachers to work together to apply multiple academic disciplines simultaneously to bring real-world relevance to the curriculum, while increasing student engagement and problem-solving skills through fun, interactive, teamwork-based activities. For more information about the Gro More Good Grassroots Grant program visit: www.KidsGardening.org.

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​COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP FOR EHT SCHOOLS RECEIVES    $2,000 WALMART GRANT FOR SCHOOL SECURITY

1/22/2019

​​    The Community Partnership for Egg Harbor Township Schools, Inc. received a generous $2,000 Walmart grant earlier this month to support their S.A.F.E. (School Action For Emergencies) annual fund campaign.
    The grant funds were used to purchase two TREK mountain bikes custom designed and outfitted for EHT School District police officer use -- giving them better mobility, visibility and access to EHT's eight school campuses.  
     During the 2017-2018 school year, Egg Harbor Township Schools hosted three public strategic planning meetings to gauge public opinion in shaping the future of the district. Based on input received from parents, community members, students and other stakeholders at those meetings, ‘safety and security’ was identified as one of the top five high-priority needs for the district.
     Launched in August 2018, the S.A.F.E. annual fund campaign was designed to raise supplementary funding to support the district’s security plan and upgrades.   
     Since its inception in 2005, the Community Partnership, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, has raised more than $465,000 for academic enhancement, instructional technology, extra-curricular activities and capital projects for Egg Harbor Township Schools. Donations to the Community Partnership are tax-deductible, as allowable by law.
     To donate to the S.A.F.E. annual fund campaign, or for more information please visit https://www.communitypartnershipeht.org/safe-campaign.html, call 646-8441, ext. 1017, or email gregorye@eht.k12.nj.us.

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​​COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP DONATES $50,000 BACK TO DISTRICT FROM YEAR-END FUNDRAISING PROCEEDS

1/22/2019

     The Community Partnership for Egg Harbor Township Schools, Inc. presented  $40,000 in awards to district staff members at the January 22 Board of Education meeting held at Alder Avenue Middle School.
     An additional $10,000 was already awarded last spring for Project Graduation activities bringing the Community Partnership’s total 2017-2018 allocation to $50,000.  ​, a Piano and AP Music Theory teacher and Jazz Band director at Egg Harbor Township High School (EHTHS), received a $22,000 award to implement a professional-level digital recording studio and two satellite studios for students to learn to produce, engineer and mix original music, while also developing the skill of enhancing various district video projects with high-quality studio-recorded audio.  
     Etzel Brower, an Electrical Technology I & II and Graphic Arts Technology teacher at EHTHS,
received a $15,000 award for a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). According to Brower, the PLC system will greatly advance EHT students’ abilities to become skilled programmers who can write software that controls automated machines that produce product. Mr. Brower believes a higher ratio of career & technical education students from EHTHS will pursue post-secondary education as a result of this in-school training.
     Kristen Boyd, director of A.S.P.I.R.E. (After School Program for Instruction, Recreation and
Enrichment) at Dr. Joyanne D. Miller Elementary School, received a $2,500 award to fund healthy snacks, Fun Food Fridays, family dinner events, and dinner at the end-of-year showcase event for the afterschool Community Partnership to Present $40,000 in End-Of-Year Allocation Awards to EHT Staff  
program. Now in its second year, the program serves over 200 Miller Elementary School students every day after school from 3 – 6 pm (when school is in session), in a STEAM-themed program that includes academic remediation and enrichment, health, nutrition and fitness education, culture and the arts, positive youth development, transportation home, and a parental involvement component.
     Allison Fenton, an English teacher at EHTHS rounded out the awardees and received a $500 to flexible seating for the Writing Lab course. The course is designed to support students who read significantly below grade level and perform below average on standardized tests. The goal of Fenton’s funding request is to help students feel safe, welcome, comfortable and excited to be in the class.
Projects are selected annually via a voting process based on funding request submissions received from Egg Harbor Township Schools’ staff members.
     Since its inception in 2005, the Community Partnership, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, has raised more than $465,000 for academic enhancement, instructional technology, extra-curricular activities and capital projects for Egg Harbor Township Schools. Donations to the Community Partnership are tax-deductible, as allowable by law.
     For more information or to donate to the Community Partnership , please visit www.communitypartnershipeht.org/, call 646-8441, ext. 1017, or email gregorye@eht.k12.nj.us.