Funding, Grants, and Partnerships

Last school year, we were constantly asking students to pay for certain activities to help raise money for different functions.  To me this is unfair since a lot of the families were effected by the economy or just trying to make ends meet.  Some of the teachers were not branching out to our Partners in Education for donations or funding.  It is important to use the different companies for the things we need to support the student for in school or after school activities.  These companies are willing to give us something to show they are supporting education in many ways.  This could help us to stop asking students and parents, also teachers, for money.

As I was looking for Grants and Partnerships,  a lot of companies that I came across have programs that are doing more than donating supplies.  They have Grants for schools with special needs to help with a variety of improvements.  I can think of million ways we can improve my school from the inside and outside. 

I know our school funding is being stretched out and we need to find ways to get more funds.  I know we our there for the students and giving them opportunities to be social, athletic, or artistic.  We need to prioritize more and do some research to expand our funds and Partners in Education.  We are there to support student achievement. 

Found the Internet safety policy

I had to e-mail a few people from the Instructional Technology Department.  I e-mailed one person again and they finally sent me the Interet Safety plan.  The plan was from 2001 and hadn't updated it yet since our schools received more technology equipment.  I e-mailed them back to see why our plan had not been updated and received a question about which part of the plan needed to be updated.  It looks like I am going to at the plan thoroughly to see what it needs to reflect the technology we have now and show that we are presently reflecting safety of advance technology.

Internet Safety

Trying to help the teachers with internet safety isn't that big of a deal.  In my school district,  they keep us locked down real tight when it comes to working on-line.  It is hard to get to certain websites because they block a lot of sites, especially the educational ones.  We have to fill out a form to see if the county will allow us to go to educational websites.  We still need to make sure that we are keeping the students safe while being on-line. 

There are many people out there that will take advantage of kids through e-mail, blog and twitter.  We can teach the students what to look for when it comes to being at home on-line.  Staying away from those who they do not know, and only opening e-mail from the friends and family they know.  They also need to only go to websites that are age appropriate.  As educators, practicing internet safety in the classroom might help the students to use their knowledge from the classroom to their home.  The only way they are going to learn is by guiding them through websites the teacher knows is safe.  The district just needs to trust the teacher's judgement on site that are appropriate and useful for the students.

I have tried to look at the district internet safety for my county and the result is a link, but the link goes to a blank page that is not up and running.  I have tried to e-mail the head hanchos about the link and I haven't heard anything yet.  It looks like I might be e-mail the entire Instruction Technology Department to get the answer that I am looking for.  I have tried to look at other district safety plans and one of them has a link that is connected to a website that is all about internet safety for students: netsmarz.org and netsmarzkids.org.