January 6, 2010

For more than 30 years, the Flint Classroom Support Fund has provided financial support to teachers for special projects in education and instruction for students of the Flint Community Schools. This year is no exception.

The fund has announced grants totaling $7,400 for 11 Flint teachers. This year’s winners are: Jennifer Burke (King Early Childhood Education Center); Karen Wagner (Williams Elementary); Marcie Wallace (Williams Elementary); Nancy Sigulinsky (Durant-Tuuri-Mott Elementary); Theresa Skene (Neithercut Elementary); Debra Rinoldo-Hopkins (Durant-Tuuri-Mott); Dennis Freeman (Neithercut); Jennifer Purman (Durant-Tuuri-Mott); Joanna Caselman (Manley Early Childhood Education Center); and Mary Madden (Williams). Rinoldo-Hopkins also received the Thomas Landaal Award. The grants ranged from $250 to $1,200.

The Flint Classroom Support Fund exists to enrich and strengthen the learning experiences of Flint Community Schools' students. The program does this by providing funds to support classroom and school-wide projects, which enable creative teaching ideas to become realities.

“The Flint Classroom Support Fund has been making a difference for many years by providing mini grants to deserving teachers for special projects to enhance their students’ educational experience in the Flint Community Schools,” said Attorney J. Dallas Winegarden, president of the Flint Classroom Support Fund Board of Trustees.

[Winegarden and Superintendent Linda Thompson will distribute some of the awards January 7 in a brief ceremony at Durant-Tuuri-Mott Elementary, 1518 W. Third Ave. The news conference will begin at 9:20 a.m.]

“Thanks to the generous support from the community, we’re able to provide grants for these wonderful projects,” said Winegarden. “I especially want to thank the United Way, the Community Foundation, the Flint Area School Employees Credit Union, the United Teachers of Flint, district teachers and administrators, and numerous private individuals who have contributed to the fund.”

The Flint Classroom Support Fund grants are awarded annually. Teachers must submit an application, which is then reviewed by teams of community volunteers, retired teachers and college professors.

Winegarden said the fund accepts donations from anyone who would like to make a financial contribution to the program.

“There are a lot more worthy teacher projects that we would love to fund, if we had the additional resources,” said Winegarden.

For more information about the program, please contact the Flint Classroom Support Fund office at 760-5289. Donations may be sent to the following address:

Flint Classroom Support Fund Office
c/o B. Clothier
923 East Kearsley Street
Flint MI 48503-1900