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Two elementary schools in Springfield are thousands of dollars better off today, after receiving a grant designed to improve the math skills of their students. KSMU’s Kristian Kriner reports.

Weller Elementary School students from kindergarten through fifth grade filed into the gym and sat on the floor, waiting to hear the exciting news.

Fifty percent or more of the kids in this school are enrolled in the free or reduced lunch program.

The Foundation for Springfield Public Schools awarded Weller and York Elementary schools with over $8,000 for math supplies.

Marilyn Monroe is the principal at Weller Elementary.

She says she’s hopeful the new supplies will let the students have fun while learning.

“I know it’s going to impact all of our kids and this is a lot of money to get a lot of math things, games. They’re going to have parent night and they’re going to have take-home things for the parents to do at home with the kids. So, it’s not just going to impact our kids, but its going impact the whole family,” Monroe said.

The foundation created a new grant this year called the High Impact grant.

This grant is for elementary schools that have a large percentage of kids from low-income households.

Nancy Fazzino is the executive director of the Foundation for Springfield Public Schools.

She says the organization also gave thousands of dollars to other schools around Springfield for programs like the School Improvement Plan, or SIP.

“We will be awarding over $150,000 this year, so we’re very excited about that. We have our High Impact grants that we awarded this year and that’s between $5,000 and $10,000 and that’s for multiple-classroom and multiple-school projects,” Fazzino said.

Fazzino says all of these grants will also help improve attendance in Springfield Public Schools.

For KSMU News, I’m Kristian Kriner.

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