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Monrovia’s Plymouth Elementary School Wins $10,000
Education May 03, 2018
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Plymouth Elementary School won a $10,000 grant to upgrade and enhance its library with resources geared toward technology and Mandarin, including a parent resource library, thanks to more than 10,000 votes placed over two weeks for the Scholar Dollar Grant Program.
California Treasurer John Chiang announced April 10 the 20 winning schools from across California that will share more than $300,000 in grant money.
“Thank you to the Plymouth parents and community members whose tremendous support will enable us to transform the academic experience for all of our students,” Plymouth Principal Dr. Greg Gero said. “This grant will help us makeover our library to keep our students excited about literacy and provide reading materials relevant to what they are learning in the classrooms.”
Plymouth has a Mandarin dual language program from kindergarten through grade two, with plans to expand one grade level each year until the program reaches grade five. The dual immersion program will continue to expand through middle and high school after this point. Code to the Future has provided a coding program since 2016-17, immersing students in computer science skills at an early age.
The grant money will fund new books in English and Mandarin, including publications in child development, as well as parenting research for parents to support their children’s learning. New computers will be available to provide access to online resources. The library will also be renovated to provide more open space for students.
“Congratulations to Plymouth Elementary on being awarded the Scholar Dollars Grant,” Monrovia Unified Board President Terrence Williams said. “Thank you for providing resources that will strengthen our parents’ knowledge on how to boost their children’s success.”
Now in its second year, Scholar Dollars, administered by the state’s college savings plan ScholarShare 529, provides more than $300,000 to help California schools fund after-school and extracurricular programs that boost student achievement. More than 400,000 votes were tallied among 465 K-8 schools in an effort to win one of the 20 available grants.
“The extraordinary number of votes placed in support of Plymouth Elementary is a testament to the commitment of our community in supporting the education of our students,” Monrovia Unified Superintendent Dr. Katherine Thorossian said. “The new and updated materials that will be available at Plymouth will make literacy fun and be engaging for students.”
